Just Embrace It

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GoForGold said:
I little Minnesota history lesson here. Many wonder why anyone would come up with a motto like the Gopher State. The whole thing originated from a New York newspaper complaining about the government building a railroad line in Minnesota. The writer when on to say, "There are more pocket gophers in Minnesota than people." The people of Minnesota decided to embrace the insult. Thus, the Minnesota Golden Gophers mascot. The golden part came much later for some reason I don't remember.

The team needs to just embrace the Bowling Green loss. Kind of like Remember the Alamo. Let's Remember Bowling Green.
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We Hate Bowling Green doesn't have the same ring as We Hate Iowa. By the way, I Hate Iowa.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
But impossible in college football. So it isn’t equivalent.
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Darren the Greek posted this earlier. Hope it helps.

"In 1999 the Badgers lost 17-12 to a Cincinnati team that finished 3-8 overall and a winless 0-6 in C-USA. Wisconsin ended up winning the Big Ten and Rose Bowl that year. Upsets happen."
 

GoForGold said:
Another ancient history thing. I'm sure many remember when I came here and won a very big game esp. for them. Their fans not only ran on the field. They tore down our goalposts! The team went undefeated in the Big Ten, which explains why it was such a big deal to them. Their one loss during the season was to some lousy non-conference team. Captain Kirk said they used that loss as motivation the whole season. The motivation didn't carry through to their bowl game. Iowa went on to get crushed by USC in the Orange Bowl.
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They lost to ISU in the CyHawk game. While the Cyclones weren't great that year (7-7), they did go to a bowl game (lost to Boise St). OSU also finished unbeaten in conference and overall to win the NC that year (2002).
 

Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:
They lost to ISU in the CyHawk game. While the Cyclones weren't great that year (7-7), they did go to a bowl game (lost to Boise St). OSU also finished unbeaten in conference and overall to win the NC that year (2002).
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Thanks, for filling in the details. I'm sure the Iowa State loss was humiliating to them just because Iowa it was Iowa State their little brother.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
In 1999 the Badgers lost 17-12 to a Cincinnati team that finished 3-8 overall and a winless 0-6 in C-USA. Wisconsin ended up winning the Big Ten and Rose Bowl that year. Upsets happen.
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Good point. The same thing happened to NW in 1995. They went 10-1 on their way to a Rose Bowl birth and their only loss was to Miami (OH) in September.
 


GoForGold said:
Thanks, for filling in the details. I'm sure the Iowa State loss was humiliating to them just because Iowa it was Iowa State their little brother.
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Yes it was. I remember on the Orange Bowl telecast an Iowa fan had a huge sign that said "Hey Iowa State, this isn't Boise!" (in reference to Iowa State's bowl game being in Boise) The funny thing was that if Iowa had beaten Iowa State they'd have been playing for the national championship...or at least had a great chance to.
 

There is no disputing that the Bowling Green loss was epically bad, AT THE TIME. But they did what a lot of our other sports teams in this market don't do. THEY RESPONDED despite losing their top 3 RB in the process as well! You can forgive losses like that when the team learns from them and actually get better. Sometimes a shock to the ego is the best thing for a sports team. I give Coach Fleck a ton of credit for this.
 

MGGopher said:
Embrace success. Minnesota is a good, talented, well-coached team with a chance to win every week. I personally think they'll beat both Iowa and Wisconsin, and I'm sure the team believes that as well.
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Agreed, and I would add especially this year it's a confidence backed up by the feeling that we are finally on par with Iowa, Wisconsin and not just hopeful we will win if some breaks go our way.
 

gopherjay said:
It could be a great story line in the end. Yes OK we lost a game to a terrible team but last time I checked, nobody has forfeited a game because they were terrible and 30 point dogs. It is called competition, it happens to everyone at some point. Let the media go on about it every Saturday and let them talk about it on January 1st. The loss may have been the best thing for this team, this year.
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I can never call a loss a good thing. But very proud of how coaches and team have taken a negative and turned it into an engine for growth.

The reaction is more important than the loss.
 



RememberMurray said:
Yes, well said. I think he missed the point.
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No, I think his point was one game is more significant in a short season. But yes, the '87 Twins showed a pedestrian division winner can rise to greatness post-season. Both make good points.
 


GoForGold said:
Here's another for you. Northwestern's nickname was originally the Fighting Methodists. (no joke) I vote for that one as the worst ever for the Big Ten.
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Isn't Notre Dame still the Fighting Irish Catholics? Some day we may have the Holy Shi'as.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
Yes it was. I remember on the Orange Bowl telecast an Iowa fan had a huge sign that said "Hey Iowa State, this isn't Boise!" (in reference to Iowa State's bowl game being in Boise) The funny thing was that if Iowa had beaten Iowa State they'd have been playing for the national championship...or at least had a great chance to.
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Or ISU at least cost them a Rose Bowl bid?
 



