Iceland12
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2008
- Messages
- 24,758
- Reaction score
- 2,421
- Points
- 113
http://www.omaha.com/huskers/well-g...cle_52e9b289-32d2-5a64-9123-a1fa22bb82f9.html
LINCOLN — Ohio State had Minnesota down 14-0 and 31-14 at different points last Saturday, and history might have suggested that the Big Ten bully with all of the talent and money and tradition would bury the Golden Gophers at any moment.
That’s the kind of thing that often happened to Minnesota for the better part of the past five decades, when Glen Mason was its only winning coach and the team claimed its last share of a Big Ten football title all the way back in 1967.
But despite the gut punches, the Gophers were back at 14-14 against the Top 10 Buckeyes in the cold and blowing snow. Then within 31-24 late. And still with upset hopes if they could recover an onside kick with 1:19 remaining.
That the Gophers didn’t go away is becoming less of a surprise, considering the progress of the past few years and the type of program coach Jerry Kill has constructed brick by brick in Minneapolis. It was further proof that Minnesota plans to hang around annually, despite the assumption by many that Nebraska, Wisconsin and maybe Iowa would be the class of the West Division after the Big Ten realigned this year..
Kill now thinks back to something Joe Novak left behind when Kill replaced the veteran coach at Northern Illinois in 2008.
“He had a locker room slogan that said: ‘The ones who stay will get rewarded,’ ” Kill said. “And the kids that have been able to handle this transition — that’s this senior group — they’ve stayed and they’re getting rewarded for it.”
LINCOLN — Ohio State had Minnesota down 14-0 and 31-14 at different points last Saturday, and history might have suggested that the Big Ten bully with all of the talent and money and tradition would bury the Golden Gophers at any moment.
That’s the kind of thing that often happened to Minnesota for the better part of the past five decades, when Glen Mason was its only winning coach and the team claimed its last share of a Big Ten football title all the way back in 1967.
But despite the gut punches, the Gophers were back at 14-14 against the Top 10 Buckeyes in the cold and blowing snow. Then within 31-24 late. And still with upset hopes if they could recover an onside kick with 1:19 remaining.
That the Gophers didn’t go away is becoming less of a surprise, considering the progress of the past few years and the type of program coach Jerry Kill has constructed brick by brick in Minneapolis. It was further proof that Minnesota plans to hang around annually, despite the assumption by many that Nebraska, Wisconsin and maybe Iowa would be the class of the West Division after the Big Ten realigned this year..
Kill now thinks back to something Joe Novak left behind when Kill replaced the veteran coach at Northern Illinois in 2008.
“He had a locker room slogan that said: ‘The ones who stay will get rewarded,’ ” Kill said. “And the kids that have been able to handle this transition — that’s this senior group — they’ve stayed and they’re getting rewarded for it.”