STrib: Sure victory to crushing defeat: Seven more painful Minnesota losses (Gopher Football: 2003 vs Michigan; 2006 vs Texas Tech)

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per STrib:

Yes, the wounds from the Timberwolves' Game 3 loss to Memphis will stick with us for awhile — unless the Wolves recover to win Saturday night's Game 4 and go on to defeat the Grizzles in their first-round playoff series. If that happens, we'll remaining this as a "teachable moment" — or something like that.

But for Minnesota sports fans, such unexpected defeats are nothing new. Here's a list of seven. Some will always be in the forefront of our minds. Others require a little bit of probing before the pain resurfaces.

And what should be added to this list?

  • Michigan 38, Gophers football 35 (2003): Minnesota was 6-0 at the team and ranked 17th in the nation. The Gophers appeared headed for a prove-it victory over the 20th-ranked Wolverines when Michigan rallied from a 21-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
  • Texas Tech 44, Gophers football 38 (2006): The Gophers started the season 3-6 and became bowl eligible with three straight victories. The Gophers led 38-7 in the third quarter before the Red Raiders rallied to win in overtime. The Gophers fired Glen Mason. The Gophers hired Tim Brewster and went 1-11 in 2007.
www.startribune.com

Sure victory to crushing defeat: Eight more painful Minnesota losses

For Minnesota sports fans, unexpected defeats like the one for the Timberwolves at Target Center on Thursday are nothing new. Here's one list. Are we missing any that should be added?
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!
 

As true as the painful loss memes are.

I swear some sick folks just want to wallow in them too.

Like the Gophers didn't fuck up last night ... let's bitch about that too?
 


MN sports disappointments are a (weird) form a state pride. The Timberwolves can finally join the club.
 

ZachRE said:
MN sports disappointments are a (weird) form a state pride. The Timberwolves can finally join the club.
Click to expand...
Timberwolves have never in a position to have a major collapse until last night lol
 


I had 40 yard line club level seats at Sun Devel Stadium from which to watch that Insight Bowl collapse!

I'm part of HISTORY !!
 

saintpauljeff said:
seems like a good idea to revisit these events, great idea Strib

hope they mentioned Holy Cross in their list too
Click to expand...
In retrospect, the Holy Cross loss wasn't as bad as it seemed at the time. Holy Cross was a top 20 team full of veterans. MANY other 1s have lost to 4s since, and it's hockey. Weird stuff can happen. Also didn't help it was played at UND. That added fuel to the fire.
 

USAF said:
I had 40 yard line club level seats at Sun Devel Stadium from which to watch that Insight Bowl collapse!

I'm part of HISTORY !!
Click to expand...
I think you're entitled to some free mental health services from the U.
 

Word said:
In retrospect, the Holy Cross loss wasn't as bad as it seemed at the time. Holy Cross was a top 20 team full of veterans. MANY other 1s have lost to 4s since, and it's hockey. Weird stuff can happen. Also didn't help it was played at UND. That added fuel to the fire.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but man that was a stacked gopher team. Painful to think about what could have been.
 



"...wounds from the Timberwolves' Game 3 loss to Memphis will stick with us for awhile..."

Nope. Worst active franchise in NBA history...just par for the course.
 

As others mentioned in comment section....how do you write this column and leave off the 1998 NFC Championship game? Just seems like an excuse to repeatedly kick the Gophers. Didn't know about the Winfield baseball one though. Wow. Glad that was way before my time.
 

stocker08 said:
As others mentioned in comment section....how do you write this column and leave off the 1998 NFC Championship game? Just seems like an excuse to repeatedly kick the Gophers. Didn't know about the Winfield baseball one though. Wow. Glad that was way before my time.
Click to expand...
My only thought is because the theme seems to be huge leads that were blown, and while that loss was devastating, it didn't have a monumental lead that was lost.
 

Gophers1992 said:
Yeah, but man that was a stacked gopher team. Painful to think about what could have been.
Click to expand...
It's hockey...hardest sport to predict who's going to win a championship, especially in a 1-and-done.
 



Word said:
It's hockey...hardest sport to predict who's going to win a championship, especially in a 1-and-done.
Click to expand...
I know, just looking back at the past 20 years the two teams I think were our best chances to win one were that 2005-06 team and the one in your profile picture. Maybe 2012-13 as well.
 

BleedGopher said:
per STrib:

Yes, the wounds from the Timberwolves' Game 3 loss to Memphis will stick with us for awhile — unless the Wolves recover to win Saturday night's Game 4 and go on to defeat the Grizzles in their first-round playoff series. If that happens, we'll remaining this as a "teachable moment" — or something like that.

But for Minnesota sports fans, such unexpected defeats are nothing new. Here's a list of seven. Some will always be in the forefront of our minds. Others require a little bit of probing before the pain resurfaces.

And what should be added to this list?

  • Michigan 38, Gophers football 35 (2003): Minnesota was 6-0 at the team and ranked 17th in the nation. The Gophers appeared headed for a prove-it victory over the 20th-ranked Wolverines when Michigan rallied from a 21-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
  • Texas Tech 44, Gophers football 38 (2006): The Gophers started the season 3-6 and became bowl eligible with three straight victories. The Gophers led 38-7 in the third quarter before the Red Raiders rallied to win in overtime. The Gophers fired Glen Mason. The Gophers hired Tim Brewster and went 1-11 in 2007.
www.startribune.com

Sure victory to crushing defeat: Eight more painful Minnesota losses

For Minnesota sports fans, unexpected defeats like the one for the Timberwolves at Target Center on Thursday are nothing new. Here's one list. Are we missing any that should be added?
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...
Ohio State 1989 was added in the latest update...

