Minnesota Golden Gophers football: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 22:08, 30 June 2024

History[edit]

The Minnesota Gophers college football team played its first game on September 29, 1882, a 4–0 victory over Hamline University. Eight years later in 1890, the Gophers played host to Wisconsin in a 63–0 victory. With the exception of 1906, the Gophers and Badgers have played each other every year since then. The 132 games played against each other is the most played rivalry in Division I-A college football.

Early years[edit]

The sport's beginnings were humble. Students began gathering to play the game recreationally and its popularity grew.

Once the sport had taken off, it was only a matter of time before a team was formed to play against other schools. Early teams were very loosely organized, not requiring all of the players to be students and not having designated coaches. The players on the team started to recruit faculty members who had played football at schools in the East to help organize the team. The team gained their first coach in 1883: Thomas Peebles, a philosophy professor who also recruited a cheer team for the football players, which later established him as the father of American cheerleading.^[7] Like many of the early coaches, his term lasted just one year.^[8]

Some years, the football team played without a coach. Other years, they played with multiple coaches. In total, from 1882 through 1899, the team played 16 seasons of football and had 15 different coaches. As the years went by, the leadership structure started to become more formal. In 1900, the hiring of Dr. Henry L. Williams, the school’s first full-time salaried coach, signaled the end of the early, chaotic days.^[9]^: 15

Glory years[edit]

The Gophers enjoyed quite a bit of success in the early 20th century, posting winning records from 1900 to 1919. Head coach Henry L. Williams developed the "Minnesota shift", a predecessor to later quick line shifts, which was adopted widely.^[10] Also Henry L. Williams led Minnesota to one of the NCAA's longest unbeaten streaks of 35 games, from 1903 to 1905 with 34 wins and 1 tie.^[11] In 1932, Bernie Bierman became the Gophers' head coach and led the Gophers to their first dynasty. From 1934 to 1936 the Gophers went on a run of winning three straight National Championships, the last Division I team to accomplish this feat. During the run, Minnesota went unbeaten in 28 straight games, 21 of which were consecutive victories. The school record for consecutive victories is 24, which spanned 3 seasons from 1903 to 1905. Led by halfback Bruce Smith, the Gophers also won two more national championships in 1940 and 1941, with Smith winning the Heisman Trophy in 1941. Those two seasons comprised most of an 18-game winning streak that stretched from 1939 to 1942.

Fall from power[edit]

In the seasons immediately following the end of World War II, Bernie Bierman did not adopt the 2 most important innovations in on-field strategy: substituting the 60-minute player for two-platoon of offensive-only and defensive-only players, and the split-T offensive formation. Instead, Bierman continued to use two-way players and the single-wing formation.^[12]

Off the field, Bierman had to contend with the most conservative administration in the Big Ten. President James Morrill's public and private advocacy for the less-professional rules of the pre-World War II era led Minnesota to become the only Big Ten school to vote against the 3 most consequential conference decisions in the immediate post-war years: the legalization of athletic scholarships in 1949, and the 1946 and 1950 Rose Bowl deals.^[13]

Return to prominence[edit]

After some mediocre seasons throughout the remainder of the 1940s and 1950s, the Gophers rose back to prominence in 1960 with their seventh national championship (because polling ended after the regular season, the Gophers were crowned AP and UPI national champions despite losing the Rose Bowl to Washington). That national championship followed a 1–8 record in 1958 and 2–7 record in 1959. Minnesota played in bowl games the two following years as well, in 1961 and 1962. The Gophers earned their first berth in the Rose Bowl by winning the 1960 Big Ten title. The following year, Minnesota returned to Pasadena despite a second-place finish in the conference. The Ohio State Buckeyes, the Big Ten champions in 1961, declined an invitation to the Rose Bowl because of tension between academics and athletics at the school. Minnesota beat UCLA 21–3 to claim its first and only Rose Bowl victory. Minnesota's last Big Ten title was in 1967, tying the Indiana Hoosiers and Purdue Boilermakers atop the standings.

Recent history[edit]

After their 8–2 record in 1967, the Gophers did not win 8 games in a season again until they finished 8–4 in 1999.^[14] Their 10–3 record in 2003 gave the Gophers their first 10 win season since 1905.

In1981, the Gophers played their last game in Memorial Stadium and played their home games in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome until 2008. The Gophers moved back to campus with a 20–13 win against Air Force on September 12, 2009, when their new home, TCF Bank Stadium, opened.

