Top 10 Glen Mason Moments

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Winning the jug back at Michigan

Win at Penn State

Barber and Maroney
 

Beating PSU in Happy Valley was my first and favorite Mason moment.
 

Sun Bowl v. Oregon 2003
Music City Bowl v. Alabama
The kick by Rhys v. Wisconsin
Penn State 1999
Beating Michigan at the Big House
 

Top 10 Mason moments

1. Beating Penn State at Happy Valley in 1999
2. Beating Ohio State in Columbus in 2000
3. Beating Michigan in Ann Arbor in 2005
4. Beating Oregon in the Sun Bowl in 2003
5. Beating Wisconsin in 2003 for their 9th win of the season
6. Beating Arkansas in the Music City Bowl in 2002
7. Beating Alabama in the Music City Bowl in 2004
8. Tyrone Carter winning the Thorpe Award
9. Greg Eslinger winning the Outland Trophy
10. Matt Spaeth winning the Mackey award in 2006

I'm sure people will find issue with some of this.
 


metrolax said:
1. Beating Penn State at Happy Valley in 1999
2. Beating Ohio State in Columbus in 2000
3. Beating Michigan in Ann Arbor in 2005
4. Beating Oregon in the Sun Bowl in 2003
5. Beating Wisconsin in 2003 for their 9th win of the season
6. Beating Arkansas in the Music City Bowl in 2002
7. Beating Alabama in the Music City Bowl in 2004
8. Tyrone Carter winning the Thorpe Award
9. Greg Eslinger winning the Outland Trophy
10. Matt Spaeth winning the Mackey award in 2006

I'm sure people will find issue with some of this.
Click to expand...

This is definitely my top 3 in the same order but swap 4 and 5 to fill out my top 5. I would add Purdue 2005 in OT (Maroney's greatest game and Mason's only defeat of Joe Tiller) as #6. If we're talking purely games (awards don't count) I would add 1-2 games against Michigan State (I remember dominating in 2004 or 2005 when it wasn't expected). Iowa 2006 is probably also worthy. I think there was a good game against Hawaii in about 97 too but I can't actually rememeber the outcome.
 

Blowing the 2006 Insight Bowl! It got him fired!!

But seriously, is there any other #1 that 1999 in Happy Valley?
 

Here's our guy Glen's top five, bottom to top, and all inside the Hubert H. Humphrey House of Horrors:
5. Oct. 7, 2006: Penn State 28, Gophers 27, overtime. Jason Giannini clanks PAT off left upright after Eric Decker's outstanding touchdown catch in OT. Trumaine Banks breaks up Penn State's fourth-down pass, Gophers run madly onto field, failing to see penalty flag for interference that came after a request from rival coach Joe Paterno. Nittany Lions score in three plays, then pull off one of those tricky extra points for victory.
Mason: "I'm very proud of my players. They played a whale of a ballgame."
4. Oct. 28, 2000: Northwestern 41, Gophers 35. Gophers lead 35-14 after Asad Abdul-Khaliq's touchdown run with 5:34 left in the third quarter. Northwestern scores the final 27 points, including a 45-yard Hail Mary on the game's last play from Zak Kustok to Sam Simmons.
Mason: "Some games are harder to lose than others. My players poured their hearts out."
3. Sept. 29, 2001: Purdue 35, Gophers 28, overtime. Purdue, trailing 28-25, is at its 3-yard line with 19 seconds left and no timeouts. Purdue completes two passes for 66 yards, and the Boilers run out for a field-goal attempt as the officials place the ball for a first down with 1 second remaining. Travis Dorsch kicks a 48-yard tying field goal. Purdue scores in overtime, then an apparent touchdown pass to the Gophers' Antoine Henderson is questionably ruled out of bounds.
Mason: "How do we bring these kids back from the ground? That will be a challenge."
2. Oct. 15, 2005: Wisconsin 38, Gophers 34. The Gophers, rushing for 411 yards, lead 34-24 when Gary Russell's 1-yard touchdown run caps a 19-play, 80-yard drive that consumes 7:48. Wisconsin goes 71 yards in seven plays and 77 seconds to make it 34-31. The onside kick gets booted 30 yards backwards and Laurence Maroney recovers at his 8. On fourth down, punter Justin Kucek drops the snap and gets the punt blocked, and Wisconsin's Ben Strickland recovers in the end zone for the winning TD with 30 seconds left.
Mason: "Crazy."
1. Oct. 18, 2003: Michigan 38, Gophers 35. The Gophers, unbeaten and No. 17 in the Associated Press poll, lead 28-7 entering the fourth quarter. The Wolverines score 31 points in the fourth and get the victory, despite allowing more yards rushing -- 424 -- than any Michigan team in history.
Mason: "We've been here before."
 

