Worst Gopher football memory

Donate To GopherHole
maroonfive said:
There was maybe 35,000 at that Michigan State game. There was no excuse for that. The other myth is that the Michigan game was a sellout which is was not. There were lots of empty seats.

Go Gophers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...
Lower deck was full not sure about upper deck there were at least 60000 people in the house. The energy and pregame for Michigan 2003 was amazing, the closest to Collegiate atmosphere we had going back to the Lou Holtz day's. Gopher gear everywhere that Friday. That was a heartbreaking loss because it changed things detrimentally. Michigan State crowd was dud, I remember they MSU kicked off short hit our Tight end short bouncing kickoff and MSU recovered and scored.
Sent from my SM-J327P using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:


Hates Monikers said:
To that list I would add 1989 Gutey loss to Ohio State. Up 31-0 in the second half at the Dome and lost 41-37 on ABC in front of a rabid crowd of 34,000.
Click to expand...

Awful ending. I got to watch that game during basic training at Fort Benning as a reward for a good PT score. I buffed the floor of the day room while I watched that game. I got to drink Mountain Dew and eat peanut butter cups. When the Gophers took the lead I thought that day was the best ever and then the bottom fell out. Overall, the 2003 Michigan game is still my worst Gopher memory.

Sent from my LG-H820 using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:

Doc Gopher said:
One for the old timers: Wisconsin 1962. Bobby Bell gets called for roughing the passer( a terrible call) and the Gophers lose the Big Ten Championship to
the Badgers.
Click to expand...

Yep. And then a 15 yard penalty on Warmath. The indignation in Ray's voice was something. These youngsters have no idea of the anger that one caused. That was when the whole state lived and died with the Gophers.
 



The Michigan game in 2015, watched it on tv and couldn’t believe the ending & I’m pretty sure Claeys knew he needed a new OC after that. Only been a Minnesota resident since 2011, so not a lot of bad memories.
In person, I was at the bowl game in Houston (2011?)against Texas Tech and when the Gophers were up late game and starting to crack, told the guys behind me that we may lose this game in regulation & sure enough Gophers lost. Can’t remember all the details but game was nearly in hand.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

DarrenTheGreek's correct to put I-O-W-A's botched goalpost heist from 2002 on the list...

Worst ever no...but still a very low point where the Dome was often Kinnick North. Yuk.
 
Last edited:

gopherdudepart2 said:
Kicker flat out dropped the snap on that punt. All he had to do was run out out the end zone, or bat it out of the end zone there too. Gophers would still have had the lead, perhaps they would have still lost by taking the safety but I would have rather the punter have been coached to take the safety there than try to punt it after he dropped the snap. This is one scenario where the coaches should review with the punter if it ever occurs in the end zone again and the team is leading take the safety always.
Click to expand...

Well you can guess that I'd have to by default pick a Becky loss! Yep this was the worst for me I was there for it right by where he muffed it. It was a horror show! followed by tOSU game in 89 where I also was there, and as they were leaving the field I remember Alonzo Spellman that massive d lineman with arms the size of most people's legs telling all the fans that the game wasn't over and that they will be coming back in the second half. I will never forget his laughing and finger pointing to us as he went back after the game..."I told you! I told you! Ha ha ha!" Ouch! Then the Iowa Lois game...I was also there and so pissed at the pathetic showing by the Gophers fans as I think Hawk fans outnumbered us and they were all wearing yellow shirts with black picture of the dome on the front with"Kinnick North" on it. Yuck! Made me so pissed when they got pounded on the field, out cheered in the stand, and trying to take the goalposts out. My god it was ugly!
 





everybody knows my name said:
October 15, 2005. #23 Minnesota -vs- #22 Wisconsin.

Gophers are leading 34-31 and have the ball. Fourth down in the fourth quarter - 30 seconds left in the game.

Lawrence Maroney has run 43 times for 258 yards and Gary Russell has run 19 times for 139 yards. As the Gophers send the punt team out on the field I'm yelling "Run the ball! Run the ball! Don't punt, run the ball!" I don't know why I felt this way; punting was obviously the smart move. But my heart sank when they lined up to punt.

Punt is blocked at the 5, recovered in the end zone by Wisconsin. Final score 38-34 Wisconsin.

I didn't watch the Gophers again until halfway through the 2006 season.
Click to expand...

This one was terrible too. A great performance ruined by that punt. Why he didn't just fall on it rather than punt, I will never know!
 

For that 2005 Wisconsin game Benji Kamrath came in as the back-up senior QB and played a very good game. I think that was his one and only start.

Again, sigh....
 




I will not accept any answer that isn’t the game that will not be spoken of. Absolutely has to be the worst. 15-years later and it still makes me sick to my stomach.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

all of the on-the-field losses hurt.

but, I would suggest a different event for my worst Gopher FB memory.

2011 - New Mexico State. Jerry Kill has a seizure on the sideline during a game, which is captured on TV. Watching that felt worse than any on-field loss. losing a game is one thing - but this involved a man's life.

