By Michael Haas
The Gopher bandwagon hit a huge bump on Saturday. The 24-17 loss to Northwestern ended any Rose Bowl hopes for the U, and in turn, ended the season for all but die-hard Gopher fans. But even hopping on the bandwagon was a hard thing to do for most.
The team finished with just one win in coach Tim Brewster's first season. Even with a nice recruiting class, expectations were not high for '08. But just two games into the schedule, they had won twice as many games as last year. They even won their first conference game, setting up the 5-0 team against the class of the Big Ten, Ohio State. They got beat, just as everyone predicted. But then they turned heads by beating Illinois.
So I looked at the schedule. No Penn State, no Michigan State. Only Northwestern, Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa; The latter three having down years. So I allowed myself to be hopeful. I knew they probably couldn't beat all four teams, but the reward clouded my judgment. If Penn State were to go to the National Championship, and the Gophers remained at one loss, they could play in the Rose Bowl. My imagination ran wild with the possibility of a less-than-stellar team essentially sneaking into the Rose Bowl.
But it was not to be. With the score tied at 17 and the U driving, Eric Decker let a pass slip through his hands, and the Wildcats somehow returned it 50 yards for the touchdown. Three seconds left. Gophers lose. The first thing I thought was, "they are still the Gophers." But they're not exactly like the Mason-era Gophers: losses to Michigan in '03, Wisconsin in '05 and Texas Tech in '06. In those games, they had a nice lead and blew it. In Saturday's loss to Northwestern, the Gophs didn't blow a big lead, but pissed away a frustrating game with penalties and missed field goals.
So we've gone from screwing up big leads to screwing up tie games...
Tim Brewster for President.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Gopher Football Closer
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11 comments:
If there were a year to sneak into the Rose Bowl, this would be it. Because the Big Ten suuuuuuuuucks. And I mean it sucks worse than it normally does. Have a championship game you pansies.
Go Huskers.
There are 6 undefeated teams, and 7 one loss teams in the top 25. Even if the Gophs had won out and ended up 11-1, everyone of those teams with the exception of Ball State at 8-0 would have been chosen before the Gophers by the Rose Bowl.
Frezac,
The rose bowl (when not the BCS championship game) will usually put the top Pac-10 team versus the top Big Ten team (that's not involved in the championshop game) in the Rose Bowl.
Yep, thats right, Championshop.
you're right Frezac about all those teams that would be ahead of an 11-1 gopher team, but daymonster is right about the Rose Bowl choosing a big ten team over higher ranked team. But the catch is that they'd have to be ranked in the top 10 in the bcs. I think I heard that somewhere. So who knows. Not that is matters anymore.
The only time i ever eat tomatoes are on a BLT.
what about ketchup?
During the past few days I've asked myslef if I was one who jumped the wagon. I determined that I hadn't.
I have been a fan of many Gopher athletic departments for a long time now. Naturally I will become more attentive when success is present. That doesn't mean that I have chosen another team to root for in the years the Gophers have struggled. I have been a fan of the Gophers. Whether it be Football, Golf, Hockey, Wrestling, Cross Country, Gymnastics, or Water Polo, I cheer for the Gophers.
Gopher football has gotten our hopes up before, and probably will again. This season will still go down as one of our better ones, and we should appriciate the turn-around they have given us so far. Things are looking good for a one win team in '07 that should find themselves landing a decent bowl in '08. I thought we would have to wait for "The Bank" (AKA TCF Bank Stadium) to see this type of production.
Tennessee already has Brewster on the shortlist of replacement coaches. Sad but true, if Brewster keeps this up, he's just gonna leave for greener pastures sooner rather than later.
well as long as brewster has enough time to build a program, fanbase and recruiting progress, i wouldn't be super pissed if he were to be snatched up. That would be fairly ridiculous if he were to be bought out by another school after this season. I don't see that happening.
I meant normal tomatoes, brex. Ketchup is barely tomatoes, and I hardly use that anyway.
Tennessee is irrational though. last year they gave Filmer a 7 year contract extension. now they asked him to step down. And Notre Dame is stupid too. but yeah I doubt Brewster will leave after this season
ketchup is filled with normal tomatoes.
You admit to eating ketchup, you can't logically say you only eat tomatoes on a blt.
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