In 2010, after a 1–6 record to start the season, the Gophers football head coach Tim Brewster was fired. Jeff Horton served as the interim head coach going 2–3. On December 6, 2010, Jerry Kill, former Northern Illinois University head coach, was hired to take over the University of Minnesota football program.^[16]

In 2014, The Gophers reached an 8–4 record while going 5–3 in Big Ten games, falling just short of making the Big Ten Championship Game by losing to The Wisconsin Badgers in the season finale. After being revitalized in the Big Ten contention, The Gophers were awarded an appearance in the Citrus Bowl on January 1 against Missouri.

In 2018, the Gophers defeated the Badgers to reclaim Paul Bunyan's Axe and end a 14 season losing streak.

In 2019, the Gophers turned in a historic season, going 11-2 (7-2 in conference play)^[17] including a home victory against No. 4 Penn State 31-26, their first victory over a top 5 team in 20 years.^[18] The win also marked the first time since 1904 that the Gophers started out a season 9-0.^[19]

Conference affiliations[edit]

All-time Big Ten records[edit]

Team	Won	Lost	Tied	Pct.	Streak	First meeting	Last meeting
Chicago Maroons	12	5	1	.694	Won 7	1895	1934
Illinois Fighting Illini	40	33	3	.546	Lost 3	1898	2023
Indiana Hoosiers	40	26	3	.601	Won 4	1906	2021
Iowa Hawkeyes	63	51	2	.547	Won 1	1891	2023
Maryland Terrapins	3	4	0	.429	Won 1	1977	2021
Michigan Wolverines	25	77	3	.252	Lost 4	1891	2023
Michigan State Spartans	19	30	0	.388	Won 2	1950	2023
Nebraska Cornhuskers	37	25	2	.578	Won 5	1900	2023
Northwestern Wildcats	55	37	5	.597	Lost 1	1892	2023
Ohio State Buckeyes	7	47	0	.130	Lost 12	1921	2023
Penn State Nittany Lions	6	10	0	.375	Lost 1	1993	2022
Purdue Boilermakers	41	35	3	.538	Lost 2	1894	2023
Rutgers Scarlet Knights	3	0	0	1.000	Won 3	2016	2022
Wisconsin Badgers	62	63	8	.496	Lost 1	1890	2023
	406	436	35	.483

Championships[edit]

National championships[edit]

Minnesota has been selected nine times as national champions from NCAA-designated major selectors, including four (1936, 1940, 1941, and 1960) from the major wire-service: AP Poll and/or Coaches' Poll.^[20]^[21]^{: 111–113} Minnesota claims seven (1904, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941, and 1960) of these championships.^[22]

Season	Coach	Selectors	Record	Bowl	Result	Final AP	Final Coaches
1904	Henry L. Williams	Billingsley	13–0			–	–
1934	Bernie Bierman	Billingsley, Boand, Dickinson, Football Research, Helms, Litkenhous, National Championship Foundation, Sagarin, Sagarin (ELO-Chess)	8–0			–	–
1935	Bernie Bierman	Billingsley, Boand, Football Research, Helms, Litkenhous, National Championship Foundation, Poling	8–0			–	–
1936	Bernie Bierman	AP, Billingsley, Dickinson, Dunkel, Helms, Litkenhous, National Championship Foundation, Poling	7–1			No. 1	–
1940	Bernie Bierman	AP, Berryman, Boand, DeVold, Dickinson, Football Research, Houlgate, Litkenhous, National Championship Foundation, Sagarin, Sagarin (ELO-Chess)	8–0			No. 1	–
1941	Bernie Bierman	AP, Billingsley, Boand, DeVold, Dunkel, Football Research, Helms, Litkenhous, National Championship Foundation, Poling, Sagarin, Sagarin (ELO-Chess)	8–0			No. 1	–
1960	Murray Warmath	AP, FB News, NFF, UPI	8–2	Rose	L 7–17	No. 1	No. 1

Toledo Cup[edit]

The Gophers were the inaugural winners of the Toledo Cup national championship trophy in 1934 and repeated the feat in 1935 and 1936.^[23] The poll's rules stated the traveling trophy would be retained permanently by the first team to win it three times; Bernie Bierman's teams completed the three-peat without any other team winning the cup.^[24] The Toledo Cup is currently displayed in the lobby of the Gibson-Nagurski Athletic Center at the University of Minnesota.^[23]^[24]

Rockne Memorial Trophy[edit]

Minnesota won Dickinson System national championships in 1934, 1936, and 1940. The three wins gave them permanent possession of the Knute Rockne Memorial Trophy, which had been introduced in 1931.^[25] Following tradition, the university set their own new trophy into play and named it for former football coach Henry L. Williams.

