Gophers are enjoying much more success in 2000's

[Gold Rush]

You can tell the Gophers are winning at a much higher clip these days than they were heading into the 21st century. From 1980-1999 the Gophers finished 86-136 and were 1-2 in Bowl games, all minor. From 2000-2019 they have gone 128-122 and have gone 7-7 in Bowl games -- that is a huge increase of success. (It should be noted that John Gutekunst went 6-5 three years and did not get into a bowl game - that would be an additional 3 bowl games if they were played in today's era and also they switched to a 12 game schedule in 2002.)

This is a huge increase - about 2 more wins a year than the previous 20 years. It has taken a LONG time to get out of the Big Ten wasteland and it has been fun to see the playing field get a little more level for the Gophers. The coaches since 2000 have been better and there has been more support from the University Presidents than before. When you look at the group of 1980-1999 coaches, outside of Lou Holtz who was only for 2 years, none were spectacular and we enjoyed far more suffering than success!! Since 2000, Mason, Kill, Claeys and Fleck have all risen the bar and are a step up. Brewster was a disaster and a horrible hire but the other coaches have been pretty solid.

Looking around me at the games, I am surprised at how much younger the Gopher crowd has gotten. This might be in part because I am getting older, but it seems like there are a lot more students and younger people just out of college than there were 10-20 years ago. The Gophers ineptitude for many years in the 1980's and 1990's lost a whole generation of fans but there are a lot of new ones coming in and they are most certainly welcome!!

So what will the NEXT 20 years bring?? Hopefully we can continue moving forward but that will be difficult. If we can take the same step forward as we did the last 20 years though, we have a lot of bowl games and big wins coming our way!!! And how about a Rose Bowl or two in there, too!!!

 

[restovich]

Quick perspective from a 61 year old fan who has followed the Gophs since 1969 Murray Warmath days. I used to hope to be respectable against teams like Purdue and Nebraska. Now, year-to-year, I am really not surprised when the Gophers beat those teams.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Mason elevated the program back to respectability and for the most part we have remained in that area. We will really turn the corner when we hit a point where we are consistently finishing above .500 in conference play (since .500 is no longer an option with the 9 game conf schedule).

It is what Iowa and Wisconsin have done so well, even in their down years they are still typically close to .500 in league play.

Fleck seems to have us on the right track. Obviously 2019 was special, 2020 was weird but we were hanging around .500 in the shortened season and it would take a pretty bad collapse for us not to win at least 5 conf games this season.

Not where we want to be yet but closer than we have been for a long time.

 

[gophernut1]

In the 80's and 90's the only reason one cheered for the MN Gophers was because you went there and/or cheered on MN sports teams. It was hard to be a "fan" and there was no such thing as a casual fan because there rarely were games worth watching. Mason changed that in MN and gave us some games worthy of our time. Unfortunately he also gave us a ton of heartbreak as well. The good thing is he showed us what could be and we saw it come together in 2019. If we can keep winning and beat Iowa and WI you will have a fan base that will explode. We are so close and hope Fleck stays on to watch the journey.

 

[RememberMurray]

I'd like to thank the OP for gathering the data and presenting it here. Well done, Gold Rush.

 

[MNVCGUY]

In the 80's and 90's the only reason one cheered for the MN Gophers was because you went there and/or cheered on MN sports teams. It was hard to be a "fan" and there was no such thing as a casual fan because there rarely were games worth watching. Mason changed that in MN and gave us some games worthy of our time. Unfortunately he also gave us a ton of heartbreak as well. The good thing is he showed us what could be and we saw it come together in 2019. If we can keep winning and beat Iowa and WI you will have a fan base that will explode. We are so close and hope Fleck stays on to watch the journey.

Yeah, this State really wants to get behind the Gophers but everytime the team looks like they are about to break through, something happens that drives things back the other direction.

If we get to the point where we are consistent contenders in the West, the fan support will be there.

 

[Otis]

The Gophers just have to stay at the knocking on the door level long enough to break through!
Concern will be when we have to replace once every twenty years offensive line crew. That’s where recruiting needs to kick in with the next man up philosophy.
Fleck can probably do that!

 

[MplsGopher]

You can't take away that this current 20 years has been a significant improvement over the previous 20 years. That is fine.


But I just have a feeling that, with few exceptions (Rutgers being an obvious one), I feel like almost every Big Ten team has at least one of the following as true:

- have a similar or better type of overall W-L and bowl resume as we have in the current 20 years

- or have had "jolts" of success, even be it a single season, that have reached higher peaks than we have.

The 2019 season actually makes that last one fairly difficult, but that really is our one "jolt", I think? I mean, even teams like Purdue went to the Rose Bowl under Brees, or IU had flashes before. Might need more than 20 years, but 20 years is also arbitrary.

 

[Gold Rush]

You can't take away that this current 20 years has been a significant improvement over the previous 20 years. That is fine.


But I just have a feeling that, with few exceptions (Rutgers being an obvious one), I feel like almost every Big Ten team has at least one of the following as true:

- have a similar or better type of overall W-L and bowl resume as we have in the current 20 years

- or have had "jolts" of success, even be it a single season, that have reached higher peaks than we have.

The 2019 season actually makes that last one fairly difficult, but that really is our one "jolt", I think? I mean, even teams like Purdue went to the Rose Bowl under Brees, or IU had flashes before. Might need more than 20 years, but 20 years is also arbitrary.

MPLS -- It IS true most other Big Ten teams have enjoyed more success than we have and most have been able to make it to the Rose Bowl at some point. It hasn't been easy watching some of these games and I challenge anyone to still be a fan of a team that has induced so much misery over the years!! lol. But the truth is things are getting better and there is hope for even more success. I think when you have stuck with a team for so long, it makes that 2019 season even MORE memorable! When OSU beats Penn St. they don't storm the field - they prob shrug their shoulders and say meh -- been there done that!

We are very close to heading into uncharted waters this year. Excitement is building and it's fun to be a Gopher football fan right now!!

 

[noamfromm]

You can't take away that this current 20 years has been a significant improvement over the previous 20 years. That is fine.


But I just have a feeling that, with few exceptions (Rutgers being an obvious one), I feel like almost every Big Ten team has at least one of the following as true:

- have a similar or better type of overall W-L and bowl resume as we have in the current 20 years

- or have had "jolts" of success, even be it a single season, that have reached higher peaks than we have.

The 2019 season actually makes that last one fairly difficult, but that really is our one "jolt", I think? I mean, even teams like Purdue went to the Rose Bowl under Brees, or IU had flashes before. Might need more than 20 years, but 20 years is also arbitrary.

It terms of jolts, you are right that every team except for Indiana and Rutgers has had a higher peak -- and Indiana has only had 3 winning seasons with 5 bowl games since 2000. We've had 10 and gone to 15 bowl games. You are damn close to being right but we've got one on Indiana!

 

[IceBoxGopher]

It's been a really great turnaround when you look at the last 40 years. Here's the win loss records from each decade and the winning percentage:

• 1900-1909: 80-10-7. Winning percentage 86.08
• 1910-1919: 52-13-4. Winning percentage 78.57
• 1920-1929: 43-28-7. Winning Percentage 59.62
• 1930-1939: 57-19-6. Winning Percentage 73.17
• 1940-1949: 60-27-1. Winning Percentage 68.75
• 1950-1959: 34-49-7. Winning Percentage 41.67
• 1960-1969: 57-36-3. Winning Percentage 60.94
• 1970-1979: 50-57-2. Winning Percentage 46.79
• 1980-1989: 46-65-2. Winning Percentage 41.59
• 1990-1999: 40-72. Winning Percentage 35.71
• 2000-2009: 62-62. Winning Percentage 50
• 2010-2019: 66-61. Winning Percentage 51.97

There was a clear downward trend from the end of the 60s until the 90s, and to get it turned around and on a positive direction is really great to see. Mason, Kill and Fleck all deserve credit for being able to get the program on better footing.

