Gophers Season Openers Since 2000

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IceBoxGopher

IceBoxGopher

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We're just a few weeks away from Golden Gopher football returning! :drink::cool03:
I looked back at our season openers over the last two decades and this one with Ohio State looks to be our toughest. Here's how the season openers have gone since 2000.
  • 2000, Vs Louisiana-Monroe, WON, 47-10. Louisiana Monroe finished 1-10. Gophers finished 6-6 with MicronPC Bowl loss.
  • 2001, At Toledo, LOST, 38-7. Toledo finished 10-2 with Motor City Bowl win, ranked 22. Gophers finished 4-7
  • 2002, Vs Texas State, WON, 42-0. Texas State finished 4-7. Gophers finished 8-5 with Music City Bowl win.
  • 2003, Vs Tulsa, WON, 49-10. Tulsa finished 8-5 with Humanitarian Bowl loss. Gophers finished 10-3 with Sun Bowl win.
  • 2004, Vs Toledo, WON, 63-21. Toledo finished 9-4 with Motor City Bowl loss. Gophers finished 7-5 with Music City Bowl win.
  • 2005, At Tulsa, WON, 41-10. Tulsa finished 9-4 with Liberty Bowl win. Gophers finished 7-6 with Music City Bowl loss.
  • 2006, At Kent State, WON, 44-0. Kent State finished 6-6. Gophers finished 6-7 with Insight Bowl loss.
  • 2007, Vs Bowling Green, LOST, 32-31(OT). Bowling Green finished 8-5 with GMAC Bowl loss. Gophers finished 1-11.
  • 2008, Vs Northern Illinois, WON, 31-27. Northern Illinois finished 6-7 with Independence Bowl loss. Gophers finished 7-6 with Insight Bowl loss.
  • 2009, At Syracuse, WON, 23-20(OT). Syracuse finished 4-8. Gophers finished 6-7 with Insight Bowl loss.
  • 2010, At Middle Tennessee, WON, 24-17. Middle Tennessee finished season 6-7 with GoDaddy Bowl loss. Gophers finished 3-9.
  • 2011, At USC, LOST, 19-17. USC finished 10-2, bowl banned, ranked 6. Gophers finished 3-9.
  • 2012, At UNLV, WON, 30-27(OT). UNLV finished 2-11. Gophers finished 6-7 with Car Care Bowl loss.
  • 2013, Vs UNLV, WON, 51-23. UNLV finished 7-6 with Heart of Dallas Bowl loss. Gophers finished 8-5 with Texas Bowl loss.
  • 2014, Vs Eastern Illinois, WON, 42-20. Eastern Ill finished 5-7. Gophers finished 8-5 with Citrus Bowl loss.
  • 2015, Vs TCU, LOST, 23-17. TCU finished 11-2 with Alamo Bowl win, ranked 7. Gophers finished 6-7 with Quick Lane Bowl win.
  • 2016, Vs Oregon State, WON, 30-23. Oregon State finished 4-8. Gophers finished 9-4 with Holiday Bowl win.
  • 2017, Vs Buffalo, WON, 17-7. Buffalo finished 6-6. Gophers finished 5-7
  • 2018, Vs New Mexico State, WON, 48-10. NM State finished 3-9. Gophers finished 7-6 with Quick Lane Bowl win.
  • 2019, Vs South Dakota State, WON, 28-21. SDSU finished 8-5 with an FCS playoff berth. Gophers finished 11-2 with Outback Bowl win.
  • 2020, Vs Michigan, LOST, 49-24. Michigan finished 2-4. Gophers finished 3-4.
Results breakdown:
  • Overall Record: 16-5
  • Home Record: 11-3
  • Away Record: 5-2
  • Vs. P5/AQ: 2-3
  • Vs. G5/FCS: 14-2
  • Vs. Teams that finished .500 or better: 7-4
  • Vs. Losing Record Teams: 9-1
  • Vs. Bowl Teams: 6-4
 

That 2015 game I remember as Gary Patterson runs off the field with like 4 Texas Rangers (with Stetsons) surrounding him. I was like...WTF Dude! This is Minnesota, Ain't the university police satisfactory?
 

That TCU game was amazing. It was also the Rodney Smith coming out party. I remember him slicing through the pile of defenders, scrambling to check my program, going "who's that guy? he's gonna be good!"
 

nitramnaed said:
That 2015 game I remember as Gary Patterson runs off the field with like 4 Texas Rangers (with Stetsons) surrounding him. I was like...WTF Dude! This is Minnesota, Ain't the university police satisfactory?
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This is tradition and happens automatically in a lot of places in college football
 

The Metrodome home opener in 2000 was the Ohio Bobcats.