G Man said:
Here's our guy Glen's top five, bottom to top, and all inside the Hubert H. Humphrey House of Horrors:
5. Oct. 7, 2006: Penn State 28, Gophers 27, overtime. Jason Giannini clanks PAT off left upright after Eric Decker's outstanding touchdown catch in OT. Trumaine Banks breaks up Penn State's fourth-down pass, Gophers run madly onto field, failing to see penalty flag for interference that came after a request from rival coach Joe Paterno. Nittany Lions score in three plays, then pull off one of those tricky extra points for victory.
Mason: "I'm very proud of my players. They played a whale of a ballgame."
4. Oct. 28, 2000: Northwestern 41, Gophers 35. Gophers lead 35-14 after Asad Abdul-Khaliq's touchdown run with 5:34 left in the third quarter. Northwestern scores the final 27 points, including a 45-yard Hail Mary on the game's last play from Zak Kustok to Sam Simmons.
Mason: "Some games are harder to lose than others. My players poured their hearts out."
3. Sept. 29, 2001: Purdue 35, Gophers 28, overtime. Purdue, trailing 28-25, is at its 3-yard line with 19 seconds left and no timeouts. Purdue completes two passes for 66 yards, and the Boilers run out for a field-goal attempt as the officials place the ball for a first down with 1 second remaining. Travis Dorsch kicks a 48-yard tying field goal. Purdue scores in overtime, then an apparent touchdown pass to the Gophers' Antoine Henderson is questionably ruled out of bounds.
Mason: "How do we bring these kids back from the ground? That will be a challenge."
2. Oct. 15, 2005: Wisconsin 38, Gophers 34. The Gophers, rushing for 411 yards, lead 34-24 when Gary Russell's 1-yard touchdown run caps a 19-play, 80-yard drive that consumes 7:48. Wisconsin goes 71 yards in seven plays and 77 seconds to make it 34-31. The onside kick gets booted 30 yards backwards and Laurence Maroney recovers at his 8. On fourth down, punter Justin Kucek drops the snap and gets the punt blocked, and Wisconsin's Ben Strickland recovers in the end zone for the winning TD with 30 seconds left.
Mason: "Crazy."
1. Oct. 18, 2003: Michigan 38, Gophers 35. The Gophers, unbeaten and No. 17 in the Associated Press poll, lead 28-7 entering the fourth quarter. The Wolverines score 31 points in the fourth and get the victory, despite allowing more yards rushing -- 424 -- than any Michigan team in history.
Mason: "We've been here before."
Click to expand...

I just cried a little bit.
 



The loss I felt the best about was the 15-10 loss to Michigan in 1998 when we held the skunk helmets to -15 rushing. I really thought we had a chance in that game, and it wasn't something I was used to, especially against those people.
 