With professor Frank Dickinson retiring from the ratings business, the new Williams Trophy was instead linked to the nascent AP Poll and served as the first AP Trophy.

Conference championships[edit]

Season	Coach	Conference	Overall Record	Conference Record
1892	No coach	Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the Northwest	5–0	3–0
1893	Wallace Winter	Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the Northwest	6–0	3–0
1900†	Henry L. Williams	Western Conference	10–0–2	3–0–1
1903†	Henry L. Williams	Western Conference	14–0–1	3–0–1
1904†	Henry L. Williams	Western Conference	13–0	3–0
1906†	Henry L. Williams	Western Conference	4–1	2–0
1909	Henry L. Williams	Western Conference	6–1	3–0
1910†	Henry L. Williams	Western Conference	6–1	2–0
1911	Henry L. Williams	Western Conference	6–0–1	3–0–1
1915†	Henry L. Williams	Western Conference	6–0–1	3–0–1
1927†	Clarence Spears	Big Ten Conference	6–0–2	3–0–1
1933†	Bernie Bierman	Big Ten Conference	4–0–4	2–0–4
1934	Bernie Bierman	Big Ten Conference	8–0	5–0
1935†	Bernie Bierman	Big Ten Conference	8–0	5–0
1937	Bernie Bierman	Big Ten Conference	6–2	5–0
1938	Bernie Bierman	Big Ten Conference	6–2	4–1
1940	Bernie Bierman	Big Ten Conference	8–0	6–0
1941	Bernie Bierman	Big Ten Conference	8–0	5–0
1960†	Murray Warmath	Big Ten Conference	8–2	6–1
1967†	Murray Warmath	Big Ten Conference	8–2	6–1

Division championships[edit]

Big Ten Football adopted divisions in 2011, with the winner of each division playing for the conference championship. The divisions were known as Legends and Leaders from 2011 to 2013. In 2014, the divisions were realigned geographically into East and West. Minnesota competes in the Big Ten West Division. Minnesota has shared one division title, in 2019.^[2]

Season	Division	Coach	Opponent	CG result
2019†	Big Ten – West	P. J. Fleck	N/A lost tiebreaker to Wisconsin

Bowl games[edit]

No.	Season	Coach	Bowl	Opponent	Result
1	1960	Murray Warmath	Rose Bowl	Washington	L 7–17
2	1961	Murray Warmath	Rose Bowl	UCLA	W 21–3
3	1977	Cal Stoll	Hall of Fame Classic	Maryland	L 6–21
4	1985	John Gutekunst	Independence Bowl	Clemson	W 20–13
5	1986	John Gutekunst	Liberty Bowl	Tennessee	L 14–21
6	1999	Glen Mason	Sun Bowl	Oregon	L 20–24
7	2000	Glen Mason	MicronPC.com Bowl	NC State	L 30–38
8	2002	Glen Mason	Music City Bowl	Arkansas	W 29–14
9	2003	Glen Mason	Sun Bowl	Oregon	W 31–30
10	2004	Glen Mason	Music City Bowl	Alabama	W 20–16
11	2005	Glen Mason	Music City Bowl	Virginia	L 31–34
12	2006	Glen Mason	Insight Bowl	Texas Tech	L 41–44
13	2008	Tim Brewster	Insight Bowl	Kansas	L 21–42
14	2009	Tim Brewster	Insight Bowl	Iowa State	L 13–14
15	2012	Jerry Kill	Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas	Texas Tech	L 31–34
16	2013	Jerry Kill	Texas Bowl	Syracuse	L 17–21
17	2014	Jerry Kill	Citrus Bowl	Missouri	L 17–33
18	2015	Tracy Claeys	Quick Lane Bowl	Central Michigan	W 21–14
19	2016	Tracy Claeys	Holiday Bowl	Washington State	W 17–12
20	2018	P. J. Fleck	Quick Lane Bowl	Georgia Tech	W 34–10
21	2019	P. J. Fleck	Outback Bowl	Auburn	W 31–24
22	2021	P. J. Fleck	Guaranteed Rate Bowl	West Virginia	W 18–6
23	2022	P. J. Fleck	Pinstripe Bowl	Syracuse	W 28–20
24	2023	P. J. Fleck	Quick Lane Bowl	Bowling Green	W 30–24