Also, how about the last decade. The most wins in a 10 year stretch since 1900-1909. Of course the number of games is higher, but still, good to see.

 

[FireDaveLee]

Good post. I thought about it a little & I attribute the start of the turn around with Mason. A few other factors:

• More Bowl Games: Like original poster said, Gutey would have gone to a few more bowl games under today's standards.
• Non-Conference Schedule: Don't know if this should be credited to Mason or just getting smart about where the program was at that point in time, but look at the non-conference schedules during the late 80s/early 90s compared to late 90s/early 00s. Not only was there at least 1 "power 5" school at a minimum, but some of them were big time players. Oklahoma in 85 (national champs) & 86, Cal in 87, Washington State in 88, Nebraska in 89 & 90, Colorado & Pitt in 91 & 92, Kansas State in 93 & 94, Syracuse in 95 & 96. 98 Seemed to be when a change started to happen, with the only BCS school on the non-conference schedule between 98-05 was Baylor ('00 & scheduled for '01, canceled due to 9/11), which wasn't exactly a power at the time. The philosophy at the time was smart because that's where the program was, but it needed to start changing & seemed Mason was never a fan of that, almost dragged into having to schedule a home & home with Cal.
• Commitment: After the departure of Hasselmo, it seemed there started to be a commitment to football coming from Yudof & Mark Dienhardt, resulting in the hiring of Mason. While some probably want a bigger commitment, it seems that there really hasn't been an "anti football" president since. The ultimate commitment has been through a new stadium & now the athletics village.

 

[cjbfbp]

We are very close to heading into uncharted waters this year. Excitement is building and it's fun to be a Gopher football fan right now!!

I agree it's fun but I wouldn't say we're in uncharted waters. Although the coach is different (better I think!), this team is similar to the team in 2016 and somewhat similar to the team in 2014 (without the bell cow RB but with a better QB). Like those it's a veteran team and, like 2016, it has a very manageable schedule. Like 2014, it lost to a team it was expected to beat (losing to IL in 2014 wasn't as bad as losing to BGSU in 2021 but both of them were surprises). We're not quite as good as the 2019 team (mostly due to a lesser passing game) but our offensive line might be a bit better and our defense has been a bit more consistently good after its first two games. Under the circumstances, we should be good this year and most of us expected that.

Next year should be a rebuilding year and the following year's schedule is brutal. If we can go 7-5 and 6-6 over the next two years I would consider those victories. Then, if we can get to 8, 9, or 10 wins in the two years following those, I think Fleck will have delivered us to a very good state over his first nine years (I hope he's here at least that long).

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

It's hard to completely gauge progress strictly by W/L records. 110+ years ago the big teams faced HS teams or what is now considered D3 colleges. Conversely todays non-conference slates are purposefully designed to give 2-3 extra wins a year whereas 50 years ago that wasn't always the case.

So in just looking at conference records by decade, this gives us an accurate guide as to how we fare against our peers. (I added these up really quickly....apologizes if I mess up somewhere)

1896-1900: 5-10-1 (.344)
1901-1910: 20-6-2 (.750)
1911-1920: 24-24-2 (.500)
1921-1930: 21-20-5 (.511)
1931-1940: 38-10-5 (.764)
1941-1950: 30-28-2 (.517)
1951-1960: 28-34-6 (.456)
1961-1970: 42-26-2 (.614)
1971-1980: 37-44-1 (.457)
1981-1990: 29-53-2 (.357)
1991-2000: 20-59-0 (.339)
2001-2010: 28-52-0 (.350)
2011-2020: 35-48-0 (.422)

The pct since the 60's is like a bowl. We seem to be back to the 70s level. Let's hope we can replicate the 60's this decade!

