Both teams won yesterday, so when they play each other here in Minneapolis, next Saturday, the championship of the Big Ten West division will be at stake, as well as Paul Bunyan's axe.
When I was a kid, the dad of one of my neighborhood friends worked at the U; they had season tickets for Gopher football, and once or twice a season for several seasons I'd be invited along. This would have been in the late 60s, before I was even a teenager, and maybe for that reason I don't have any memory of a particular game, a big win or painful loss, or of any especially memorable play. What I do remember is the atmosphere on campus, especially walking along University Avenue toward the stadium, past the frat houses, banners flying, bands playing, people singing/chanting the Rouser, rowdy-seeming kids racing around shouting insults at anyone dressed in the opponent's colors. I realize now they'd probably been overserved already, or were maybe keeping it going from the night before. Anyway, it was exciting to me, but it was soon to end, dissipated by a long succession of mediocre teams and home games played indoors and off campus at the colorless Metrodome. I had season tickets for many of those years and sometimes overserved myself to make it bearable. The late collapses! I saw us blow a 17-0 halftime lead against Iowa; the Hawkeyes won when, after their last-second field goal attempt failed, they received a reprieve because the Gophers were called for too many men on the field. How does that happen? The next try, from closer in, was good. I saw Northwestern beat us on a hail Mary pass on the last play of the game. I saw Purdue beat us after moving about 50 yards on two plays in less than 20 seconds, without benefit of a timeout, before kicking a long, game-tying field goal on the last play of regulation. You don't have to guess who won in overtime. The worst ever was a game against Michigan in 2003, the hundredth anniversary of the first battle for the Little Brown Jug. We led after three quarters, 28-7, and, despite scoring a touchdown ourselves in the fourth quarter, lost the game: Michigan scored five times—four touchdowns and a field goal in the fourth quarter—to win, 38-35. Again, how does that happen? I think I remember reading somewhere that it's the only known game in the history of Big Ten football in which the losing team rushed for more than 400 yards.
I'm just describing a few close ones. More often, we were obliterated. On September 17, 1983, Nebraska defeated us in the Metrodome by the score of 84-13. In case you are wondering, we did not miss an extra point. We kicked two field goals. The second, in the third quarter, drew us within 56-13, but we couldn't get any closer. Nebraska scored twelve touchdowns, three in each quarter. Another time, in an early-season game, some unheralded squad from a so-called minor conference moved the ball up and down the field on us all afternoon long. I think it was early in the fourth quarter when one of our guys finally caused an incompletion with a big hit just as the ball arrived. As he celebrated himself, the receiver got to his feet, tapped our guy on the shoulder pad, and, when he turned around, gestured toward the scoreboard, which showed the Gophers trailing by 20-some points.
So that is just a bit of context for the tilt on Saturday against the Badgers, when for the first time ever ESPN's College GameDay will be broadcasting from the site of a Gopher home game. The week-long build-up is going to be fun, and come next Saturday morning, I suspect the atmosphere on campus is going to surpass anything I remember from the 60s—to say nothing of the 80s and 90s and aughts. Who knows what will happen? In yesterday's games, the weaknesses of the respective teams appeared to match their next opponent's strength. We beat winless (in conference games) Northwestern, but they scored three touchdowns, all on drives featuring their running plays and our bad tackling. It's not promising, therefore, that later in the afternoon Wisconsin rushed for more than 400 yards in their win over Purdue. If you prefer optimism, the Boilermakers, with no running game to keep the Badgers honest, completed 27 of 44 passes for 326 yards and three touchdowns. The Gophers' Tyler Johnson and Rashod Bateman are the only two Big Ten players north of 1000 yards in pass receiving this season, and they are tied for first in touchdown receptions—ten each. Our quarterback, Tanner Morgan, ranks second in the conference for passing efficiency, behind only Ohio State's Justin Fields, who is widely regarded as a Heisman candidate.
My dour Norwegian genes are advising me to keep expectations low. But I can't help myself. Row the boat! Go Gophers!
Comments