Gopher Football
The second quarter didn’t go any better for the Gophers. On the opening play of the quarter Jason Giannini missed a 38-yard field attempt. Iowa then took their third possession into the end zone with a 71-yard run by Damin Sims. Less than 20 minutes into the game and the Gophers were down 21-0. The Gophers drove deep into Iowa territory again only to fail on a 4th-and-7 attempt. Iowa then quickly took their possession down the field for another touchdown ““ 28-0, game over.
Frankly, the Gophers played about as bad in that first half as they did against Indiana earlier in the season. The difference is that the Hoosiers are a bad football team that could only manage a 14-7 lead. Iowa left no possibility of a Gopher comeback in the second half. And there really was no excuse for this situation. Yes, Laurence Maroney was out of the game early with that nagging ankle injury, but certainly you can’t blame him for failure in all phases of the game.
The scene today silenced any complaint about Iowa fans and their disrespect for the Minnesota football program. Iowa has now won five straight against the Gophers and only last year’s game was close. So much was on the line for the Gophers in this game. Iowa at 6-4 could not be considered a great team going into this game. The Gophers fell flat on their faces in every aspect of the game. Let Iowa fans laugh at the puny bowls the Gophers are regulars at, their soft non-conference schedule, our poor attendance and our attempts to sign our hero Glen Mason. I can now only shrug when a merciless Hawkeye fan brings up the goal post spectacle of 2002. This Gopher football program deserves the shame it brought on itself today.
Is a change of direction needed? Has Glen Mason taken this program as far as he can take it? Is this the most we can expect from this program at this point in time? I won’t pretend to have the final answers on any of those questions. I will say that these .500 Big Ten seasons do not leave me satisfied. If the goal can’t be for a title then something is seriously wrong.
No doubt the football program is at a crossroads. Mason has gotten the program back to respectability, except for today. Now some important decisions have to be made, like the future of Glen Mason at Minnesota. He either needs to accept an extension or go. A lame duck season next year would be a recruiting disaster the Gophers cannot afford and could take years to recover from. Then there is the issue of building an on-campus football stadium. This needs to be finalized soon or a long-term budget problem is going to force even tougher decisions, like dropping some non-revenue sports. I don’t envy Joe Maturi as he tries to guide the athletic department through these turbulent times.
The last time an Iowa/Minnesota game was this lopsided was when the Gophers beat them 49-7 in 1998. It was Hayden Fry’s last game as the Iowa coach. This definitely won’t be Glen Mason’s last game at the helm of the Gopher program, as a bowl game is a certainty. Still, after a drubbing like this and the Gophers’ continued failure to win against their biggest rivals, Iowa and Wisconsin, I’m starting to think the unthinkable. (The rivalry losses this year cost the Gophers a 6-2 Big Ten season and a January 2 bowl game. Mason is a bad 3-6 against Iowa and a putrid 2-7 vs. Wisconsin.) That is, a change of direction may be necessary for this football program ““ at least that option needs to be on the table now.