FOX's Big Noon Kickoff is rolling into the University of Minnesota campus for the first time, setting up a two-hour pregame broadcast outside 3M Arena at Mariucci before the Golden Gophers host Michigan at 11 a.m. Saturday in the latest chapter of the Little Brown Jug rivalry at Huntington Bank Stadium. The fan pit opens at 7:30 a.m., with the show itself kicking off at 9 a.m., and organizers are dangling giveaways including $500 for the best fan sign.
As reported by the Pioneer Press, the production is a massive undertaking: FOX travels with seven semi-trucks and several 36-foot box trucks, and the broadcast will employ roughly 170 people on site. Crews arrived in Minneapolis Monday for planning meetings, began building the set Tuesday, finished construction by Thursday, and reserved Friday for rehearsals and pre-taped segments before tearing everything down Saturday night. Rob Mikulicka described the whole operation as a big traveling circus, while stressing that the show is all about the fans, per the same report.
On-air talent for Saturday's broadcast includes Urban Meyer, Matt Leinart, Brady Quinn, Mark Ingram II, Dave Portnoy and Rob Stone, with FOX also setting up a separate desk on the west plaza inside Huntington Bank Stadium. The actual game broadcast immediately following Big Noon Kickoff will be called by FOX's top team of Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt and sideline reporter Jenny Taft — Minnesota's first game this season with the network's No. 1 commentary crew, according to a Gophers-Michigan preview from BringMeTheSports.
A Rivalry Trophy Born From a Water Jug
The Little Brown Jug itself dates back to October 1903, when Michigan head coach Fielding Yost, worried that Minnesota fans might tamper with his team's drinking water, had student manager Tommy Roberts buy a five-gallon stoneware jug for 30 cents in Minneapolis, according to University of Michigan Athletics. Michigan left the jug behind after a 6-6 tie, and Minnesota staff painted and kept it — turning an abandoned water container into what is now the oldest rivalry trophy contest in NCAA FBS history, per the same source.
That long history has not been kind to Minnesota lately. Michigan enters Saturday's game holding a 78-25-3 all-time record against the Gophers, its most wins against any single opponent in school history, and has won 27 of the last 29 meetings. Minnesota has not beaten Michigan for the jug on its home field since 1977, and its most recent series win of any kind came on the road in Ann Arbor back in 2014, per BringMeTheSports.
Underdog Status and a New Michigan Coach
Early betting lines had Minnesota as a 6.5-point home underdog, with the spread narrowing to 5.5 points across sportsbooks during the week, according to BringMeTheSports. Michigan is also breaking in new leadership this season: Kyle Whittingham took over the program for 2026 after 20 seasons at Utah, where he compiled a 177-88 record, replacing Sherrone Moore, per GopherHole.com.
The matchup carries echoes of Minnesota's last ranked clash with Michigan. In October 2020, Michigan defeated a No. 21 Minnesota team 49-24 while ranked No. 18 itself, a game played without fans at the pregame show due to COVID-19 restrictions, according to the Pioneer Press. Minnesota was ranked No. 9 in November 2019.
Why FOX Picked Minneapolis Now
FOX reportedly surveyed prospective University of Minnesota sites for years before finalizing this visit, and the network previously brought a smaller version of its pregame show to Minneapolis twice, per the Pioneer Press. Since launching in 2019, Big Noon Kickoff has visited Ohio State's Horseshoe 14 times and Michigan's Big House eight times, with Colorado, Penn State and Indiana each hosting the show four times, according to a FOX spokesperson cited in the same report.
In the ratings battle with ESPN's College GameDay, FOX's show remains the clear second option. Across the opening three weeks of the 2026 season, College GameDay averaged roughly 3.5 million viewers during its final hour compared to about 1.2 million for Big Noon Kickoff, according to data from Richard Deitsch cited by the Pioneer Press. That gap tracks with a full-season comparison from Awful Announcing, which found GameDay averaged 2.7 million viewers to Big Noon Kickoff's 1.8 million across the entire 2025 regular season.
Selling the U to Recruits and Fans
Saturday is also designated as Minnesota's official Stripe Out game, with fans in designated sections wearing alternating maroon and gold to create a coordinated visual effect for the national broadcast, according to Gopher Sports. The University of Minnesota reportedly views the pregame show as something like an infomercial for the school, and head coach P.J. Fleck said Big Noon Kickoff showcases the university and its game-day environment, with the Gophers planning to use the exposure on the high school recruiting trail, per the Pioneer Press.
Minnesota's history hosting ESPN's rival show has not gone smoothly — the Gophers hosted College GameDay twice and lost both games, including a 38-17 loss to a No. 13 Wisconsin team on Northrop Mall in November 2019. This weekend offers a chance to flip that script on a different network, even as the jug itself remains the oldest rivalry trophy in NCAA FBS history, with ESPN's College GameDay headed to Iowa City for the Iowa-Ohio State matchup the same afternoon, where both teams enter undefeated and ranked.