Bowl Game	#	W	L	%
Citrus Bowl	1	0	1	.000
Guaranteed Rate Bowl (Insight Bowl)	4	1	3	.250
Hall of Fame Classic	1	0	1	.000
Holiday Bowl	1	1	0	1.000
Independence Bowl	1	1	0	1.000
Liberty Bowl	1	0	1	.000
MicronPC.com Bowl	1	0	1	.000
Music City Bowl	3	2	1	.666
Outback Bowl	1	1	0	1.000
Pinstripe Bowl	1	1	0	1.000
Quick Lane Bowl	3	3	0	1.000
Rose Bowl	2	1	1	.500
Sun Bowl	2	1	1	.500
Texas Bowl	2	0	2	.000

Head coaches[edit]

Tenure	Coach	Years	Record	Pct.
1882	No coach	1	1–1	.500
1883	Thomas Peebles	1	1–2	.333
1884–1885	No games played	2
1886–1888	Frederick S. Jones	3	3–3	.500
1889	Al McCord, D. W. McCord, Frank Heffelfinger, Billy Morse	1	3–1	.750
1890	Tom Eck	1	5–1–1	.786
1891	Edward Moulton	1	3–1–1	.700
1892	No coach	1	5–0	1.000
1893	Wallace Winter	1	6–0	1.000
1894	Tom Cochrane Jr.	1	3–1	.750
1895	Pudge Heffelfinger	1	7–3	.700
1896–1897	Alexander Jerrems	2	12–6	.667
1898	Jack Minds	1	4–5	.444
1899	Jack Harrison, William C. Leary	1	6–3–2	.636
1900–1921	Henry L. Williams	22	136–33–11	.786
1922–1924	William H. Spaulding	3	11–7–4	.591
1925–1929	Clarence Spears	5	28–9–3	.738
1930–1931	Fritz Crisler	2	10–7–1	.583
1932–1941, 1945–1950	Bernie Bierman	16	93–35–6	.716
1942–1944	George Hauser	3	15–11–1	.574
1951–1953	Wes Fesler	3	10–13–4	.444
1954–1971	Murray Warmath	18	87–78–7	.526
1972–1978	Cal Stoll	7	39–39	.500
1979–1983	Joe Salem	5	19–35–1	.355
1984–1985	Lou Holtz	2	10–12	.455
1986–1991	John Gutekunst	6	29–36–2	.448
1992–1996	Jim Wacker	5	16–39	.291
1997–2006	Glen Mason	10	64–57	.529
2007–2010	Tim Brewster	4	15–30	.333
2010	Jeff Horton	1	2–3	.400
2011–2015	Jerry Kill	5	29–29	.500
2015–2016	Tracy Claeys	2	11–8	.579
2017–present	P. J. Fleck	7	50–34	.595

Rivalries[edit]

Wisconsin[edit]

The Minnesota-Wisconsin rivalry is the most-played rivalry in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The winner of the game receives Paul Bunyan's Axe, a tradition that started in 1948 after the first trophy, the Slab of Bacon, disappeared. Minnesota dominated the series for most of the first half of the 20th century, and Wisconsin similarly dominated the series from the early 1990s until 2018, accruing a 14-game win streak for the Badgers which gave Wisconsin its first-ever lead in the series in 2017. Wisconsin leads the series 63–62–8 through the 2023 season.^[27]

Iowa[edit]

The winner of the game is awarded the Floyd of Rosedale, 98 lb (44 kg) a bronze pig trophy. The trophy began in 1935, when, in an effort to deescalate tensions between the two teams and fan bases, Minnesota Governor Floyd Olson bet Iowa Governor Clyde L. Herring a prize hog against an Iowa prize hog that Minnesota would win the game. After Minnesota's victory, Governor Herring obtained a pig donated by Rosedale Farms and named the hog after Governor Olson, giving birth to Floyd of Rosedale. Minnesota leads the series with Iowa 63–52–2 through the 2023 season.^[28]

Michigan[edit]

The Michigan–Minnesota football rivalry is the first and oldest trophy game in college football history. The winner of the game is awarded the Little Brown Jug, a five-gallon earthenware jug. The jug was used by Michigan in the 1903 matchup to prevent Minnesota from tampering with its water supply, and, according to folklore, stolen from Michigan by a Minnesota custodian after the game. Michigan leads the series 77–25–3 with the last game played in 2023.^[29]