 

[Gold Rush]

It's been a really great turnaround when you look at the last 40 years. Here's the win loss records from each decade and the winning percentage:

• 1900-1909: 80-10-7. Winning percentage 86.08
• 1910-1919: 52-13-4. Winning percentage 78.57
• 1920-1929: 43-28-7. Winning Percentage 59.62
• 1930-1939: 57-19-6. Winning Percentage 73.17
• 1940-1949: 60-27-1. Winning Percentage 68.75
• 1950-1959: 34-49-7. Winning Percentage 41.67
• 1960-1969: 57-36-3. Winning Percentage 60.94
• 1970-1979: 50-57-2. Winning Percentage 46.79
• 1980-1989: 46-65-2. Winning Percentage 41.59
• 1990-1999: 40-72. Winning Percentage 35.71
• 2000-2009: 62-62. Winning Percentage 50
• 2010-2019: 66-61. Winning Percentage 51.97

There was a clear downward trend from the end of the 60s until the 90s, and to get it turned around and on a positive direction is really great to see. Mason, Kill and Fleck all deserve credit for being able to get the program on better footing.

Also, how about the last decade. The most wins in a 10 year stretch since 1900-1909. Of course the number of games is higher, but still, good to see.

That sounds like it would be a good trivia question - I will have to remember that one!

 

[rugger14]

Our recent records against Becky and Herky are awful. I am greedy. I want to be above .500 against Wisconsin, Iowa, and Nebraska over a 20 year period. Not combined but individually an above 500 record against each of those teams. If we do that I think everything else will take care of itself.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Our recent records against Becky and Herky are awful. I am greedy. I want to be above .500 against Wisconsin, Iowa, and Nebraska over a 20 year period. Not combined but individually an above 500 record against each of those teams. If we do that I think everything else will take care of itself.

The Brian Ferentz era will help with half of that.

 

[IceBoxGopher]

It's hard to completely gauge progress strictly by W/L records. 110+ years ago the big teams faced HS teams or what is now considered D3 colleges. Conversely todays non-conference slates are purposefully designed to give 2-3 extra wins a year whereas 50 years ago that wasn't always the case.

So in just looking at conference records by decade, this gives us an accurate guide as to how we fare against our peers. (I added these up really quickly....apologizes if I mess up somewhere)

1896-1900: 5-10-1 (.344)
1901-1910: 20-6-2 (.750)
1911-1920: 24-24-2 (.500)
1921-1930: 21-20-5 (.511)
1931-1940: 38-10-5 (.764)
1941-1950: 30-28-2 (.517)
1951-1960: 28-34-6 (.456)
1961-1970: 42-26-2 (.614)
1971-1980: 37-44-1 (.457)
1981-1990: 29-53-2 (.357)
1991-2000: 20-59-0 (.339)
2001-2010: 28-52-0 (.350)
2011-2020: 45-48-0 (.422)

The pct since the 60's is like a bowl. We seem to be back to the 70s level. Let's hope we can replicate the 60's this decade!

That's definitely true. Take a season like 1954 where the Gophers went 7-2. Today, we would have had a few more games, one of them probably a Group of 5 team, and that team plays in a New Years Six bowl.

 

[MplsGopher]

It terms of jolts, you are right that every team except for Indiana and Rutgers has had a higher peak -- and Indiana has only had 3 winning seasons with 5 bowl games since 2000. We've had 10 and gone to 15 bowl games. You are damn close to being right but we've got one on Indiana!

IU, I was thinking Randle El, but seems he was great but the team wasn't.

I mean, IU was ranked top 15 in 2020 ... but anyway.

 

[MplsGopher]

I agree it's fun but I wouldn't say we're in uncharted waters. Although the coach is different (better I think!), this team is similar to the team in 2016 and somewhat similar to the team in 2014 (without the bell cow RB but with a better QB). Like those it's a veteran team and, like 2016, it has a very manageable schedule. Like 2014, it lost to a team it was expected to beat (losing to IL in 2014 wasn't as bad as losing to BGSU in 2021 but both of them were surprises). We're not quite as good as the 2019 team (mostly due to a lesser passing game) but our offensive line might be a bit better and our defense has been a bit more consistently good after its first two games. Under the circumstances, we should be good this year and most of us expected that.

