If you could go to one Gopher game...

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MinnMarchDTF

MinnMarchDTF

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from the PAST, which one would you go to?

I'd want to go to the 1962 Rose Bowl to see our largest margin of victory in a bowl game.
 

October 31, 1903 vs Michigan. The Jug is born
 

I'd go to the 1903 Little Brown Jug game. The rivalry was already there, but this game made it legend. Maybe there should be football reenactors.
 

My pick would be "The Battle of the Giants", the November 9, 1940 game in front of 60,000 fans at Memorial Stadium - undefeated #2 Minnesota against undefeated #3 Michigan. Michigan was led by 1940 Heisman Trophy winner HB Tom Harmon, FB Bob Westfall, and T Ox Wistert. Minnesota was led by HB Sonny Franck (#3 in 1940 Heisman voting), 1941 Heisman Trophy winner HB Bruce Smith, and T Dick Wildung. All six of these players, along with both head coaches (Bierman and Crisler) are members of the College Football Hall of Fame, meaning that there were 8 future HOFers involved in this game alone. The Gophers won 7-6 for their 4th national title, and defeated Michigan again in 1941 to win a 2nd straight national title. Interestingly, Michigan lost only 5 games total in the 4 seasons 1938-1941, and 4 of those 5 losses were to Minnesota. Tom Harmon is still considered one of the greatest college football players ever, and the Franck/Smith backfield at Minnesota is considered possibly the best RB combo in college football history.
 

My pick would be the 1986 Michigan game. I listened to it on radio-yelling and screaming at my old transistor radio. Richie Foggie is my favorite gopher player and it would have been awesome to have seen this game live!
 


Pick one for me from anytime in the past when we used to snoose Nebraska and Wisconsin.
 

So much history with Michigan. I'm happy that we can play each other every year from now on. The story of the Jug makes it my favorite traveling trophy.
 

1960 game Iowa at Memorial Stadium. I remember staying glued to the radio listening to Ray. As was a lot of the state. Iowa came in ranked number one, and we pretty much beat the hell out of them. Tom Brown manhandled their line especially their All-American center named Bill VanBuren(?). Stephens, Munsey, Hall, Hook, Bell, Campbell were some other names from that game that I pretty much worshipped.

That game got us the consensus 1960 National Championshipship, and, if I'm not mistaken, it's been generally tough times since.
 

dpodoll68 said:
My pick would be "The Battle of the Giants", the November 9, 1940 game in front of 60,000 fans at Memorial Stadium - undefeated #2 Minnesota against undefeated #3 Michigan. Michigan was led by 1940 Heisman Trophy winner HB Tom Harmon, FB Bob Westfall, and T Ox Wistert. Minnesota was led by HB Sonny Franck (#3 in 1940 Heisman voting), 1941 Heisman Trophy winner HB Bruce Smith, and T Dick Wildung. All six of these players, along with both head coaches (Bierman and Crisler) are members of the College Football Hall of Fame, meaning that there were 8 future HOFers involved in this game alone. The Gophers won 7-6 for their 4th national title, and defeated Michigan again in 1941 to win a 2nd straight national title. Interestingly, Michigan lost only 5 games total in the 4 seasons 1938-1941, and 4 of those 5 losses were to Minnesota. Tom Harmon is still considered one of the greatest college football players ever, and the Franck/Smith backfield at Minnesota is considered possibly the best RB combo in college football history.
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This game often eludes me when I think of some of the epic ones in Gopher history. Nice recap, dpodoll: you've convinced me to agree with you.

And the stat I've bolded is something I had never heard before. Very impressive. Says a lot about both programs during that time. Hope we can recapture that level of rivalry with Michigan.
 



MinnMarchDTF said:
from the PAST, which one would you go to?
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Mine would be the 2012 National Championship game. Q just went off, and became my favorite Gopher of all time.

~Unregistered User - Voted "Most Likely to Travel Back in Time" - Class of 2036~
 

This a little like trying to pick the best beer I ever drank (all of them?!?). The bank home opener against Air Force was in the Top 5. Last year's game against Iowa was up there too.
 

Not sure which one I would go to. The two best games I have been to as a gopher fan would probably be Wisconsin in 2003 and last years game against Iowa.
 




1928 Wisconsin

Watching Nagurski dominate the BADgers on both sides of the ball would have been f'ing awesome. Probably any game watching Bronko would have been awesome.
 

I think my favorite memory from a game is 2005 Purdue. Closely followed by the 2003 Sun Bowl. Historical game? 1977 Michigan.
 

