Gold Rush
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In 1982, I was a freshman at the U of M and this was the first year I had season tickets. It also was the first year at the Metro Dome, which Coach Joe Salem called a "football palace." The team came in with a lot of hope and promise and Gopher broadcaster Ray Christensen proclaimed a pre-season prediction of 8 and 3 with Ho hen see. The games were almost all sell outs over 60,000 fans. I had terrible seats but I didn't care - it was going to be a blast!
QB Mike Hohensee was one of my all time Gopher favorite QB's - he had lit up Ohio St the year before 35-31 as well as an upset of #6 Iowa 12-10 and it appeared the Gophers were heading to a big year.
The Gophers had a really nice slashing RB named Tony Hunter who appeared destined for a big year, but they also had RB's Valdez Baylor, Allan Reid and Frank Jacobs who were all reliable backs. Their WR corps featured Dwayne McMullen and Lonnie Farrow as well as TE's Mike Curtis and Jay Carroll. Their captain was Ed Olson, whose sons played for the Gophers years later, but G Randy Rasmussen who played later for the NY Jets in the NFL and Bill Humphries were their best offensive linemen. Defensively, Karl Mecklenburg was the team MVP, but they also had defensive standouts Anthony Davis and Fred Orgas on the line and Kerry Glenn and Glen Cardelli at DB. Peter Najarian and Joe Christopherson were freshmen LB's who played right away and looked good right away.
The Gophers breezed through their first 3 games 134-24 over Ohio U, Washington St. and Purdue. The Gophers were ranked #19 and everyone was pretty excited. They were locked in a tight game with Illinois in the 4th quarter.........and then disaster struck. A seemingly harmless pass in the flat turned into a long TD for the Illini and a 42-24 thrashing. The Gophers were down -- and they lost to a downtrodden Northwestern team the next week in an embarrassing upset 31-21. The next week Indiana came to town for homecoming and one of their fans held a sign saying "Roses are red violets are blue, even if you beat us Northwestern beat you." Well, the Gophers fumbled the kickoff and Indiana went on to beat us. They rallied one last time and played Iowa tough at home but lost 21-16 but after that, the team lost the rest of the games and they weren't even close in any of them, finishing 3-8.
I have never seen a team beaten down with so many injuries maybe ever. There were at least 2 times when 2 different players came off the field at the same time with major injuries. It just got worse and worse and they were never able to recover the rest of the season. When 1983 came around - I knew we were in big trouble, it was probably the worst year in Gopher football history and Joe Salem was fired at the end. But 1982 stands as a year of great promise, one where they were ranked in the top #20 - and a disastrous fall to the bottom. I never want to see that one ever again. When things aren't going your way you have to fight even harder than ever and you need to come together as a team to right the ship. In 1982 they simply couldn't come back due to lack of manpower which demoralized the team, but this game vs. Rutgers is a very important game for us and we need it bad. We can still have a good season but it has to start right now vs. a team we are favored by 2 TD's against. Let's get it done!!
QB Mike Hohensee was one of my all time Gopher favorite QB's - he had lit up Ohio St the year before 35-31 as well as an upset of #6 Iowa 12-10 and it appeared the Gophers were heading to a big year.
The Gophers had a really nice slashing RB named Tony Hunter who appeared destined for a big year, but they also had RB's Valdez Baylor, Allan Reid and Frank Jacobs who were all reliable backs. Their WR corps featured Dwayne McMullen and Lonnie Farrow as well as TE's Mike Curtis and Jay Carroll. Their captain was Ed Olson, whose sons played for the Gophers years later, but G Randy Rasmussen who played later for the NY Jets in the NFL and Bill Humphries were their best offensive linemen. Defensively, Karl Mecklenburg was the team MVP, but they also had defensive standouts Anthony Davis and Fred Orgas on the line and Kerry Glenn and Glen Cardelli at DB. Peter Najarian and Joe Christopherson were freshmen LB's who played right away and looked good right away.
The Gophers breezed through their first 3 games 134-24 over Ohio U, Washington St. and Purdue. The Gophers were ranked #19 and everyone was pretty excited. They were locked in a tight game with Illinois in the 4th quarter.........and then disaster struck. A seemingly harmless pass in the flat turned into a long TD for the Illini and a 42-24 thrashing. The Gophers were down -- and they lost to a downtrodden Northwestern team the next week in an embarrassing upset 31-21. The next week Indiana came to town for homecoming and one of their fans held a sign saying "Roses are red violets are blue, even if you beat us Northwestern beat you." Well, the Gophers fumbled the kickoff and Indiana went on to beat us. They rallied one last time and played Iowa tough at home but lost 21-16 but after that, the team lost the rest of the games and they weren't even close in any of them, finishing 3-8.
I have never seen a team beaten down with so many injuries maybe ever. There were at least 2 times when 2 different players came off the field at the same time with major injuries. It just got worse and worse and they were never able to recover the rest of the season. When 1983 came around - I knew we were in big trouble, it was probably the worst year in Gopher football history and Joe Salem was fired at the end. But 1982 stands as a year of great promise, one where they were ranked in the top #20 - and a disastrous fall to the bottom. I never want to see that one ever again. When things aren't going your way you have to fight even harder than ever and you need to come together as a team to right the ship. In 1982 they simply couldn't come back due to lack of manpower which demoralized the team, but this game vs. Rutgers is a very important game for us and we need it bad. We can still have a good season but it has to start right now vs. a team we are favored by 2 TD's against. Let's get it done!!