Mace put true freshman QB Assad Abdul Khaliq out there on the first series. He really had little choice because Billy Cockerham had graduated and Assad was actually pretty good on paper coming into the program. Travis Cole was an option as a Jr but Coach had Assad as his starter.

The Gophers very first offensive play was a pass where the Bobcats blitzed the QB through a non-existent OL. Needless to say Assad got obliterated...taking a very long time to stand up again. I've always thought that play affected Assad for the rest of his Gophers career. Classic example of hyper-aggressive D with no QB protection.
 


jonnyganas said:
That TCU game was amazing. It was also the Rodney Smith coming out party. I remember him slicing through the pile of defenders, scrambling to check my program, going "who's that guy? he's gonna be good!"
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Had we used him and Brooks more early, we might have won that game. But we relied on Williams too much. And he fumbled at the 7...
 

BilldGopher said:
The Metrodome home opener in 2000 was the Ohio Bobcats.

Mace put true freshman QB Assad Abdul Khaliq out there on the first series. He really had little choice because Billy Cockerham had graduated and Assad was actually pretty good on paper coming into the program. Travis Cole was an option as a Jr but Coach had Assad as his starter.

The Gophers very first offensive play was a pass where the Bobcats blitzed the QB through a non-existent OL. Needless to say Assad got obliterated...taking a very long time to stand up again. I've always thought that play affected Assad for the rest of his Gophers career. Classic example of hyper-aggressive D with no QB protection.
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Assad has been the gophers 4th or 5th best quarterback in the past 30 years. Is he better than that without that play?
 

Interesting how well we played in openers against top 10 highly-rated teams such as USC and TCU ...
 




Some guy said:
Assad has been the gophers 4th or 5th best quarterback in the past 30 years. Is he better than that without that play?
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Fair question. Without that play I think he might have progressed a little faster at least that first season. As memory serves he ended up splitting some games with Travis as starter but clearly by his senior year he was a very serviceable QB for Mason's offenses.

As an aside I recall him saying a few years ago that he regretted not working harder. Can't go back in time but I think he was conveying to the (then) current and future Gopher players to give it all you can while in the moment.

Good follow-up. Maybe that play affected me more than Assad...:rolleyes:
 

BilldGopher said:
Fair question. Without that play I think he might have progressed a little faster at least that first season. As memory serves he ended up splitting some games with Travis as starter but clearly by his senior year he was a very serviceable QB for Mason's offenses.

As an aside I recall him saying a few years ago that he regretted not working harder. Can't go back in time but I think he was conveying to the (then) current and future Gopher players to give it all you can while in the moment.

Good follow-up. Maybe that play affected me more than Assad...:rolleyes:
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I think he topped out. Mason’s system very much helped quarterbacks look like they looked like and also limited their ability in moments as well because of the system. So many easy throwbacks to tight ends. So many fades and deep balls. Lots of play action.

not much drop back. Not much 5 step. I personally think he was what he was. An above average college quarterback playing with a good system.
 

Some guy said:
Assad has been the gophers 4th or 5th best quarterback in the past 30 years. Is he better than that without that play?
Click to expand...

Asad was probably the most talented QB the U of M had since Tony H, stats aside, since he played in a run heavy system, yet still put up meaningful passing numbers. He had composure, a cannon of an arm, was elusive and could also break a long run.

Adam Weber, in the Mason offense could have had similar production and wins (higher Yards per attempt, big plays, less dink and dunk) The Wacker QBs were all system QBs with misleading stats, and not many wins.

AAK got pretty beat up a few times during his later career but played through it.

If you re-watch some of the old games you will notice he could throw the ball a very long way , even when off balance. If you put AAK out there in the Kill era, they probably would have made it to Indianapolis a couple of times, and that is coming from someone who respected what ML tried to do.


Edit: apologies to Rickey Foggie, one of the greatest as well, would have been a huge star at Oklahoma or Nebraska with all that talent around him.

 
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Holy Shxt, I just watched that game, and I forgot it was all lost in the 4th Quarter. I recalled the meltdown starting earlier.
 

Asad's mid-field run up the middle for the TD was a thing of beauty. It was also disastrous in that we scored too quick.

Once Carr started dialing up the screen passes we had no answer. He was stubborn but made the change in time for the bad guys to pull out the W.
 

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