G Man said:
Here's our guy Glen's top five, bottom to top, and all inside the Hubert H. Humphrey House of Horrors:
5. Oct. 7, 2006: Penn State 28, Gophers 27, overtime. Jason Giannini clanks PAT off left upright after Eric Decker's outstanding touchdown catch in OT. Trumaine Banks breaks up Penn State's fourth-down pass, Gophers run madly onto field, failing to see penalty flag for interference that came after a request from rival coach Joe Paterno. Nittany Lions score in three plays, then pull off one of those tricky extra points for victory.
Mason: "I'm very proud of my players. They played a whale of a ballgame."
4. Oct. 28, 2000: Northwestern 41, Gophers 35. Gophers lead 35-14 after Asad Abdul-Khaliq's touchdown run with 5:34 left in the third quarter. Northwestern scores the final 27 points, including a 45-yard Hail Mary on the game's last play from Zak Kustok to Sam Simmons.
Mason: "Some games are harder to lose than others. My players poured their hearts out."
3. Sept. 29, 2001: Purdue 35, Gophers 28, overtime. Purdue, trailing 28-25, is at its 3-yard line with 19 seconds left and no timeouts. Purdue completes two passes for 66 yards, and the Boilers run out for a field-goal attempt as the officials place the ball for a first down with 1 second remaining. Travis Dorsch kicks a 48-yard tying field goal. Purdue scores in overtime, then an apparent touchdown pass to the Gophers' Antoine Henderson is questionably ruled out of bounds.
Mason: "How do we bring these kids back from the ground? That will be a challenge."
2. Oct. 15, 2005: Wisconsin 38, Gophers 34. The Gophers, rushing for 411 yards, lead 34-24 when Gary Russell's 1-yard touchdown run caps a 19-play, 80-yard drive that consumes 7:48. Wisconsin goes 71 yards in seven plays and 77 seconds to make it 34-31. The onside kick gets booted 30 yards backwards and Laurence Maroney recovers at his 8. On fourth down, punter Justin Kucek drops the snap and gets the punt blocked, and Wisconsin's Ben Strickland recovers in the end zone for the winning TD with 30 seconds left.
Mason: "Crazy."
1. Oct. 18, 2003: Michigan 38, Gophers 35. The Gophers, unbeaten and No. 17 in the Associated Press poll, lead 28-7 entering the fourth quarter. The Wolverines score 31 points in the fourth and get the victory, despite allowing more yards rushing -- 424 -- than any Michigan team in history.
Mason: "We've been here before."
Click to expand...

No love for the Texas Tech or NC State bowl blow ups?

Mason doesn't deserve much defense for these collapses but two of the games had incredibly poor calls go against the Gophers at crucial times.

I remember that Penn State pass interference call vividly. It was one of the worst calls to decide a game in the history of college football. It was a well timed (definitely not early) hit on a receiver that was 2-3 yards short of the first down. The flag even came in very late.

I'm still struggling to figure out how Purdue can get a kick off without a second running off of the game clock. By rule, the line needs to be set for one second before the ball can be snapped. When the ref winds the clock one second should have to roll off of the clock. Aside from that the TD pass in the OT was a wretched call. The refs and the Big Ten later admitted the mistake and tried to pass the blame on the way the end zone was painted; the end zones were never painted the same way again. In my personal opinion, that botched call went further toward getting instant replay in the Big Ten than any other play.
 

This depresses me. It just happened again and again. Has any program suffered such a list of bad defeats such as this? It was so bad that when the fourth quarter of that Michigan game started I knew we were going to lose.
 

Great post Gman

G Man said:
Here's our guy Glen's top five, bottom to top, and all inside the Hubert H. Humphrey House of Horrors:
5. Oct. 7, 2006: Penn State 28, Gophers 27, overtime. Jason Giannini clanks PAT off left upright after Eric Decker's outstanding touchdown catch in OT. Trumaine Banks breaks up Penn State's fourth-down pass, Gophers run madly onto field, failing to see penalty flag for interference that came after a request from rival coach Joe Paterno. Nittany Lions score in three plays, then pull off one of those tricky extra points for victory.
Mason: "I'm very proud of my players. They played a whale of a ballgame."
4. Oct. 28, 2000: Northwestern 41, Gophers 35. Gophers lead 35-14 after Asad Abdul-Khaliq's touchdown run with 5:34 left in the third quarter. Northwestern scores the final 27 points, including a 45-yard Hail Mary on the game's last play from Zak Kustok to Sam Simmons.
Mason: "Some games are harder to lose than others. My players poured their hearts out."
3. Sept. 29, 2001: Purdue 35, Gophers 28, overtime. Purdue, trailing 28-25, is at its 3-yard line with 19 seconds left and no timeouts. Purdue completes two passes for 66 yards, and the Boilers run out for a field-goal attempt as the officials place the ball for a first down with 1 second remaining. Travis Dorsch kicks a 48-yard tying field goal. Purdue scores in overtime, then an apparent touchdown pass to the Gophers' Antoine Henderson is questionably ruled out of bounds.
Mason: "How do we bring these kids back from the ground? That will be a challenge."
2. Oct. 15, 2005: Wisconsin 38, Gophers 34. The Gophers, rushing for 411 yards, lead 34-24 when Gary Russell's 1-yard touchdown run caps a 19-play, 80-yard drive that consumes 7:48. Wisconsin goes 71 yards in seven plays and 77 seconds to make it 34-31. The onside kick gets booted 30 yards backwards and Laurence Maroney recovers at his 8. On fourth down, punter Justin Kucek drops the snap and gets the punt blocked, and Wisconsin's Ben Strickland recovers in the end zone for the winning TD with 30 seconds left.
Mason: "Crazy."
1. Oct. 18, 2003: Michigan 38, Gophers 35. The Gophers, unbeaten and No. 17 in the Associated Press poll, lead 28-7 entering the fourth quarter. The Wolverines score 31 points in the fourth and get the victory, despite allowing more yards rushing -- 424 -- than any Michigan team in history.
Mason: "We've been here before."
Click to expand...


