22=7?

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Too Long in the Wasteland

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There have been a lot of comments that Mason had a signature win vs. PSU in his 3rd year, 1999. Brewster has yet to produce a memorable W yet. The centerpiece of Mason's early teams was Tyrone Carter, #22. He was arguably the only pro prospect on those teams, other than maybe Middlebrook. I remember a game vs. Wisconsin in 1999 where we were on the verge of beating the Badgers. We had Ron Dayne totally contained. Carter went out for a couple of series with an injury and fatboy ran wild. Game, set & match (a totally nimrod coaching decision on going for a FG late in the first half didn't help matters).

Ten years later, the only guy on our team who is a lock to be playing on Sundays is Decker. And without him this would arguably be a 1-4 team. Look what happened last year when Decker got hurt. Interesting how history repeats itself. Plus 22 divided by 7 equals Pi, so things really have come full circle.

The question will be, besides whether Brewster can pull off a significant victory this year, is whether his recruits will be able to take us beyond what Mason ever produced. Everyone agrees that Brewster is a better recruiter than Glen, who looked at recruiting as a necessary evil at best. As for the memorable victory, it would be nice, but I'm not sure its fair to criticize Brewster if he doesn't get it. Particularly if he takes steps to develop players for the future. Yeah, I'm talking about Gray (although I'm in the camp he should be eased in gradually, rather than benching Weber). Ten years ago getting to a crapazzed bowl was a major accomplishment. In this century, not so much.
 

Masons 1999 team finished the season 8-3 & 5-3 in Conference Play.......

Seeing as they both only had/have 1 NFL Prospect to work with...are you saying Brewster should do the same (8-3, 5-3)?
 

Recently there has been a lot of talk on this board about a signature win for Brewster. I guess a win over PSU or OSU would be nice, but I think too much is being made about that. Mason followed his win against OSU in 2000 with losses to Indiana, Northwestern and Wisconsin. Beating OSU was better than losing to them, and we finished 4-4 (Big Ten, 6-6 overall) that year instead of 3-5, so I guess that's good. But it didn't catapult us that year -- or the year after. We were 2-6 in 2001 and and 3-5 in 2002. I'm glad we have that victory to talk about today, but overall it didn't do much for us.

To me, it's important that the program build. AND that we start winning rivalry games, particularly since Iowa and Wisconsin aren't top 5 material. A "signature win" might be evidence that we're building. Or it may not.
 

I am doing this off the top of my head, but '99 was far, far more than #22. Karon Riley, Ben Hamilton, Thomas Hamner are three for sure that played in the NFL and I believe were all drafted. Middlebrooks was a first round pick. Oh, and Ron Johnson was also an NFL player who was in the same league as a player as Decker. That team was hardly devoid of talent, nor were they a one man team.

This team does not compare to that team.
 

Too Long in the Wasteland said:
He was arguably the only pro prospect on those teams, other than maybe Middlebrook.
Click to expand...

I think that:

Arland Bruce
Jack Brewer
Adam Haayer
Ben Hamilton
Ron Johnson
Mike Lehan
Karon Riley
John Schlecht
Thomas Tapeh
Ben Utecht
Greg "Stylez" White
Jimmy Wyrick

...would beg to differ with you. That's just the players who were on the 1999 squad. And those are just the players that played in the NFL, not even including those who were in training camps only. If there are 14 players on the 2009 Gophers roster that play in the NFL, I will eat my hat.
 



dpodoll68 said:
I think that:

Arland Bruce
Jack Brewer
Adam Haayer
Ben Hamilton
Ron Johnson
Mike Lehan
Karon Riley
John Schlecht
Thomas Tapeh
Ben Utecht
Greg "Stylez" White

...would beg to differ with you. That's just the players who were on the 1999 squad. And those are just the players that played in the NFL, not even including those who were in training camps only. If there are 13 players on the 2009 Gophers roster that play in the NFL, I will eat my hat.
Click to expand...

