Gopher Football '14: Almost Golden

Goldy Gopher, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities mascot. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The University of Minnesota football program has been mediocre for so long that its remaining fans are the ones who know where to find the games on TV on Saturdays.  It's where the cartoons used to be.

Well, thanks to the kind of season the team has had, an 8-4 record that included five BIG Conference (our name for the ever-expanding Big Ten conference, which just added two schools this year), a lot more folks are waking up to the fact that coach Jerry Kill in his fourth year has finally fielded a competitive team.

The gophers finished 5-3 in the BIG's West division, tied for second with Nebraska.  They would have won the division outright had they beaten Wisconsin, but too little passing and too much Melvin Gordon (a Heisman Trophy candidate who ran for 151 yards) gave the Badgers a 34-24 win at Madison in the season-ender.

Signature road wins at Michigan and Nebraska (who were admittedly having down years) and competitive losses--meaning they didn't lay down and die--versus Ohio State and Wisconsin, plus bad losses at Texas Christian and Illinois typified the Gophers' progress on the field.  Kill's defense was the key to many of their victories, but the offense led by quarterback Mitch Leidner and backs David Cobb and Maxx Williams helped themselves out a lot.

Realistically, it's going to be tough to convince anyone outside of Minnesota that the Gophers really have turned the corner.  It's been since 1962 that they've played in a New Year's Day bowl game, something they have a better-than-average chance of doing this year.  But when the Gophers are suddenly contenders and Ohio State is the BIG's only hope of getting into the new College Football Playoff, you know the conference is having a bad year.

Another byproduct of decades of mediocre football is the effect on recruiting.  The University of Minnesota is not considered a destination school like Notre Dame, USC, Alabama or Ohio State.  That's why they don't get the blue-chip athletes to play for Goldy Gopher, even if they're from Minnesota.  And they don't have the massive practice facilities that other schools do.  The U's board of regents must have figured:  We gave you a new stadium.  What more do you want from us?  We have enough problems getting funding from the state.

Then there's Jerry Kill, whose success has led to the inevitable rumors of him taking off for a better job somewhere else.  Though he keeps denying it, Kill could very well be the next Lou Holtz, who hightailed it for Notre Dame after bringing the Gophers a little success in the mid-1980s.  Kill could take his entire staff, most of whom have been with him for decades, to his new school.  And the Gophers would have to start all over again.

So enjoy this respite from mediocrity, Gophers fans.  Sooner or later, there won't be a reason to set the alarm for Saturdays at 11 a.m.   You can watch videos of cartoons with your kids.