Mulligan said:
1960 game Iowa at Memorial Stadium. I remember staying glued to the radio listening to Ray. As was a lot of the state. Iowa came in ranked number one, and we pretty much beat the hell out of them. Tom Brown manhandled their line especially their All-American center named Bill VanBuren(?). Stephens, Munsey, Hall, Hook, Bell, Campbell were some other names from that game that I pretty much worshipped.

That game got us the consensus 1960 National Championshipship, and, if I'm not mistaken, it's been generally tough times since.
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we will win this week? said:
My pick would be the 1986 Michigan game. I listened to it on radio-yelling and screaming at my old transistor radio. Richie Foggie is my favorite gopher player and it would have been awesome to have seen this game live!
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These two games are on my list. In '60 would have loved to see Smokey Joe come and get flattened, only to complete the touchdown pass to Roger Hagberg.

In '86 it's the Foggie run.

1924 Clarence Shutte rushes for 282 yards as the Gophers beat Illinois and Red Grange 20-7 in the dedication of Memorial Stadium. My Grandmother was a student at the U and was at this game. She talked about it in great detail all the time. It would have been cool to sit through the game with her.

1977 The Gophers defeats No. 1 Michigan 16-0 to end a nine-game losing streak to the Wolverines. Michigan, which had beaten the Gophers 45-0 in 1976, was coming off a 56-0 victory over Wisconsin.
 




MrGopher said:
This game often eludes me when I think of some of the epic ones in Gopher history. Nice recap, dpodoll: you've convinced me to agree with you.

And the stat I've bolded is something I had never heard before. Very impressive. Says a lot about both programs during that time. Hope we can recapture that level of rivalry with Michigan.
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Two more interesting factoids about that game:

1) SI called it the college football "Game of the Decade" for the 1940s when they did a special on the topic a while back.

2) The Michigan captain and starting QB was Forest Evashevski, later "national champion":rolleyes: head coach for the Hogeyes. He was an honor society member, starting C for the baseball team, Sr. class president, and WWII veteran. He probably would've earned a law degree as well had he not been called into service. Crisler (who was a HC for 18 years, and 3-time national champion) called him the "greatest QB I ever had". All of this, and he wasn't even among the best half-dozen players on the field.
 



Does anyone know what the earliest Gopher game that we have complete video of the whole game?
 

I'd like to see a game in which Bronko Nagurski played. Beyond that the 1940 Michigan and 1960 Iowa games are "Must See's".
 

Here are some highlights of the 1960 Iowa game (narrated in Latin for whatever reason):

http://brickhouse.lib.umn.edu/items/show/554

The earliest video we have here at the University of Minnesota Archives is this video here:

http://brickhouse.lib.umn.edu/items/show/487

It shows some highlights of the 1925 season (with Knute Rockne coming to Memorial Stadium) plus some other interesting tidbits, including footage of a parade down University Ave.
 

dpodoll68 said:
My pick would be "The Battle of the Giants", the November 9, 1940 game in front of 60,000 fans at Memorial Stadium - undefeated #2 Minnesota against undefeated #3 Michigan. Michigan was led by 1940 Heisman Trophy winner HB Tom Harmon, FB Bob Westfall, and T Ox Wistert. Minnesota was led by HB Sonny Franck (#3 in 1940 Heisman voting), 1941 Heisman Trophy winner HB Bruce Smith, and T Dick Wildung. All six of these players, along with both head coaches (Bierman and Crisler) are members of the College Football Hall of Fame, meaning that there were 8 future HOFers involved in this game alone. The Gophers won 7-6 for their 4th national title, and defeated Michigan again in 1941 to win a 2nd straight national title. Interestingly, Michigan lost only 5 games total in the 4 seasons 1938-1941, and 4 of those 5 losses were to Minnesota. Tom Harmon is still considered one of the greatest college football players ever, and the Franck/Smith backfield at Minnesota is considered possibly the best RB combo in college football history.
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This is probably the best choice. I heard Tom Harmon lamenting the fact that in his four years they were stopped inside the 10 only five times and three of them were in that game - or something like that.

A close second would be the '77 win over Michigan. If I recall correctly it was both unexpected and decisive. Kind of like when ASU? whipped Nebraska 16-0 about 15 years ago.
 

2003 vs Michigan. No wait, that's the game I'm trying to erase from my mind.:(

I would love to go back and see Northrup Field and some of the earliest games played at the U.
 


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