Next year should be a rebuilding year and the following year's schedule is brutal. If we can go 7-5 and 6-6 over the next two years I would consider those victories. Then, if we can get to 8, 9, or 10 wins in the two years following those, I think Fleck will have delivered us to a very good state over his first nine years (I hope he's here at least that long).

I'm hoping we can modulate some of these "big swings" using the transfer portal, to start "evening out" that the big helmet schools scoop up most of the big time recruits.

They can't all play, at those schools, and the ones who do want to play ..... well, come here!

 

[fmlizard]

80s and 90s kid who grew up in Nebraska, wisconsin, and Michigan with 0 alumni in my family. Fan since I was a 5 year old. No idea why. Now almost 20 years as an alum. It is a lot better than the old days when the idea of beating Nebraska and Colorado in the same year would have been acid trip stuff

 

[cjbfbp]

I'm hoping we can modulate some of these "big swings" using the transfer portal, to start "evening out" that the big helmet schools scoop up most of the big time recruits.

They can't all play, at those schools, and the ones who do want to play ..... well, come here!

Good point! The transfer portal should help us as fewer blue chip recruits from higher level teams will be inclined to wait around for 3 or 4 years to get their chance. I suspect that Fleck will try to get 3 or 4 for next season given that we will lose a fair number of significant personnel from this team.

Having some down years is all right but if we can minimize those to one (or two at the most) every decade we'll really be a pretty good program.

 

[imthewalrus]

Mason elevated the program back to respectability and for the most part we have remained in that area. We will really turn the corner when we hit a point where we are consistently finishing above .500 in conference play (since .500 is no longer an option with the 9 game conf schedule).

It is what Iowa and Wisconsin have done so well, even in their down years they are still typically close to .500 in league play.

Fleck seems to have us on the right track. Obviously 2019 was special, 2020 was weird but we were hanging around .500 in the shortened season and it would take a pretty bad collapse for us not to win at least 5 conf games this season.

Not where we want to be yet but closer than we have been for a long time.

Well stated and I think, very true. Beat Northwestern Gopher footballers!

 

[imthewalrus]

It's been a really great turnaround when you look at the last 40 years. Here's the win loss records from each decade and the winning percentage:

• 1900-1909: 80-10-7. Winning percentage 86.08
• 1910-1919: 52-13-4. Winning percentage 78.57
• 1920-1929: 43-28-7. Winning Percentage 59.62
• 1930-1939: 57-19-6. Winning Percentage 73.17
• 1940-1949: 60-27-1. Winning Percentage 68.75
• 1950-1959: 34-49-7. Winning Percentage 41.67
• 1960-1969: 57-36-3. Winning Percentage 60.94
• 1970-1979: 50-57-2. Winning Percentage 46.79
• 1980-1989: 46-65-2. Winning Percentage 41.59
• 1990-1999: 40-72. Winning Percentage 35.71
• 2000-2009: 62-62. Winning Percentage 50
• 2010-2019: 66-61. Winning Percentage 51.97

There was a clear downward trend from the end of the 60s until the 90s, and to get it turned around and on a positive direction is really great to see. Mason, Kill and Fleck all deserve credit for being able to get the program on better footing.

Also, how about the last decade. The most wins in a 10 year stretch since 1900-1909. Of course the number of games is higher, but still, good to see.

Well done IceBox! This is a great thread!

 

[imthewalrus]

Good point! The transfer portal should help us as fewer blue chip recruits from higher level teams will be inclined to wait around for 3 or 4 years to get their chance. I suspect that Fleck will try to get 3 or 4 for next season given that we will lose a fair number of significant personnel from this team.

Having some down years is all right but if we can minimize those to one (or two at the most) every decade we'll really be a pretty good program.

I am impressed with your realism. You get the fact that for most BT teams, the expectation of winning the conference or the division every year is unrealistic. A fan can still be a fan as long as the team is competitive with most of the teams within the conference. Hence, for me the BT win/loss record over the course of time identifies how a BT program or coach ranks as a BT program/coach.

The two BT programs that the Gopher program…the Gopher coach need to be always compared to are Iowa and Wisconsin.

