The Little Brown Stein is a rivalry trophy awarded to the winner of the college football game between the University of Idaho Vandals and the University of Montana Grizzlies, both members of the Big Sky Conference. The trophy is, as the name implies, a large stein mug with the results of all the games between the two
The game was not played for fourteen seasons (2004–2017), and Montana retained the trophy. The series resumed in 2018, when Idaho rejoined the Big Sky for football.
History Idaho and Montana first met in football in 1903 and have played 88 times; the stein was introduced in 1938 at the 25th meeting. Idaho has dominated the overall series at , which also includes two Division I-AA playoff wins at home in the 1980s. Montana has had the upper hand since 1991, winning twelve of the last fifteen (). While Idaho was in Division I-A (FBS), from 1996 through 2017, the teams met only five times, with Montana winning the last four.
The schools are about apart; Moscow and Missoula are on opposite sides of the lower Idaho panhandle, separated by the Bitterroot Mountains over Lolo Pass (U.S. Route 12).
Idaho hosted the game in southern Idaho at Boise in and in nearby Pullman, Washington, in 1970 and 2000.
Conferences Both were members of the old Pacific Coast Conference (the forerunner of today's Pac-12); Montana departed after the 1949 season, and the PCC disbanded in the summer of 1959. In most years, the loser of the game was last in the PCC standings. Montana was in the Skyline Conference from 1951 through the 1961 season.
The universities were two of the six charter members of the Big Sky Conference in 1963, (although Idaho remained an independent in football until 1965) and their final season as conference opponents was in 1995. While Montana has been in the Big Sky since its inception, Idaho changed its conference affiliation multiple times from 1995 to 2018: Idaho moved to the Big West for all sports in 1996, returning to Division I-A after 18 years in I-AA. After the 2000 season, the Big West dropped football. Idaho became a football-only member of the Sun Belt Conference in 2001 while remaining a full Big West member. Idaho joined the WAC for all sports in 2005 as part of a major NCAA conference realignment. After the WAC experienced a near-complete membership turnover in the early 2010s, it dropped football after the 2012 season. Idaho football was an FBS independent for one season in 2013. Idaho returned to the Big Sky in 2014 except for football, which rejoined the Sun Belt. Idaho dropped back to FCS in 2018 and resumed football membership in the Big Sky.
Results
Years not played: 1904–13, 1918, 1943–44, 1954, 1963–64, 1996–98, 2004–17, 2020, 2024
Coaching records Since 1945; Idaho led the first 29 meetings (through 1942) at ).
Idaho Head coach Team Games Seasons Wins Losses Ties Pct.Babe BrownIdaho21945–46110Dixie HowellIdaho41947–50220Babe CurfmanIdaho31951–53300 Skip StahleyIdaho71954–61610Dee AndrosIdaho11962–64010Steve MusseauIdaho31965–67300 Y C McNeaseIdaho21968–69110Don RobbinsIdaho41970–73310Ed TroxelIdaho41974–77211Jerry DavitchIdaho41978–81310Dennis Erickson (a) Idaho51982–8541 Keith GilbertsonIdaho4 1986–8831 John L. SmithIdaho61989–9424 Chris TormeyIdaho21995–9920 Tom CableIdaho42000–0304 Nick HoltIdaho02004–05 Dennis Erickson (b)Idaho02006 Robb AkeyIdaho02007–12 Paul PetrinoIdaho32013–2103 Jason EckIdaho22022–2311 Thomas FordIdaho1202501 TotalIdaho611945–202536241
Montana Head coach Team Games Seasons Wins Losses Ties Pct.George Dahlberg Montana 11945010Doug Fessenden Montana 31946–48210Ted Shipkey Montana 31949–51120Ed Chinske Montana 21952–54020Jerry Williams Montana 31955–57030Ray Jenkins Montana 51958–63230 Hugh Davidson Montana21964–66020Jack Swarthout Montana 91967–75351Gene Carlson Montana 41976–79040Larry Donovan Montana 71980–8525 Don Read Montana 111986–9556 Mick Dennehy Montana 11996–9901 Joe Glenn Montana 32000–0230 Bobby Hauck (a) Montana 12003–0910 Robin Pflugrad Montana 02010–11 Mick Delaney Montana 02012–14 Bob Stitt Montana 02015–17 Bobby Hauck (b) Montana 62018–25 51 TotalMontana611945–202524361 Last tie was in 1974 and the Big Sky enacted overtime for conference games in 1980; all Division I games went to overtime in 1996. Two games in 1982 and 1988; regular season at Montana and playoff (I-AA) at Idaho: home teams won all four games No games in 1954, 1963, 1964, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2004–2017, 2020, 2024
See also List of NCAA college football rivalry games
References