BleedGopher
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2008
- Messages
- 60,867
- Reaction score
- 16,412
- Points
- 113
From Tom Powers:
There's no early consensus on how Golden Gopher football fans feel about their team today. But there's probably some validity to the theory that, when you expect to get the living hell beat out of you, losing just regular feels pretty good.
Before leaving home for TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday, I put together a list of relevant phone numbers: police department, ambulance dispatcher, National Guard. It just seemed as if the mauling that awaited the Golden Gophers at the hands of Southern Cal violated several state statutes with regards to public mayhem.
Yet for the better part of Saturday afternoon Tim Brewster's squad looked like a major college football team. Coming on the heels of a horrible loss to South Dakota, that's really saying something. In the end, they lost 32-21 to a USC team that may or may not be in for some hard times this season. Still, there's no question that the Trojans were heavy favorites.
"I thought there were four or five defining plays that USC made," Brewster said.
Well, we could break the contest down to its finer points. But the bottom line is that the grounds crew did not have to come out with snow shovels to scrape the home team off the turf at the end of the game. After all, this was USC — alma mater of O.J. Simpson, Marcus Allen and Reggie Bush. OK, forget about the last guy. Come to think of it, forget about the first guy, too. Anyway, it's a storied program. And that team still can score a lot of points.
After the loss to South Dakota, a game in which the Coyotes' offense made the Gophers' defense look silly, the prospects of a rout hung heavily in the air. It's understandable. South Dakota is to USC as a mosquito is to a vampire bat. In fact, I think that very phrase is one of the questions on the ACT college entrance exam, with the person taking the test having to choose the correct answer from among hacksaw, tangerine and vampire bat.
All week the Gophers had been concentrating on getting their minds right, however. They kept repeating that USC wasn't a superhuman entity. Maybe the program has a lot of history, but on Saturday afternoon the Trojans would be just another opponent.
"They might be wearing 'USC,' but they're just another team," quarterback Adam Weber said. "Coming in at halftime down six, we felt very, very great about our chances. We're a second-half team."
Weber noted that, despite the always-present bravado going into a game, right around halftime was when he came to the conclusion that, yes, the vaunted USC Trojans certainly were very beatable. The score was 13-7. The Minnesota defense was holding. The Minnesota offense hadn't quite warmed up.
The Gophers actually took a 14-13 lead in the third quarter before coughing it up on the ensuing kickoff. That 97-yard kickoff return by USC's Robert Woods was one of those four or five defining plays to which Brewster referred. From there, the Trojans stretched out their lead until the Gophers rallied for a last-minute touchdown that made the final score look much better.
But the fact is that it was a decent football game for three quarters. Gopher fans must decide whether the glass is three quarters empty or one quarter full. Usually, I think that anyone who deals in moral victories is full of beans. The best way to put what happened Saturday is: It could have been much worse.
At least Minnesota's defense appeared to be improved. The discouraging part was that the Gophers were on the precipice of an upset but couldn't cash in.
"Losing is getting old," Weber said. "What's important is keeping the team together and winning next week."
That would be against Northern Illinois. Anyone who says they have any idea what will happen in that one is a liar. Nothing would surprise me. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if they beat a tough Big Ten opponent on the road or lost to online University of Phoenix at TCF Stadium. Three games into the season, their performance has varied wildly.
At least they are still alive and in one piece so they can try again next Saturday. Some of us thought that the odds of that being the case after the USC game were about 50-50.
http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_16113897
Go Gophers!!
There's no early consensus on how Golden Gopher football fans feel about their team today. But there's probably some validity to the theory that, when you expect to get the living hell beat out of you, losing just regular feels pretty good.
Before leaving home for TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday, I put together a list of relevant phone numbers: police department, ambulance dispatcher, National Guard. It just seemed as if the mauling that awaited the Golden Gophers at the hands of Southern Cal violated several state statutes with regards to public mayhem.
Yet for the better part of Saturday afternoon Tim Brewster's squad looked like a major college football team. Coming on the heels of a horrible loss to South Dakota, that's really saying something. In the end, they lost 32-21 to a USC team that may or may not be in for some hard times this season. Still, there's no question that the Trojans were heavy favorites.
"I thought there were four or five defining plays that USC made," Brewster said.
Well, we could break the contest down to its finer points. But the bottom line is that the grounds crew did not have to come out with snow shovels to scrape the home team off the turf at the end of the game. After all, this was USC — alma mater of O.J. Simpson, Marcus Allen and Reggie Bush. OK, forget about the last guy. Come to think of it, forget about the first guy, too. Anyway, it's a storied program. And that team still can score a lot of points.
After the loss to South Dakota, a game in which the Coyotes' offense made the Gophers' defense look silly, the prospects of a rout hung heavily in the air. It's understandable. South Dakota is to USC as a mosquito is to a vampire bat. In fact, I think that very phrase is one of the questions on the ACT college entrance exam, with the person taking the test having to choose the correct answer from among hacksaw, tangerine and vampire bat.
All week the Gophers had been concentrating on getting their minds right, however. They kept repeating that USC wasn't a superhuman entity. Maybe the program has a lot of history, but on Saturday afternoon the Trojans would be just another opponent.
"They might be wearing 'USC,' but they're just another team," quarterback Adam Weber said. "Coming in at halftime down six, we felt very, very great about our chances. We're a second-half team."
Weber noted that, despite the always-present bravado going into a game, right around halftime was when he came to the conclusion that, yes, the vaunted USC Trojans certainly were very beatable. The score was 13-7. The Minnesota defense was holding. The Minnesota offense hadn't quite warmed up.
The Gophers actually took a 14-13 lead in the third quarter before coughing it up on the ensuing kickoff. That 97-yard kickoff return by USC's Robert Woods was one of those four or five defining plays to which Brewster referred. From there, the Trojans stretched out their lead until the Gophers rallied for a last-minute touchdown that made the final score look much better.
But the fact is that it was a decent football game for three quarters. Gopher fans must decide whether the glass is three quarters empty or one quarter full. Usually, I think that anyone who deals in moral victories is full of beans. The best way to put what happened Saturday is: It could have been much worse.
At least Minnesota's defense appeared to be improved. The discouraging part was that the Gophers were on the precipice of an upset but couldn't cash in.
"Losing is getting old," Weber said. "What's important is keeping the team together and winning next week."
That would be against Northern Illinois. Anyone who says they have any idea what will happen in that one is a liar. Nothing would surprise me. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if they beat a tough Big Ten opponent on the road or lost to online University of Phoenix at TCF Stadium. Three games into the season, their performance has varied wildly.
At least they are still alive and in one piece so they can try again next Saturday. Some of us thought that the odds of that being the case after the USC game were about 50-50.
http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_16113897
Go Gophers!!
