Chip Scoggins: In annals of Gophers heartache, this may be achiest

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Chip:

With 19 seconds left, Tracy Claeys lost his mind and didn’t exactly help his cause in landing the Gophers head coaching job full-time.

Seriously, what the heck was that?

In his first game as Jerry Kill’s replacement, Claeys apparently benched his punter in crunch time over one bad punt and then botched the final 19 seconds in one of the worst clock management sequences you’ll ever see.

Gophers football has experienced some painful, mind-boggling, ridiculous losses in its history, but what took place Saturday night might top them all.

http://www.startribune.com/in-annals-of-gophers-heartache-this-may-be-achiest/339149831/

Go Gophers!!
 

2003 Michigan is still the worst for me. That team had a real chance at a special season, that isn't at play this season.
 

BleedGopher said:
per Chip:

With 19 seconds left, Tracy Claeys lost his mind and didn’t exactly help his cause in landing the Gophers head coaching job full-time.

Seriously, what the heck was that?

In his first game as Jerry Kill’s replacement, Claeys apparently benched his punter in crunch time over one bad punt and then botched the final 19 seconds in one of the worst clock management sequences you’ll ever see.

Gophers football has experienced some painful, mind-boggling, ridiculous losses in its history, but what took place Saturday night might top them all.

http://www.startribune.com/in-annals-of-gophers-heartache-this-may-be-achiest/339149831/

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

No loss will ever be more painful than the 2003 Michigan one...The stakes may never rise to that level again for this program.
 

This loss doesn't even hit the board on the scale of Gopher misfortune.
 

On Big10 Networks Final Drive (Howard Griffith, Glen Mason, etc) they made the comment that the only reason the Gopher coaches could have made those calls in the last 19 seconds was that they thought the clock was stopped. In his post game comments Claeys said he knew the clock wasn't stopped. INCOMPREHENSIBLE.
 


The 2003 loss cost us the Rose Bowl (in all likelihood). This loss cost us the Foster Farms Bowl. It's not even close. 2005 Wisconsin was also worse, just to name two.
 

2003 Michigan was the worst because of what was on the line and also what it said about Glen Mason. There had already been a number of epic meltdowns under his watch, but that season felt different like maybe Glen could reach another level. I don't know how anyone could have ever had faith in Mason against after that game. It was painfully obvious that choking would always be a part of his program in big spots.

I think tonight hurt more than some because we had the exhilaration that we won (TD signal) then the replay...then seeing that clock tick down from 19 thinking "wtf...wtf....WTF IS GOING ON!!!!" but also the fact that it's been a very bad and emotional time to be a Minnesota sports fan and it looked like we were going to get a little something to smile about.

Some reasons why this game was important:

Chance to keep the Jug in Minnesota for a long time due to Michigan being off the schedule
Coaches auditioning to keep their jobs on more than an interim basis
Biggest recruiting weekend of the season
Packed house and a chance to give students and fans a "rush the field" moment
National TV in prime time in some markets

Pretty much every Gopher coach in football/basketball has had a moment where they had a chance to move forward and instead lost a heartbreaker and never recovered: You had Monson against Illinois, Mason against Michigan, Brewster against Northwestern, and Tubby against February. What's interesting is these moments where the coaches/teams seem to lack composure have more often than not come on our home field/court.
 

EG#9 said:
2003 Michigan was the worst because of what was on the line and also what it said about Glen Mason. There had already been a number of epic meltdowns under his watch, but that season felt different like maybe Glen could reach another level. I don't know how anyone could have ever had faith in Mason against after that game. It was painfully obvious that choking would always be a part of his program in big spots.

I think tonight hurt more than some because we had the exhilaration that we won (TD signal) then the replay...then seeing that clock tick down from 19 thinking "wtf...wtf....WTF IS GOING ON!!!!" but also the fact that it's been a very bad and emotional time to be a Minnesota sports fan and it looked like we were going to get a little something to smile about.