Nebraska[edit]

The winner of the Minnesota-Nebraska game is awarded the $5 Bits of Broken Chair Trophy, which is an unofficial trophy created by fans after a good-humored back and forth between the Twitter accounts for Minnesota mascot Goldy Gopher and a parody account for then-head coach Bo Pelini. The trophy was officially rejected by both universities, although groups associated with each university continue to use the trophy as a fundraiser around the annual matchup. Minnesota leads the series with Nebraska 37–25–2 through the 2023 season.^[30]

Facilities[edit]

Huntington Bank Stadium[edit]

Huntington Bank Stadium is the football stadium for the Minnesota Golden Gophers college football team at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The 52,525-seat on-campus "horseshoe" style stadium is designed to support future expansion to seat up to 80,000 people, and cost $303.3 million to build. The stadium was the temporary home of the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League for the 2014 and 2015 seasons while U.S. Bank Stadium was being built.

Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex[edit]

The complex houses the team administrative offices, locker room, meeting rooms, equipment room, training room, and players’ lounges. It is named after Gopher teammates from the 1920s, George Gibson and Bronko Nagurski.

Former venues[edit]

Individual award winners[edit]

Retired numbers[edit]

No.	Player	Position	Career	Date of Retirement
10	Paul Giel	HB	1951–1953	September 24, 1991
54	Bruce Smith	HB	1939–1941	June 27, 1977
72	Bronko Nagurski	FB/T	1927–1929	October 27, 1979

Retired jerseys[edit]

Additionally, the Golden Gophers have retired two jerseys. This honor is distinguished from "retired numbers" because the numbers of these players can be worn by any player normally.^[33]

No.	Player	Position	Career	Date of Retirement
15	Sandy Stephens	QB	1959–1961	November 18, 2000
78	Bobby Bell	LB/DE	1960–1962	September 18, 2010

Name	Position(s)	Inducted	Years	Ref.
Bert Baston	E	1954	1914–1916	^[60]
Bobby Bell	T	1991	1960–1962	^[61]
Bernie Bierman	HC	1955	1932–1941 1945–1950	^[62]
Tom Brown	G	2003	1958–1960	^[63]
Fritz Crisler	HC	1954	1930–1931	^[64]
Carl Eller	T	2006	1961–1963	^[65]
George Franck	HB	2002	1938–1940	^[66]
Paul Giel	HB	1975	1951–1953	^[67]
Lou Holtz	HC	2008	1984–1985	^[68]
Herb Joesting	FB	1954	1925–1927	^[69]
Pug Lund	HB	1958	1932–1934	^[70]
Bobby Marshall	E	1971	1904–1906	^[71]
John McGovern	QB	1966	1908–1910	^[72]
Bronko Nagurski	FB, T	1951	1927–1929	^[73]
Leo Nomellini	T, G	1977	1946–1949	^[74]
Eddie Rogers	E	1968	1900–1903	^[75]
Bruce Smith	HB	1972	1939–1941	^[76]
Bob Stein	DE	2020	1966–1968	^[77]
Sandy Stephens	QB	2011	1959–1961	^[78]
Clayton Tonnemaker	C	1980	1946–1949	^[79]
Ed Widseth	T	1954	1934–1936	^[80]
Dick Wildung	T	1957	1940–1942	^[81]
Henry L. Williams	HC	1951	1900–1921	^[82]

Name	Position(s)	Class	Team(s), Years
Bobby Bell	DE, LB	1983	Kansas City Chiefs, 1963–1974
Tony Dungy	Head Coach	2016	Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1996–2001 Indianapolis Colts, 2002–2008
Carl Eller	DE	2004	Minnesota Vikings, 1964–1978 Seattle Seahawks, 1979
Bud Grant	Head Coach	1994	Minnesota Vikings, 1967–1983, 1985
Bronko Nagurski	FB	1963	Chicago Bears 1930–1937, 1943
Leo Nomellini	DT	1969	San Francisco 49ers 1950–1963
Charlie Sanders	TE	2007	Detroit Lions 1968–1977

Name	Position(s)	Class	Team(s), Years
Tom Brown	DL	1984	BC Lions, 1961–1967
Bud Grant	TE Head Coach	1983	Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 1953–1966