Greatest individual sports achievement in Gopher history.

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In the 1928 Minnesota-Wisconsin game, Wisconsin was ranked #1 in the country and needed to beat the Gophers in the final game of the season to clinch the Big Ten Conference.

Bronko Nagurski was recovering from two fractures in his vertebrae he suffered 5 weeks earlier. While injured Bronko still played both offense and defense. On defense, he blocked a pass, intercepted a pass, caused a fumbled, and recovered that fumble. On offense he rushed for the games only touchdown.

The Gophers won the game 6-0 denying the Badgers a B1G championship.
 
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Dave Winfield in the CWS gets a lot of chatter, and rightly so.

The best individual performance I've seen was Tyler Johnson vs Auburn. Dude had like 500 catches, including possibly the best receiving TD I've ever seen, for like half a million yards against a highly regarded defense.

Close 2nd for me would be Mo Ibrahim vs Iowa. I forget the exact year, but it was in Kinnick and he must have had 40 carries for a ton of yards against a very stout Iowa defense that KNEW he was getting the ball. Unfortunately, while driving for surely what was going to be the winning TD he fumbled deep in Iowa territory. Absolutely heroic effort, but ultimately couldn't finish the job.
 

Limiting my selection to something I saw in person (not on TV) - have to mention Voshan Lenard in a triple OT win over Iowa at Williams in March 1994. It was set up as Lenard's last game at the barn (but he ended up coming back for his senior year) and he did not disappoint, 38 points. The shot I will always remember came at the end of the first overtime, Gophers down by 3 and inbounding the ball after a timeout with about 5 seconds left on the clock. Everyone in the gym and everyone watching at home knew it was going to Voshon - he launched a long 3 with three guys hanging on him as time expired - swish!. He was not normally a big "rah-rah" or emotional guy, but have rarely seen a player so happy after a win as he ran around the court "high-fiving" the fans.
 



THE SAVAGE GOPHER said:
Lou Hudson -
During his senior year, he played with a cast on his shooting hand, but still averaged
19.8 points and 8.1 rebounds while shooting left-handed.
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I remember Sweet Lou playing with the cast. I think it was a hard cast, which would no longer be allowed.
 


Bobek said:
I remember Sweet Lou playing with the cast. I think it was a hard cast, which would no longer be allowed.
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Did not the know hard casts were no longer allowed (but it makes sense). Saw an interview of Lou when he was with the Hawks in the NBA - said that playing with the cast in his collegiate senior year permanently altered his shooting. He was not complaining (he had a great HOF NBA career), but more of an explanation on how he developed his very well-regarded jump shot.
 




Stuff said:
In the 1928 Minnesota-Wisconsin game, Wisconsin was ranked #1 in the country and needed to beat the Gophers in the final game of the season to clinch the Big Ten Conference.

Bronko Nagurski was recovering from two fractures in his vertebrae he suffered 5 weeks earlier. While injured Bronko still played both offense and defense. On defense, he blocked a pass, intercepted a pass, caused a fumbled, and recovered that fumble. On offense he rushed for the games only touchdown.

The Gophers won the game 6-0 denying the Badgers a B1G championship.
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I think this one is the winner. In addition to rushing for the touchdown, wasnt it something ridiculous like a 6 play, 80+ yard touchdown drive where all 6 plays were Bronko rushes?
 

Not the greatest due to yardage and td totals, but Maroney had a 46 carry 5 catch game vs Purdue in a double OT win and four weeks later had 43 carry game vs Wisconsin.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
I think this one is the winner. In addition to rushing for the touchdown, wasnt it something ridiculous like a 6 play, 80+ yard touchdown drive where all 6 plays were Bronko rushes?
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It was 6 straight rushes but they started the drive deep in Wisconsin territory because previously Bronko had both caused and recovered a fumble from the Wisconsin running back.
 





UncleSam'sMisguidedChild said:
Close 2nd for me would be Mo Ibrahim vs Iowa. I forget the exact year, but it was in Kinnick and he must have had 40 carries for a ton of yards against a very stout Iowa defense that KNEW he was getting the ball. Unfortunately, while driving for surely what was going to be the winning TD he fumbled deep in Iowa territory. Absolutely heroic effort, but ultimately couldn't finish the job.
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That was here in our stadium.
 


Darrell Thompson's 1987 game against Michigan where he became the first Big Ten player to rush for over 200 yards against them and had a historic 98-yard touchdown run. Another notable game was the 1986 Homecoming game against Wisconsin, where he recorded 262 all-purpose yards and contributed to the team's second-half rally, including a 37-yard touchdown run.
 

OL in the 2020 Outback was the most dominating big game performance I’ve seen by the M&G.
Sam Schlueter, Blaise Andries, Connor Olson, Curtis Dunlap, Daniel Faalele all went belt to ass on that Auburn DL.
 


BronkosGhost said:
Darrell Thompson's 1987 game against Michigan where he became the first Big Ten player to rush for over 200 yards against them and had a historic 98-yard touchdown run. Another notable game was the 1986 Homecoming game against Wisconsin, where he recorded 262 all-purpose yards and contributed to the team's second-half rally, including a 37-yard touchdown run.
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As a bonus, I like his work on the radio.
 

Ron Johnson's 8 catch, 163 yard, 1 TD day in the upset of #6 Ohio State in 2000. Schooling All B1G CB, and first round draft pick after that season (21st overall) Nate Clements all day long.
 

I'm going with Troy Stoudermire in the Meineke Car Care Bowl against Texas Tech on December 28, 2012. On his first kickoff return in that game, he set the NCAA FBS record for career kickoff return yards. He returned the opening kickoff 26 yards, bringing his career total to 3,530 yards, surpassing Tyron Carrier's previous record of 3,517 yards. Troy ended the game with 3,615. With the rule changes, that record of 3,615 yards (a bit over 2 miles) will probably never be broken.
 

Here's another one for the books...

Austin Felix's performance on March 9, 2014 at the College Fishing National Bass Fishing Championship at Lake Keowee in Seneca, South Carolina where he led the duo team of himself and Chris Burgan to win the national title. It's a three-day competition, where the southern schools have a huge advantage as they can go fish the lake ahead of time to learn its secrets. Northern teams don't realistically get to do that. After two days of basically scouting the lake and being middle-of-the-pack in the competition, on day three, they blew everyone away to take home the title - the first time a northern team had ever won it.
 

And one more...

Gable Steveson won his second NCAA Division I Wrestling National Championship in the heavyweight (285-pound) division on March 21, 2022, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan. He defeated Arizona State's Cohlton Schultz 6-2 in the final to cap an undefeated 34-0 season, earning his second consecutive title (after 2021) and the Dan Hodge Trophy as the nation's top wrestler.
 

I don't read anyone here writing about me and my achievements.

On an early fall Saturday, many years ago, I shot 76 at Les Bolstad early in the morning, later that afternoon, I scored the game winning goal in an intramural soccer game. Later that night, I hooked up with a cheerleader.

All-time great performance.
 

Bruce Smith’s 80-yard TD run in muddy conditions at Michigan in 1940 in a 7-6 victory is perhaps the most consequential single play in Gopher FB history. A historically great and celebrated play. This play won Smith the Heisman next season.
 
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