Gophers Best 10 games in the past 10 years

[Go Gophers Rah]

Here is my ranking of our best 10 games during the past 10 years:

1) Defeating #2 Penn State in 1999
2) Defeating #6 Ohio State in 2000
3) Defeating #11 (although highly overranked) Purdue in 2005
4) Defeating unranked Wisconsin in 2003
5) Defeating #21 Michigan in 2005
6) Defeating unranked Oregon in 2003 to finish 10-win season
7) Defeating #25 Arkansas in 2002
8) 45-0 beatdown of Illinois in 2004
9) Defeating Alabama (with the #2 rush defense in the country) in 2004
10) 41-10 win over Tulsa in 2005; they ended the season ranked #27

We'll have a couple of shots, I think, at adding a great win this year. I would love to add this year's Wisconsin game to the list (OSU, PSU or Michigan State wouldn't be bad either).

 

[grunkiejr]

This is a better list to get behind.

I personally enjoyed that Barber & Maroney both rushed for 100 yards against Bama (Barber did so in the first half) after the Tide had failed to allow a back to rush for more than 100 yards all season. The talk form their fans heading in to that game was how bad we would lose because we wouldn't be able to run on them.

The Michigan State 2005 game was pretty great too. The Gophers won 41-18. Maroney & Gary Russell both went down injured in the first half but Amir Pinnix emerged from out of nowhere to rush for 206 yards in a little over a half of work.

 

[Goldmember]

This is a better list to get behind.

I personally enjoyed that Barber & Maroney both rushed for 100 yards against Bama (Barber did so in the first half) after the Tide had failed to allow a back to rush for more than 100 yards all season. The talk form their fans heading in to that game was how bad we would lose because we wouldn't be able to run on them.

There was a huge blowout at Michigan State in there too when they were either ranked or supposed to be very good and their season collapsed after the loss. It was probably 2004 because I think we still had Barber & Maroney.

I always use the Alabama game and the win over Oregon to determine if someone who is negative is really a fan or not.

If they say something like "Alabama was down that year" or "the Sun Bowl is irrelevant" I know they either don't know what their talking about (i.e. They don't actually follow college football and are just regurgitating what they hear fans of other teams say so they can talk about it and feel knowledgeable), or are purposely trying to slam becuase they are fans of other teams.

 

[UptownMaroon&Gold]

I would throw in the 34-24 win over Iowa in 2006, I believe we needed to win that game to get to a bowl game. Even though Iowa was in a down year, watching a frustrated Drew Tate, throw INT after INT, get really pissed and then get benched, was pretty awesome. I also remember a great celebration with all of the hawkeye fans after the game.

 

[Go Gophers Rah]

The Oregon and Alabama wins were HUGE!
The Oregon win showed that we belonged in the top-25 and the arguement about the Alabama win could be turned around 180 degrees; even in a year when we underperformed (losing 5 of our last 6) we were good enough to beat a great defensive team.

 

[Monty519]

Beating Penn State and Ohio State in their houses in successive years has to be at or at least near the very top. Oregon was big cause it gave us 10 wins. Any Wisconsin or Iowa win lol.

 

[Goldmember]

The Oregon and Alabama wins were HUGE!
The Oregon win showed that we belonged in the top-25 and the arguement about the Alabama win could be turned around 180 degrees; even in a year when we underperformed (losing 5 of our last 6) we were good enough to beat a great defensive team.

I agree. I lived in the South durring these seasons. I came home a few times and was shocked to find that Minnesota football was at least as recognized nationally as it was locally. This may not have been true in parts of the country where college football was less popular. But real college football fans knew who Minnesota was.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

I hate to say it, but I lost money on the Alabama game. Seemed like a good bet at the time.

 

[gopher7]

Good list. I especially liked the wins over Alabama and Arkansas in the bowl games. For me though I would move the Michigan game up to #3.

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

I think the 2008 win vs Illinois was more impressive than the 45-0 home win in 2004. The victory last year was the only big upset that Brewster has recorded thusfar and the fact that it was on their homecoming makes it more impressive IMHO.