Some reasons why this game was important:

Chance to keep the Jug in Minnesota for a long time due to Michigan being off the schedule
Coaches auditioning to keep their jobs on more than an interim basis
Biggest recruiting weekend of the season
Packed house and a chance to give students and fans a "rush the field" moment
National TV in prime time in some markets

Pretty much every Gopher coach in football/basketball has had a moment where they had a chance to move forward and instead lost a heartbreaker and never recovered: You had Monson against Illinois, Mason against Michigan, Brewster against Northwestern, and Tubby against February. What's interesting is these moments where the coaches/teams seem to lack composure have more often than not come on our home field/court.
Click to expand...

Lol. Nice one. The win over Indiana was a rare one that went our way, but February still generally kicked Tubby's arse.
 

2003 was worse because of what was at stake and the size of the lead.

To me this one stings worse because the gophers kicked Michigan's backside and out gained them by over 30%.

2003 was a game where overall the two teams gained nearly identical yards and it ended with a field goal.
 



Ah, ye people of few years so confidently proclaiming 2003 as the worst ever. You should live through a game where 2 teams are ranked in the top 10, and one gets screwed by the refs to cost it the game against an even more hated rival. 1962 and the roughing call against Bobby Bell, folks, was easily the biggest kick in the balls for me. We intercept a pass to stop a drive towards the end of a game in Madison and Bobby Bell is called for roughing Ron Vanderkelen (sp?). The call itself was bogus and I think the Gophers protested the ball had been tipped anyway. 15 yards penalty on the roughing and another 15 on the bench and Wisconsin scored to win by a couple. The Gophers were a national power then and the stakes were much higher, although I feel just as sh*tty this morning as I did last night.
 

Your on the goal line with a chance, and fail to execute. How is that the achiest? Looking back the worst defeats in the program probably start with The University of Pacific against a team with Rickey Foggie and Darrell Thomprson. A game the failed to use Thompson in favor of a deep passing game. That was a failure on all levels. How about those Purdue games, take your pick. Of course you can throw in the blocked punt TD against Wisconsin. This was a game that was ours for the taking. We controlled our fate.
 

No sense in trying to rank our heartbreak games, really. But in addition to the fine points made by EG#9, above, let me add that we were in our house, a raucous Halloween night with a superb crowd & gritty, 2 touchdown underdog trying their darndest to give Coach Kill an appropriate sendoff to end the week & month of his sad resignation announcement. It appeared we had risen to the occasion as Wolitarsky slid into the end zone with the ball safely tucked away. Kill's veteran staff had 19 seconds, all the momentum, and a time out left. And they effectively managed to piss it all away in a fashion befitting the lowliest HS staff imaginable. Let's be clear here: even had Mitch somehow pushed the ball over for the winning TD, we'd still have to conclude that our staff was not up to the task. They blew it, and cost the players & fans a chance at a once-in-a-lifetime golden memory. Awful.
 




@celebrityhottub: RT @ACCSports: We have also suspended Minnesota’s coaching staff for whatever the hell they did at the end of the game.
 

Ski U Master said:
2003 Michigan is still the worst for me. That team had a real chance at a special season, that isn't at play this season.
Click to expand...
2003 Michigan collapse cost us a share of the B10 title and the Rose Bowl, so was much worse. This was a very close game in which the lead changed hands frequently. We could have won it in overtime with normal thinking at the end (kick the field goal!).
 

You are all just damn wimps...I'd rather be damn close and lose a heartbreaker than those stinking 49-7 humiliations all the damn time. I'd rather compete and lose than have to live with a more comfortable fan base like you people say you are by getting the crap kicked out of my Golden Gopher Football Program. And: I'd rather lose a trip to Pasadena with a heart breaking loss than to watch the kids have to get their brains beat in 56-0. I guess that must just be me because no one else around here seems to feel that way. At least if my heart was broken I know my team gave it ALL they had and it still wasn't enough. At least if my heart was broken it means I still care.

; 0 )

Hire TC & his STAFFERS now!
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
2003 Michigan collapse cost us a share of the B10 title and the Rose Bowl, so was much worse. This was a very close game in which the lead changed hands frequently. We could have won it in overtime with normal thinking at the end (kick the field goal!).
Click to expand...



This was a very close game where we out gained them by 150 yards.
That was a blowout where we out gained them by 10 yards.
 

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