The George Jewett Trophy is an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

trophy that was established in 2021 to be awarded to the winner of the

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

– Northwestern football game.

History

Establishment of trophy

In 2021, the two universities announced the creation of the George Jewett Trophy to be awarded to the game's winner. The trophy honors Jewett who was the first African-American player at both schools. This marked the first FBS rivalry game trophy named for an African-American player.

George Jewett

Michigan and Northwestern first played on October 29, 1892 in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. In that game, halfback

George Jewett George Henry Jewett II (April 1870 – August 12, 1908) was an American athlete who became the first African-American football player at both the University of Michigan and Northwestern University, and in the Big Ten Conference. He played fo ...

, Michigan's first African-American player, kicked a field goal and led Michigan's play on both offense and defense. Despite Jewett's effort, Northwestern prevailed by a 10–8 score. Jewett transferred to Northwestern in 1893 and became that school's first African-American football player. Jewett scored Northwestern's only touchdown in its 1893 loss to Michigan.

Pre-trophy games

The Wildcats went on to win six out of the first thirteen games, before Michigan began to dominate the series. The two programs were co-champions of the Big Ten during the 1926, 1930, and 1931 seasons.("Michigan, which three times has tied Northwestern for the Western conference title, holds an edge of seven victories to four for the Wildcats in a rivalry which dates back to 1892.") And in 1925, Northwestern halted Michigan's march to a national championship with a 3–2 victory on a muddy surface at Soldier Field. The three points scored by Northwestern were the only points allowed by the 1925 Michigan team that

Fielding H. Yost Fielding Harris Yost (; April 30, 1871 – August 20, 1946) was an American football player, coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at: Ohio Wesleyan University, the University of Nebraska, the University ...

called "the greatest football team I ever saw in action." In 1948, the schools met with

ranked No. 4 in the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

and Northwestern at No. 3. Michigan forced four turnovers and prevailed by a 28–0 score, as the Wolverines jumped to No. 1, en route to a national championship. The Wildcats returned to prominence under head coach

Ara Parseghian Ara Raoul Parseghian (; hy, Արա Ռաուլ Պարսեղյան; May 21, 1923 – August 2, 2017) was an American football player and coach who guided the University of Notre Dame to national championships in 1966 and 1973. He is noted for br ...

, defeating the Wolverines in consecutive games in 1958 and 1959. Following Parseghian's departure, the series reached its nadir as Michigan won 19 consecutive games from 1966 to 1992. In 1995, No. 25 Northwestern scored 10 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to shock No. 6 Michigan, 19–13. The Wildcats took advantage of four Michigan turnovers, and

Pat Fitzgerald Patrick William Fitzgerald Jr. (born December 2, 1974) is the current head coach of the Northwestern University Wildcats football team. He was selected after the unexpected death of Randy Walker and announced at a press conference on July 7, 2 ...

led Northwestern with 14 tackles including 2 tackles for loss. It was Northwestern's first victory over Michigan in 30 years, and first win in Ann Arbor since 1959. This upset sprung Northwestern on the path to a 10–2 season, reaching as high as No. 3 in the rankings. The Wildcats won their first Big Ten Conference title since 1936, and were invited to play in the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1948. Additional Northwestern upsets of highly ranked Michigan teams in 1996 and 2000 were key in Northwestern's Big Ten title winning seasons. The 1995, 1996, and 2000 teams are Northwestern's only three Big Ten champions in the

era. Prior to the creation of the Jewett Trophy, Michigan held a 58–15–2 advantage in the series.

Game results

Michigan leads the all-time series 59–15–2

References