The Gazette: For half-century, football is a Gophers hole

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per The Gazette:

A golden anniversary of a not-so-golden milestone will probably come Minnesota’s way next year.

If the Minnesota Gophers don’t win the Big Ten football title this year or next, it will mark 50 years since their last league-championship, which they shared in 1967 with Indiana and Purdue.

They say if you live long enough you’ll see everything, and O.J. seemed to be proof of that. But that isn’t really true, of course. Minnesota, while a competent football program that went to bowls in each of the last four seasons, continues to have a second-class citizenship cloud hanging over its head.

Neighbors Wisconsin and Iowa have been to the Rose Bowl a combined 11 times since the Gophers’ last visit. Those two programs don’t have any advantages over Minnesota in population, and both had some long stretches of terrible performances in the last half-century.

But the Badgers are kings in Madison and the Hawkeyes likewise in Iowa City. In Minneapolis-St. Paul, the Gophers are mere residents.

The average attendance for the first three Minnesota home games this season was 43,487, in a still-new, on-campus stadium of a school with over 50,000 students.

There’s no grand football tradition ingrained in the culture, nothing in our time that has ever gotten the Gophers to at least nudge close to the NFL Vikings in the state’s attention span.

In the last 40 years, only five Minnesota teams had winning records in Big Ten play, and all five were 5-3. Just one went to a Jan. 1 bowl, the 2014 Minnesota team that lost to Missouri 33-17 in the Citrus Bowl.

http://www.thegazette.com/subject/sports/hlas-for-half-century-football-is-a-gophers-hole-20161007

Go Gophers!!
 


True -- Sad --but don't remind us.
 

"Now here we are Saturday with Iowa playing at Minnesota in a college stadium named for a bank, because nothing says college like debt.

Unlike the Gophers’ three home games that follow — against Rutgers, Purdue and Northwestern — this one means something in Minnesota. Although (Floyd of) Rosedale is a far cry from the Rose Bowl.

Whether a victory over Iowa could springboard the Gophers to Big Ten West title-contention is uncertain, but at least they could cling to hope for at least another week. The same goes for Iowa.

Though the Hawkeyes have enjoyed so many more positive football experiences than the Gophers over the last 35 years, we live in the present.

Saturday’s winner earns happiness and hope. The loser will have fallen two straight weeks in league play with a lot of season left, and that’s not the October surprise either wants.

You could say this is a totally desperate football weekend in the Twin Cities, but you’d be wrong. The Vikings are 4-0."
 

BleedGopher said:
per The Gazette:

A golden anniversary of a not-so-golden milestone will probably come Minnesota’s way next year.

If the Minnesota Gophers don’t win the Big Ten football title this year or next, it will mark 50 years since their last league-championship, which they shared in 1967 with Indiana and Purdue.

They say if you live long enough you’ll see everything, and O.J. seemed to be proof of that. But that isn’t really true, of course. Minnesota, while a competent football program that went to bowls in each of the last four seasons, continues to have a second-class citizenship cloud hanging over its head.

Neighbors Wisconsin and Iowa have been to the Rose Bowl a combined 11 times since the Gophers’ last visit. Those two programs don’t have any advantages over Minnesota in population, and both had some long stretches of terrible performances in the last half-century.

But the Badgers are kings in Madison and the Hawkeyes likewise in Iowa City. In Minneapolis-St. Paul, the Gophers are mere residents.

The average attendance for the first three Minnesota home games this season was 43,487, in a still-new, on-campus stadium of a school with over 50,000 students.

There’s no grand football tradition ingrained in the culture, nothing in our time that has ever gotten the Gophers to at least nudge close to the NFL Vikings in the state’s attention span.

In the last 40 years, only five Minnesota teams had winning records in Big Ten play, and all five were 5-3. Just one went to a Jan. 1 bowl, the 2014 Minnesota team that lost to Missouri 33-17 in the Citrus Bowl.

http://www.thegazette.com/subject/sports/hlas-for-half-century-football-is-a-gophers-hole-20161007

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

Mike Hlas, another hack that doesn't know how to do research and deliver facts. It doesn't change the overall narrative much but the 1973 Gophers went 6-2 in conference, 7-4 overall. Or it might be explained because he has blocked out all records of the 1973 Big Ten season, when the Hawkeyes went 0-8 in conference, 0-11 overall.
 


Captain Obvious said:
Mike Hlas, another hack that doesn't know how to do research and deliver facts. It doesn't change the overall narrative much but the 1973 Gophers went 6-2 in conference, 7-4 overall. Or it might be explained because he has blocked out all records of the 1973 Big Ten season, when the Hawkeyes went 0-8 in conference, 0-11 overall.
Click to expand...

Well, he's actually right - 1973 was more than 40 years ago. It's a bit misleading of him to be discussing a 50 year title drought and then make a reference to just the last 40 years (obviously done to specifically exclude that season), but it is a true statement.
 

2727Gopher said:
Well, he's actually right - 1973 was more than 40 years ago. It's a bit misleading of him to be discussing a 50 year title drought and then make a reference to just the last 40 years (obviously done to specifically exclude that season), but it is a true statement.
Click to expand...

Might be misleading per the context of his story but only one 6 win conference season since 1973 is plain sad. Goes along way in explaining why the Gophers are "mere residents" as he put it in Minneapolis-St Paul.

This might just be the biggest front running town in the country.
 

I get the context

scools12 said:
Might be misleading per the context of his story but only one 6 win conference season since 1973 is plain sad. Goes along way in explaining why the Gophers are "mere residents" as he put it in Minneapolis-St Paul.

This might just be the biggest front running town in the country.
Click to expand...

I get that this is a front running town and that people jump on the bandwagon when a team is having success here. I
would hardly call Gopher football fans front runners. The majority of us long time Gopher fans have been running an endless marathon on a treadmill we cannot seem to get off of and catch our breaths. That was why after the Penn State loss, I said "why can't we have nice things"? I think you and all Gopher football fans know and believe we are more than DUE some luck from that odd shaped football bouncing our way. First thing I want to do is let go of things like 2003 and the Michigan Friday night game, because carrying that around or even the Michigan loss last year is too long. Somehow somewhere we need to catch a break.
 

Charlie Brown came out about the time the Gophers started failing. I believe he was a Gopher fan. I blame this all on Chuck.
 





We've experienced a whole lot of losses as Gophers fans. It's been rough at times. But we have to keep breathing, because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?

Yes, I took that from Cast Away. Figured we could use a lift up. :p
 

Sadly true. The U of M has been especially bad in choosing coaches. That makes all the difference.
 



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