It was mentioned that the Gophers beat Wisconsin (this was pre-Barry) the next week.
 

stocker08 said:
As others mentioned in comment section....how do you write this column and leave off the 1998 NFC Championship game? Just seems like an excuse to repeatedly kick the Gophers. Didn't know about the Winfield baseball one though. Wow. Glad that was way before my time.
Click to expand...
Was not a huge blown lead. That was the criteria for the list.
 

As Gary Gaetti said after the blown 10 run lead:

‘It’s hard to throw a ball with both hands around your neck.’
 
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Gophers1992 said:
My only thought is because the theme seems to be huge leads that were blown, and while that loss was devastating, it didn't have a monumental lead that was lost.
Click to expand...
Ski U Mah Gopher said:
Was not a huge blown lead. That was the criteria for the list.
Click to expand...

I don't subscribe to this hack paper...so I can't see the entire article....but does it actually say "huge lead" anywhere? I only see "sure victory to crushing defeat"....which I definitely think qualifies as the Vikings were heavy favorites who held a 13 point lead in the second quarter as well as a 10 point lead in the 4th. Not to mention that Anderson's kick (first miss of the year) came with the Vikings up by 7 with 2:11 remaining in the game. Would have all but iced the game.

Don't know how anyone could make a list of most painful Minnesota losses and not include the 1998 NFC Championship.
 

I'm looking at this from a different perspective. I agree with the great philosopher Charles Barkley.about tpuppies; "they're dumb as rocks."
 

stocker08 said:
I don't subscribe to this hack paper...so I can't see the entire article....but does it actually say "huge lead" anywhere? I only see "sure victory to crushing defeat"....which I definitely think qualifies as the Vikings were heavy favorites who held a 13 point lead in the second quarter as well as a 10 point lead in the 4th. Not to mention that Anderson's kick (first miss of the year) came with the Vikings up by 7 with 2:11 remaining in the game. Would have all but iced the game.

Don't know how anyone could make a list of most painful Minnesota losses and not include the 1998 NFC Championship.
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Not sure, that was just the only reasoning I could think of based on the theme of the other choices.
 

Gophers1992 said:
Not sure, that was just the only reasoning I could think of based on the theme of the other choices.
Click to expand...

The obvious reasoning is that the strib is a pos paper that has writers who take pride in dumping on the Gophers. They handle the pro teams with kid gloves on the other hand.
 

USAF said:
I had 40 yard line club level seats at Sun Devel Stadium from which to watch that Insight Bowl collapse!

I'm part of HISTORY !!
Click to expand...

You’re Infamous
 
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I understand the premise of the article was "big leads that were blown."

But for me, one of the "worst" losses in recent Gopher FB history was the 'blocked-punt' game against Wisconsin.

In that 2005 contest, Gophers were ranked 22nd in the country and Wisc was 23rd.

Gophers were leading 34-24 with 3:27 left in the 4th Qtr.
Badgers scored to make it 34-31 with 1:17 left.
Badgers tried onside kick. MN mishandled the ball, and ultimately recovered the ball at the MN 10-yard line.
Gophers could not get 1st down. Punter mishandled the snap, the punt was blocked and WI recovered it for a TD.

and then, just to add to the humiliation, the Gophers lost a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, allowing WI to kneel down for the victory.

After the game, the debate/argument was over whether the punter should have taken the safety.
Gophers would have led 34-33, and would have been punting to WI with very little time left in the game. I think Mason later admitted that he should have told the punter to take the safety if he didn't think he could get the kick off.

to me, that game hurt worse than the Michigan game because it was against WI.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
I understand the premise of the article was "big leads that were blown."

But for me, one of the "worst" losses in recent Gopher FB history was the 'blocked-punt' game against Wisconsin.

In that 2005 contest, Gophers were ranked 22nd in the country and Wisc was 23rd.

Gophers were leading 34-24 with 3:27 left in the 4th Qtr.
Badgers scored to make it 34-31 with 1:17 left.
Badgers tried onside kick. MN mishandled the ball, and ultimately recovered the ball at the MN 10-yard line.
Gophers could not get 1st down. Punter mishandled the snap, the punt was blocked and WI recovered it for a TD.

and then, just to add to the humiliation, the Gophers lost a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, allowing WI to kneel down for the victory.

After the game, the debate/argument was over whether the punter should have taken the safety.
Gophers would have led 34-33, and would have been punting to WI with very little time left in the game. I think Mason later admitted that he should have told the punter to take the safety if he didn't think he could get the kick off.

to me, that game hurt worse than the Michigan game because it was against WI.
Click to expand...
And if the gophers had won that wisconsin game they would’ve been playing Iowa the last week for sole possession of 3rd in the conference week 12 all else remaining equal.
They would’ve been playing Ohio state the next week controlling their own destiny for a share of the title (because Penn state lost to Michigan on the same day as the blocked punt)
 




Let's look ahead, not backward. We'll feel better.
 

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