Wisconsin - a thorn in the side

[Great Plains Gopher]

But for Wisconsin in the (usually) last game of the year, the Gophers would have several more Big Ten titles. I remember Fesler's second year, 1952, with Giel and McNamara in the same backfield. Coming off a two-win season, they lost only three games in '52, only one in conference. Ties with Purdue (13-13) and the Badgers (21-21) cost them the Big Ten title and the Rose Bowl. The Gophers outplayed both teams but fumbles and mistakes cost us both games (Giel later admitted that Fesler was nowhere near the disciplinarian on fundamentals that Bierman was, having played for Bierman on the freshmen team in '50). In '56, the Gophers also lost only one game and would have tied Iowa for the title but for ties with Northwestern (0-0) and Wisconsin (13-13). I was at the N'Western game and felt the Gophers played too conservative a game on offense and would have won had they opened up a bit. In '61 and '62, the Wisconsin game, at the end of the season, cost us the title each year. We lost at home to the Badgers in '61, 23-21, and 14-9 in Madison in '62, the game stolen by officials, who penalized Bell for a clean tackle (and interception by another Gopher of Ron Vanderkelen's awry pass) that would have given us the ball around our own 30 with about two minutes left. Bell's great play ended only the second sustained drive by Wisconsin all afternoon - plus, earlier we had to settle for a field goal when a touchdown by Bill Munsey was nullified by a "helping the runner" call. When Warmath blew up at the roughing-the-passer call, they tagged on 15 more, setting up the Badgers close to our goal and they scored.

The most memorable Wisconsin game for me was the game on Thanksgiving morning, 1963. It was postponed from the previous Saturday by the assassination of President Kennedy that Friday. After a nightmarish week cooped up inside watching the awful news, it was a tonic to be outdoors in Memorial Stadium and get your mind on something else. They started the game at 10 or 10:30 a.m. so people could get home for Thanksgiving dinner. Carl Eller led a goal-line stand that stopped the Badgers, 14-0. They had a first down on our one and it was directly below my student section. They ran four times and were stopped four times, three by Eller. The interesting thing is that it was Eller's honeymoon - he was married the night before!

 

[Gopher Bandanna Guy]

Thanks GP Goher! Although some of these were painful to hear, I enjoy hearing snippets from these games that predate my Gopher fanmanship. I've heard about that '62 game a few times. Can you imagine what Gopherhole would be like after a loss like that?

 

[Radio Badger]

I know that this rivalry goes both ways though. I remember being at the game in 1993 at the Dome, when an inspired Gophers team became the only team to defeat Bucky that year. I can still picture Rosga picking off Bevell and it still makes me shake my head.

 

[TAW]

I hadn't heard the 1963 story before. Thanks for sharing it. I told Monsignor he should add it to the Storied Rivalry.

 

[Seany]

I hadn't heard the 1963 story before. Thanks for sharing it. I told Monsignor he should add it to the Storied Rivalry.

Yeah, it's awesome hearing these stories from people who are old enough to have actually been there and seen all that history, especially epic events like the JFK assassination and how that affected college football amongst everything else. It's really fascinating stuff.