There will be a day in the not-so-distant future when I look back on the 2014 Golden Gophers football regular season with great joy. I will recall the pride I felt as the team hoisted the Little Brown Jug in The Big House in Michigan. I will remember the sense of elation I felt as the team raced across the TCF Stadium field to claim Floyd of Rosedale versus Iowa. And I will chuckle at how astonished I felt as the Gophers walked out of Memorial Stadium in Lincoln with a come-from-behind victory in hand against the Cornhuskers. I will look back and revisit my prediction of a 6-6 season that these Golden Gophers willed into an eight win campaign and set themselves up for a winner take all game against the Wisconsin Badgers for the division title and Paul Bunyan’s Axe.
Today is not that day.
No, today I feel the sting of disappointment with the loss to our neighbors to the east. I feel the frustration watching an offense unable and seemingly unwilling to add a passing threat to their already potent running game. I feel the helplessness of a defense hung out to dry, desperately attempting to stem the tide of momentum careening out of control. I feel the distain of watching yet again the scene of the Badgers raising the Axe and cutting down the goalposts. I feel the remorse of knowing that with that Axe, they took the division crown as well.
