Little Brown Stein


The Little Brown Stein is a rivalry trophy awarded to the winner of the college football game between the University of Idaho Vandals and University of Montana Grizzlies. 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, and Montana retained the trophy. The series resumed when Idaho rejoined the Big Sky

History

Idaho and Montana first met in football in 1903 and have played 86 times; the stein was introduced at the 25th meeting. Idaho has dominated the overall series which also includes two Division I-AA playoff wins at home in the 1980s. Montana has had the upper hand since 1991, winning ten of the last twelve. While Idaho was in Division I-A, from 1996 through 2017, the teams met only five times, with Montana winning the
The schools are about apart. Moscow and Missoula are on opposite sides of the lower Idaho Panhandle, separated by the Bitterroot Mountains over
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 ; 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.
The universities were charter members of the Big Sky Conference in 1963, and their final season as conference opponents was in 1995. While Montana has been in the Big Sky since its inception, Idaho has changed its conference affiliation no fewer than five times since 1995:
A Division I-AA playoff game
Since 1945; Idaho led the first 29 meetings.

Idaho

Montana