During the past twenty five years: it has been a painful comparison for the Gopher program/coaches. Become competitive with Iowa/Wisconsin and the BT take WILL take note of the PROUD Gopher program! It CAN and WILL happen. Run the ball & stop the run. That is the key to competing with Iowa & Wisconsin. Strong/physical football. I believe Coach Fleck understands that! That is reason enough for this old Gopher fan to believe Coach Fleck just may make Iowa and Wisconsin take note of Gopher Football. When that happens: the BT conference will be rebalanced.

Then Minnesota will be a pretty damn good football program!

 

[RememberMurray]

I am impressed with your realism. You get the fact that for most BT teams, the expectation of winning the conference or the division every year is unrealistic. A fan can still be a fan as long as the team is competitive with most of the teams within the conference. Hence, for me the BT win/loss record over the course of time identifies how a BT program or coach ranks as a BT program/coach.

The two BT programs that the Gopher program…the Gopher coach need to be always compared to are Iowa and Wisconsin.

During the past twenty five years: it has been a painful comparison for the Gopher program/coaches. Become competitive with Iowa/Wisconsin and the BT take WILL take note of the PROUD Gopher program! It CAN and WILL happen. Run the ball & stop the run. That is the key to competing with Iowa & Wisconsin. Strong/physical football. I believe Coach Fleck understands that! That is reason enough for this old Gopher fan to believe Coach Fleck just may make Iowa and Wisconsin take note of Gopher Football. When that happens: the BT conference will be rebalanced.

Then Minnesota will be a pretty damn good football program!

You nailed it.

Consider this: in two of the last three seasons, Minnesota has had a very real shot at winning the West. The one year we didn't have a real chance was the COVID season.

The next step is beating Iowa, or Wisconsin, or both.

We're knocking at the door. Time to kick the damn thing in.

 

[Otis]

You nailed it.

Consider this: in two of the last three seasons, Minnesota has had a very real shot at winning the West. The one year we didn't have a real chance was the COVID season.

The next step is beating Iowa, or Wisconsin, or both.

We're knocking at the door. Time to kick the damn thing in.

This could very well be the year! We have the O line to bash away on the door, a defense to prop up our door and this year that door doesn’t look as strong as it usually does!
Iowa and Wisconsin are more beatable this year than they have been at any time in the past decade. At the same time!
Go Gophers!

 

[Great Plains Gopher]

You can tell the Gophers are winning at a much higher clip these days than they were heading into the 21st century. From 1980-1999 the Gophers finished 86-136 and were 1-2 in Bowl games, all minor. From 2000-2019 they have gone 128-122 and have gone 7-7 in Bowl games -- that is a huge increase of success. (It should be noted that John Gutekunst went 6-5 three years and did not get into a bowl game - that would be an additional 3 bowl games if they were played in today's era and also they switched to a 12 game schedule in 2002.)

This is a huge increase - about 2 more wins a year than the previous 20 years. It has taken a LONG time to get out of the Big Ten wasteland and it has been fun to see the playing field get a little more level for the Gophers. The coaches since 2000 have been better and there has been more support from the University Presidents than before. When you look at the group of 1980-1999 coaches, outside of Lou Holtz who was only for 2 years, none were spectacular and we enjoyed far more suffering than success!! Since 2000, Mason, Kill, Claeys and Fleck have all risen the bar and are a step up. Brewster was a disaster and a horrible hire but the other coaches have been pretty solid.

Looking around me at the games, I am surprised at how much younger the Gopher crowd has gotten. This might be in part because I am getting older, but it seems like there are a lot more students and younger people just out of college than there were 10-20 years ago. The Gophers ineptitude for many years in the 1980's and 1990's lost a whole generation of fans but there are a lot of new ones coming in and they are most certainly welcome!!

So what will the NEXT 20 years bring?? Hopefully we can continue moving forward but that will be difficult. If we can take the same step forward as we did the last 20 years though, we have a lot of bowl games and big wins coming our way!!! And how about a Rose Bowl or two in there, too!!!

Very true. Thanks for this perspective. The new stadium is a bonus, too.