I would have to say the Purdue game in 01 was my most frustrating moment, and confirmed the start of my disaproval of Mase. Watching Glen pace the sidelines shaking hands with the coaches as Purdue completed two passes over the middle for 60 yards to set up the field goal was mind-blowing yet disturbingly humerous.

One game that not many people talk about that I believe should be on this list is the Micron PC Bowl against NC State in 2000. Minnesota goes out in front 24-0 only to see Phillip Rivers and Koren Robinson shread the Gopher D and mount a classic comeback. It was also I believe the debut of Mason's grin of confusion which was captured on camera frequently in the 2nd half as the Gophs offered no answer to the Wolfpack. That grin was all-to common on future telecasts. That game was where I started questioning his ability to make adjustments on game-day.

Viewing the NC State and Northwestern collapses were helpful in lightening the blow in both the Michigan and Texas Tech tragedies. Tennesee Williams couldn't have written a story about a contest better than those two.
 



Hawaii in '97

Didn't Hawaii kill us in 1997? I think that was Coach Mason's first game as UM HC. I remember watching it at a neighbor's house on his recently purchased wide-screen system. Not a good game if I recall correctly...was it at Hawaii too?

Go Gophers! Beat Syracuse! (really looking ahead!)
 

What I am most amazed about is how anybody that is critical of Timmy "two-step" Brew Brew on this board is label a Mason-ite, or former Mason assistant, or just a Mason lover in general - yet most of us find time to thread about Mason's best and worst moments. It is like former presidents, the longer they are gone the more we appreciate what they did while in office.

Most of us wanted Mason out of office when he was at the U but yet we spend a lot of time remembering the past.

How about Brew's best and worst moments.

Best moment - win over Illinois

Worst - ?????
 

ORGopher said:
What I am most amazed about is how anybody that is critical of Timmy "two-step" Brew Brew on this board is label a Mason-ite, or former Mason assistant, or just a Mason lover in general - yet most of us find time to thread about Mason's best and worst moments. It is like former presidents, the longer they are gone the more we appreciate what they did while in office.

Most of us wanted Mason out of office when he was at the U but yet we spend a lot of time remembering the past.

How about Brew's best and worst moments.

Best moment - win over Illinois

Worst - ?????
Click to expand...

I considered the same as far as Brewster's best moments but when you don't even have 10 wins yet it's just too early. I mean including wins against Miami of Ohio, Northern Illinois, FAU, and @ Bowling Green just isn't impressive. Even worse, would be that the top ten would either have to include winning recruiting battles (Gray, Maresh, etc) or moral victories (competitive losses). It's not like it was any different for Mason after two years. It is just too easy.

Brewster top 5:
1. @ Illinois (2008) - Clutch plays, hard fought game, WVDS signature game
2. @ Purdue (2008) - Clinched bowl eligibility and 7-1 record
3. @ Bowling Green (2008) - Much anticipated game after BGU beat Pitt the prior week,
4. Northern Illinois (2008) - Win by converting 4th down for TD late in game
5. Miami of Ohio (2007) - First Brewster win, multiple OT thriller

Honorable mention: Indiana 2008 (a Big Ten victory), FAU 2008 (impressive victory over bowl team)

Brewster bottom 5:
1. Iowa (2008)
2. NDSU (2007)
3. Michigan (2008)
4. Northwestern (2008)
5. Northwestern (2007)
 

Mason's best moment: Happy Valley 1999
Mason's worst moment: Michigan meltdown 2003
Brewster's best moment: Get your dad gum chili hot aka Illinois 2008
Brewsters worst moment: 55-doughnut...enough said
 

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