This kinda makes the thread pointless now, the 1999 team was *STACKED*.......
 

dpodoll68 said:
I think that:

Arland Bruce
Jack Brewer
Adam Haayer
Ben Hamilton
Ron Johnson
Mike Lehan
Karon Riley
John Schlecht
Thomas Tapeh
Ben Utecht
Greg "Stylez" White

...would beg to differ with you. That's just the players who were on the 1999 squad. And those are just the players that played in the NFL, not even including those who were in training camps only. If there are 13 players on the 2009 Gophers roster that play in the NFL, I will eat my hat.
Click to expand...

dpodoll, thank you for the list. Maybe, just maybe, we won't keep hearing that Brewster inherited a better team than Mason did, or that Mason did wonders with the same type of talent Brewster started with. For the record, I liked Mason and what he did for the U, but it was time to move on to another coach when we did.
 

thailleagle said:
This kinda makes the thread pointless now, the 1999 team was *STACKED*.......
Click to expand...

ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!!!

"Geezo Bezzo" was a great guy but he certainly had a lousy record at Minnesota. However, he did his share of recruiting his last year or so as the Gopher Head coach.

May he Rest in Peace.
 



Iceland12 said:
ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!!!

"Geezo Bezzo" was a great guy but he certainly had a lousy record at Minnesota. However, he did his share of recruiting his last year or so as the Gopher Head coach.

May he Rest in Peace.
Click to expand...

I was thinking about this the other day. His pay was directly tied to attendance. I was wondering if having to potentially focus on attendance rather than winning played a role in the poor on field performance as his recruiting was definitely o.k.
 

Were all those guys seniors?

dpodoll68 said:
I think that:

Arland Bruce
Jack Brewer
Adam Haayer
Ben Hamilton
Ron Johnson
Mike Lehan
Karon Riley
John Schlecht
Thomas Tapeh
Ben Utecht
Greg "Stylez" White
Jimmy Wyrick

...would beg to differ with you. That's just the players who were on the 1999 squad. And those are just the players that played in the NFL, not even including those who were in training camps only. If there are 14 players on the 2009 Gophers roster that play in the NFL, I will eat my hat.
Click to expand...
 

Looking back..."stacked" is the right word for that team in the Mase era. Don't know if they were more stacked on O or D, but they were loaded with talent. Maybe someone can explain why they didn't win it all or come very close. Injuries? Mase's failure to in-game adjust? Defensive collapses? Bad bounces?....
 

NewEngland_Gold said:
Looking back..."stacked" is the right word for that team in the Mase era. Don't know if they were more stacked on O or D, but they were loaded with talent. Maybe someone can explain why they didn't win it all or come very close..
Click to expand...


Off the top of my head:
Drew Brees
Nate Clement/Ahmed Plummer/Na'il Diggs/Ryan Pickett
Ron Dayne
 



My bad on forgetting RJ. I had thought that Hamilton, Tapeh & Utecht came along later, or weren't starting in 1999. And FTR, I wasn't counting guys who never got past training camp or NFL Europe. Still, you would have to admit that among that list Carter is the only one who had a notable NFL career (to be fair to Tapeh he's had to deal with some pretty horrific injuries). And even Carter had to overcome the perception he was too small. Not too many former Gophers out there sporting a Superbowl ring.

Your list though does point out Mason did inherit a lot more talent than Brewster. Other than Decker, who else is there as a current starter who you can say with a straight face is going to get drafted in the first 3 rounds? Triplett & Lawrence might be a 2nd day pick, or at least a free agent signing. Maybe Sherels too. Too early to tell on Stoudemire. As for all our linemen, I hope they're getting a solid education at the U that they can someday put to good use.
 

The 99 team had the talent and experience to win the BT. I always felt they underachieved. Many of the front liners were Sr & Jr's and were Wackers recruits except Schlecht, I think, who transferred from St. Cloud.

QB Cockerham-Sr. DE Riley-JR.
TB Hamer-Sr. DE Michals-Sr.
WR Bruce-SR DT Schlecht-Jr
WR Johnson-So DT Russ-Sr
TE Hass-Sr LB Hoffman-Jr
T Rawlings-Sr. LB Mezera-Jr
T Haayer-Jr, LB Poole-Jr/Hall Jr
G Hau-Sr DB Wyrick-Sr
G Roth-So DB Jones-So
C Hamilton-Jr DB Middlebrooks-So
WR Leverson-Sr SS Carter-Sr
 

NewEngland_Gold said:
Looking back..."stacked" is the right word for that team in the Mase era. Don't know if they were more stacked on O or D, but they were loaded with talent. Maybe someone can explain why they didn't win it all or come very close. Injuries? Mase's failure to in-game adjust? Defensive collapses? Bad bounces?....
Click to expand...