And - making it worse for me - after the game I had to go to a wake for my former boss who had passed away from cancer. A truly bad day.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
Lower deck was full not sure about upper deck there were at least 60000 people in the house. The energy and pregame for Michigan 2003 was amazing, the closest to Collegiate atmosphere we had going back to the Lou Holtz day's. Gopher gear everywhere that Friday. That was a heartbreaking loss because it changed things detrimentally. Michigan State crowd was dud, I remember they MSU kicked off short hit our Tight end short bouncing kickoff and MSU recovered and scored.
Sent from my SM-J327P using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Michigan game was moved to Friday night due to the Twins, correct?
 

short ornery norwegian said:
all of the on-the-field losses hurt.

but, I would suggest a different event for my worst Gopher FB memory.

2011 - New Mexico State. Jerry Kill has a seizure on the sideline during a game, which is captured on TV. Watching that felt worse than any on-field loss. losing a game is one thing - but this involved a man's life.

And - making it worse for me - after the game I had to go to a wake for my former boss who had passed away from cancer. A truly bad day.
Click to expand...

Yeh, that was bad.
Didn't have a good feeling watching that.

That was Kill's second game as HC with us. First home game.
 


Michigan game at Metrodome. Was at the game and still remember the shock and awe of the 4th quarter.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Michigan game was moved to Friday night due to the Twins, correct?
Click to expand...

Yes, due to Twins potentially needing the Dome on Saturday for an ALCS game. Turns out, the Michigan game didn’t need to be played on Friday, because the Twins were eliminated in the ALDS the preceding Sunday.
 

2003 Michigan was the worst I've ever felt after a game, and it was the last time I sunk my emotions into a game.
 

That 2003 Michigan game was rough, but the 2004 back to back road games in Michigan were rough as well. In 2004 we had Michigan beat late in the game, and they came back to edge MN on great sunny, warm fall day. Ernie Wheelwright caught a pass o the sideline that seemed like it would seal the win, but it did not.

I traveled back to East Lansing the next week and it was cold, windy and rainy, and the Gopher team did not show up and got run out of the stadium. The 2004 season, which had so much potential died those two weeks, and had more dirt thrown on with another loss at home to Iowa a few weeks later. Beating a weak Alabama team in Nashville at the end of the year made it a little better, but not much better.

That MSU game and trip was just awful. At least the 2003 Michigan game, and the Wisconsin 2005 game were highly entertaining and until that awful endings those wrere pretty great days.

Having said all that the 2003 game is by far the worst. The 2006 Texas Tech game was awful as well to live through, but the stakes were not very high.
 

If only those teams that are mentioned here refused to lose. How different would the memories of our favorite football team have been?
 


2005 Wisconsin was the worst for the reasons already discussed, but also because we were up in the upper-deck, surrounded by hammered Badger fans. Many had literally started to nod off in the 4Q and then came-to for the ending. I have never been around a more obnoxious group of "people" in my life.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Michigan game was moved to Friday night due to the Twins, correct?
Click to expand...

I remember a rare bitching about another B10 team by Michigan's coach about that.

Rivalry talk is one thing but it was a rare case of non rivalry / game related complaining.

Then a few days later he came back with something like "We will be happy to play when the game is scheduled."

I think someone got a talking to by the B1G / their boss ;)
 

This thread just goes to show you 2 things:

1. We have been snake bitten for decades back to the Bobby bell roughing call.

2. Shows us how incredibly close Mason was to having a dominating program. A Wisconsin friend watched some games when Mase was here and always told us his dominating the run game was but how incredibly bad our defense was. He said most of our defenders in the early to mid 2000s would be walk ons at WI. Said they were slow and stiff. In addition, we never had good defensive coaches either while playing in a dome rather than outdoors which would have helped our defense.

What could have been.....
 

Spoofin said:
I will not accept any answer that isn’t the game that will not be spoken of. Absolutely has to be the worst. 15-years later and it still makes me sick to my stomach.
Click to expand...
Younger fans may not have seen that one... to me that's the only excuse not to list it. It was a total gut punch.
 

Thomasthetank said:
This thread just goes to show you 2 things:

2. Shows us how incredibly close Mason was to having a dominating program. A Wisconsin friend watched some games when Mase was here and always told us his dominating the run game was but how incredibly bad our defense was. He said most of our defenders in the early to mid 2000s would be walk ons at WI. Said they were slow and stiff. In addition, we never had good defensive coaches either while playing in a dome rather than outdoors which would have helped our defense.

What could have been.....
Click to expand...

I remember in 2013-2015, when the defense was really doing some great work and we had Eric Murray and Brien Boddy-Calhoun in the secondary, many were talking about how good a team would be with Mason's offense and Kill's defense. Still holds up today. If Mason had a defensive line to win the battle in the trenches or a shut down secondary, the team would've been far more dominant. No disrespect to the defensive guys from those early 2000s teams, they earned a lot of victories, but Mason's defenses didn't seem to match the offensive talent.
 

IceBoxGopher said:
I remember in 2013-2015, when the defense was really doing some great work and we had Eric Murray and Brien Boddy-Calhoun in the secondary, many were talking about how good a team would be with Mason's offense and Kill's defense. Still holds up today. If Mason had a defensive line to win the battle in the trenches or a shut down secondary, the team would've been far more dominant. No disrespect to the defensive guys from those early 2000s teams, they earned a lot of victories, but Mason's defenses didn't seem to match the offensive talent.
Click to expand...

Mason just didn't have the acumen to be a good defensive coach. Remember, had he not gotten fired and JJ Watt came to Minnesota he was going to be made into a tight end instead of DE!
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom