Gophers were officially co-champions of the West

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Great Plains Gopher

Great Plains Gopher

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We were kicking this question around a while back - whether the Gophers were officially co-champions because they lost head-to-head to Wisconsin and/or the fact the Badgers did better in the division. Got an email answer from Adam Augustine, B10 Commissioner for Communications: only the full conference standing counts and both teams were 7-2, hence co-champions. Some may remember 1960, when Gophers and Iowa were co-champions, but Minnesota won the head-to-head.
 

Unless it comes from Kevin Warren, many will refuse to accept it.
 


The way they beat down Auburn legitimized that the 2019 season was no fluke.
 

Shouldn't they get some kind of trophy or award? PJ Could tweet a picture.
 


This wasn't ever in question, but cool thread, bro.
 


They should do something. The thing is, now that its a 7-team division it makes it an even better accomplishment. Back in the day, many conferences only had 7-8 teams and sharing this division title would have been the equivalent of sharing one of those conference titles.
 




metrolax said:
They should do something. The thing is, now that its a 7-team division it makes it an even better accomplishment. Back in the day, many conferences only had 7-8 teams and sharing this division title would have been the equivalent of sharing one of those conference titles.
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True. Most of Nebraska’s conference titles are the big 8.
 


Was there some mystery?

The B1G tweeted it out a while back. I figured that was as official as it gets.
 




Putting up some sort of banner would cheapen what has been done in the past and could have been done this past year. Personally, I would find it bragging about a near miss. But, for some "kissing their sister" is as good as it gets in life. "We,re number three!! We're number three!!"
 

Veritas said:
Putting up some sort of banner would cheapen what has been done in the past and could have been done this past year. Personally, I would find it bragging about a near miss. But, for some "kissing their sister" is as good as it gets in life. "We,re number three!! We're number three!!"
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We were co-champions of the west this year. Several of the other years where we show Big Ten titles in the stadium we were co-champions.
 

John Galt said:
We were co-champions of the west this year. Several of the other years where we show Big Ten titles in the stadium we were co-champions.
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I have no problem with the Gophers being recognized as Co-Big 10 West Champs in record books and media guides.

Having it displayed in the stadium would be a kick-in-the-gut reminder every game of having a 2 up lead with 3 to play and still not making the trip to Indianapolis.
 

John Galt said:
We were co-champions of the west this year. Several of the other years where we show Big Ten titles in the stadium we were co-champions.
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Yeah, I really don't get why this is so hard for a handful of people (Veritas) to accept. A while back someone tried to equate it to UCF claiming a fictional national championship.

Wisconsin and Minnesota both finished with 7-2 records in the West, therefore Minnesota and Wisconsin are co-champions of the West division.

Does it suck that Wisconsin won the tie breaker and got to play for the Big Ten title......Yep

But it doesn't change the fact that we were co-champions of the division with them.
 

Ope3 said:
I have no problem with the Gophers being recognized as Co-Big 10 West Champs in record books and media guides.

Having it displayed in the stadium would be a kick-in-the-gut reminder every game of having a 2 up lead with 3 to play and still not making the trip to Indianapolis.
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Agree to disagree on this one. Have no issues having 2019 displayed in the stadium as a division championship because that is exactly what it was.

If some chose to look at the year and lament about what could have been that is on them. I will chose to look at 2019 as a phenomenal season that hopefully signified the arrival of the program as a team to be reckoned with in the Big Ten.

It is unfortunate we weren't able to get it done and win the division outright but being a co-champion in a year where we were picked to finish 6th by most is a heck of an accomplishment in my book. When we get to the point where winning divisions and Big Ten titles is a common occurrence around here we can take 2019 down based on the shame of not winning the division outright that year.

For me, being reminded of 2019 will be a good thing. 11 wins, 2 wins over top 10 teams, gameday coming to campus, being in the CFP picture late in the year.....the potential was there for even more but this was a historic season for a program that hasn't had many of those in 50+ years.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Yeah, I really don't get why this is so hard for a handful of people (Veritas) to accept. A while back someone tried to equate it to UCF claiming a fictional national championship.

Wisconsin and Minnesota both finished with 7-2 records in the West, therefore Minnesota and Wisconsin are co-champions of the West division.

Does it suck that Wisconsin won the tie breaker and got to play for the Big Ten title......Yep

But it doesn't change the fact that we were co-champions of the division with them.
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Yes, but in the name of common decency do not put up some sort of banner equating our clear second in the West with being co Big Ten champions. It would be clear and embarassing bragging over being third out of fourteen. Wonderfull, but not best of anything. Who brags about third best without looking phoney?
 

To be honest, "co-champion" doesn't sit quite right with me. Seems to me that the best terminology to recognize the team's accomplishment this season is "tied for first place, lost the championship on the first tie-breaker".
 

Is there an actual award, trophy or something for being co-champion of the West? Fine either way, I sum up our season this way: "We beat the team that beat Alabama and Oregon".
 

Haven't ever been to Camp Randall -- do they have banners hanging in their stadium? BTW, the proposed upgrades to that stadium look really ugly.
 

Veritas said:
Yes, but in the name of common decency do not put up some sort of banner equating our clear second in the West with being co Big Ten champions. It would be clear and embarassing bragging over being third out of fourteen. Wonderfull, but not best of anything. Who brags about third best without looking phoney?
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If we hang a banner claiming we are co-champions of the Big Ten then yeah that would be pretty dumb since we are not. And to be clear I don't think I have ever heard anyone try to claim that we are. We are co-champions of the Big Ten West Division.
 


Livingat45north said:
Haven't ever been to Camp Randall -- do they have banners hanging in their stadium? BTW, the proposed upgrades to that stadium look really ugly.
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I am sure they needed the seating and office space but I have always thought it was a shame they closed off the one end of the stadium and blocked the field house. Aesthetically it was one of the cooler looking features of the stadium.
 

Ski U Master said:
We shouldn't hang banners or have a list of division championships in the stadium. Conference championships and better only.
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If we were Ohio State I might agree with you on that one. For everyone else I don't see a problem with noting division titles as well.
 

MNVCGUY said:
If we were Ohio State I might agree with you on that one. For everyone else I don't see a problem with noting division titles as well.
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Another "participation" trophy. Bronze medal champion. Excellent, but....
 

MNVCGUY said:
If we were Ohio State I might agree with you on that one. For everyone else I don't see a problem with noting division titles as well.
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"We got 2nd (or 3rd) in the conference! YAY!"
Keep it in the media guide, enjoy it in the moment, but don't post it in the stadium as a great achievement.
 

Veritas said:
Another "participation" trophy. Bronze medal champion. Excellent, but....
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Tying for the best record in your division is not a participation trophy. It is an accomplishment that means you had a great season. Not as good as winning the conference but it is far better then being an also ran.

Clearly you follow the Ricky Bobby school of thought where if "you ain't first your last".
 

Hanging a banner in the stadium would be like this:
screen-shot-2015-06-11-at-4-08-03-pm.png
 

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