RememberMurray said:
Were you counting on winning the national title in 2021, right up until the Bowling Green loss?

If so, I can only imagine how let down you must feel.
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Easy now, Murr. You know final rankings will affect Bowl placement and an extra loss is a factor. It is what it is.
 


RememberMurray said:
Darren the Greek posted this earlier. Hope it helps.

"In 1999 the Badgers lost 17-12 to a Cincinnati team that finished 3-8 overall and a winless 0-6 in C-USA. Wisconsin ended up winning the Big Ten and Rose Bowl that year. Upsets happen."
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Agreed. That isn’t what I was arguing though. I was saying losing to bowling green isn’t equivalent to losing 77 baseball games
 

RememberMurray said:
Were you counting on winning the national title in 2021, right up until the Bowling Green loss?

If so, I can only imagine how let down you must feel.
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No, but to equate a football loss to baseball losses is foolish.
Preseason I thought the gophers had a chance to win the B1G. Prior to Mo going down that seemed realistic even in that game vs tOSU
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
So losses mean more in college football than they do baseball.
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In some ways yes. The example given is the '87 Twins winning a Division title with an 85-77 record. That put them in playoffs. No 7-5 football team can be national champion.
 

gopherjay said:
It could be a great story line in the end. Yes OK we lost a game to a terrible team but last time I checked, nobody has forfeited a game because they were terrible and 30 point dogs. It is called competition, it happens to everyone at some point. Let the media go on about it every Saturday and let them talk about it on January 1st. The loss may have been the best thing for this team, this year.
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And the Gophers paid $1.45 million for the castration.
 

Five for fighting said:
There is no disputing that the Bowling Green loss was epically bad, AT THE TIME. But they did what a lot of our other sports teams in this market don't do. THEY RESPONDED despite losing their top 3 RB in the process as well! You can forgive losses like that when the team learns from them and actually get better. Sometimes a shock to the ego is the best thing for a sports team. I give Coach Fleck a ton of credit for this.
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Agree!
 

Who else opened this thread initially thinking it was meant to be therapeutic for Nebraska fans?
 

Dakota2 said:
In some ways yes. The example given is the '87 Twins winning a Division title with an 85-77 record. That put them in playoffs. No 7-5 football team can be national champion.
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Agreed. So that comparison isn’t relevant.

The bowling green debacle doesn’t ruin the season. If the gophers go 10-2 in the regular season I’ll be happy. But that loss does more to eliminate them from their ultimate goal than does the Twins 77 losses in 1987.
 

Dances With Gophers said:
Who else opened this thread initially thinking it was meant to be therapeutic for Nebraska fans?
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That was most definitely the reason. You have to feel sorry for Nebraska fans with all the close losses piling up. So far just 1 for the Gophers. Ohio State debatably a 2nd.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Agreed. So that comparison isn’t relevant.

The bowling green debacle doesn’t ruin the season. If the gophers go 10-2 in the regular season I’ll be happy. But that loss does more to eliminate them from their ultimate goal than does the Twins 77 losses in 1987.
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You are entirely missing the point that a baseball team with a high percentage of losses can still be World Series winners because of playoff system. An unnessart loss in college football will cost chance to be national champions because only four teams are selected for the opportunity.

Nobody is arguing any loss ruins a season, especilaly ours when we had no realistic expectation of making final four.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Agreed. So that comparison isn’t relevant.

The bowling green debacle doesn’t ruin the season. If the gophers go 10-2 in the regular season I’ll be happy. But that loss does more to eliminate them from their ultimate goal than does the Twins 77 losses in 1987.
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Sorry, I misread your last sentence. Disregard my post immediately above.
 


Are some of you new? Don't you know you can go to a Gopher game and anything can happen. I have seen it all.
 


Dakota2 said:
Easy now, Murr. You know final rankings will affect Bowl placement and an extra loss is a factor. It is what it is.
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I ask again: who here was counting on winning the national title in 2021? Anyone?

The reason I ask: other than that, the Bowling Green loss won't be the end of any dreams and/or goals for the 2021 Gophers. Despite the loss to Bowling Green, Minnesota can still have a very, very strong season, can still win the West, can still win the B1G, and can still finish quite high in the polls. Hell, we're #20 right now!
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
No, but to equate a football loss to baseball losses is foolish.
Preseason I thought the gophers had a chance to win the B1G. Prior to Mo going down that seemed realistic even in that game vs tOSU
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They still can win the B1G! College football seasons don't end because of one non-conference loss.

If you weren't counting on winning the national championship, then the Bowling Green loss really hasn't meant the end of anything at all for 2021.
 

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