I could be wrong, (as unbelievable as that might be) but I think if that team would have beat the Badgers that year, instead of lose in OT, they would have gone to the Rose Bowl and been in a multi way tie for the conference title.
 

Haayer, Hamilton, and wyrick appear on the 96-97 roster.
Only Schlecht and brewer appeared the year after.
Carter an Bruce the next as Juco's, with Johnson and Lehan as freshmen.
Tapeh and Utecht in 99. never did find white.

quite a few minny kids in there.
 

GV, you are correct. If the Gophers had won that game we would have been in Pasadena. As I mentioned before, Mason displayed some truly bonehead coaching at the end of the first half that gave UW a chance to score, and then we lost in OT. My memory might be a little fuzzy, but I think we missed a very makeable FG in the 2nd half, too.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda. If Mason wins that game, maybe he's still coaching, or there's a bronze statue of smilin' Glen outside the student entrance of TCF, just like that statue of Barry you guys have in front of CR (given what his son did I always find it ironic its covered in birdpooh).
 

 

Hates Monikers said:
Recently there has been a lot of talk on this board about a signature win for Brewster. I guess a win over PSU or OSU would be nice, but I think too much is being made about that. Mason followed his win against OSU in 2000 with losses to Indiana, Northwestern and Wisconsin. Beating OSU was better than losing to them, and we finished 4-4 (Big Ten, 6-6 overall) that year instead of 3-5, so I guess that's good. But it didn't catapult us that year -- or the year after. We were 2-6 in 2001 and and 3-5 in 2002. I'm glad we have that victory to talk about today, but overall it didn't do much for us.

To me, it's important that the program build. AND that we start winning rivalry games, particularly since Iowa and Wisconsin aren't top 5 material. A "signature win" might be evidence that we're building. Or it may not.
Click to expand...

You demean some of the biggest victories in the program's history but I'll gladly take those few signature wins over 55-donut any day of the week.
 

Too Long in the Wasteland said:
Still, you would have to admit that among that list Carter is the only one who had a notable NFL career
Click to expand...

Depends on your definition of "notable". Jack Brewer played 4 seasons. Adam Haayer played 3. Ben Hamilton played 6. Mike Lehan played 6. Stylez (still active) has played 3. Jimmy Wyrick played 5. Ben Utecht played 4. Willie Middlebrooks played 5. To me, drawing a professional athlete's salary for multiple seasons is notable. But that's just me.

Too Long in the Wasteland said:
Not too many former Gophers out there sporting a Superbowl ring.
Click to expand...

I don't know anyone that has a Superbowl ring, but these former Gophers all have a Super Bowl ring:

Tony Dungy
Ben Utecht
Gary Russell
Bobby Bell
Brian Bonner
Tyrone Carter
Ray Hitchcock
Jim Fahnhorst
Keith Fahnhorst
Chip Lohmiller
Darrell Reid
Matt Spaeth
Bob Stein
Brian Williams
John Williams
 

 

MNCH said:
You demean some of the biggest victories in the program's history but I'll gladly take those few signature wins over 55-donut any day of the week.
Click to expand...

Well, that says absolutely nothing!

As long as we're being pointless, I'd take the win against NW or Air Force against Glen's losses to:

Ohio State - 34-3; 45-15; 44 -0
Iowa 52-28, 31-0
Wisconsin 48-12
Ohio University - 23-17

or worse yet Michigan 38-35 after having a 21 point lead or Texas Tech 44-41 after leading by over 30!

Though my judgement can also be questioned, I was happy Glen was extended!

The thing is we just don't know what is going to happen the rest of this season, though the loss Saturday seems to have confirmed for some that Brewster will never win another game.

I wonder if any of those same people took out a mortgage in 2006!
 

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