History
First Game In School History
Minnesota football history was made on Sept. 29, 1882, when Minnesota
played Hamline at the Col. King State Fairgrounds in South Minneapolis.
These two teams, along with Carleton, were to take part in a "Field
Day" at the Fairgrounds. Carleton failed to show up, and
Hamline nearly left, but Minnesota team captain A. J. Baldwin talked
Hamline into staying and playing what would be the first football
game in Minnesota history. Baldwin scored the first points of the
game to lead the Gophers to a 4-0 win.
They Called Him Coach
In the fall of 1883, Thomas Peebles came to Minnesota to teach mental and moral philosophy. Soon after he arrived at the University, some of the boys discovered that their professor had played football at Princeton and asked him to help with their game against Carleton College. So in the fall of 1883, Peebles became the first head football coach at the University of Minnesota.
Alfred Pillsbury
Alfred Pillsbury was one of the founders of football at Minnesota. In the early days, no governing bodies regulated collegiate eligibility, so Pillsbury played at Minnesota for eight seasons, from 1885-92. His greatest contribution may have been changing the team’s style of play from the soccer style to the rugby style. He accomplished this mainly because he owned the only rugby ball in town.
First Championship
Minnesota recorded an undefeated season in 1892, playing future Big Ten opponents Michigan and Northwestern that season. That year the team won its first-ever conference title, in the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the Northwest.
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W.W. “Pudge” Heffelfinger
One of college football’s most honored players is “Pudge” Heffelfinger, a three-time All-American guard at Yale (1889-91). But few know that Heffelfinger’s career started at Minnesota. In 1887, the senior at Minneapolis Central High School went to the train station to watch the Gopher football team depart for a game against Shattuck Academy in Faribault. But the Gophers were one man short, so Heffelfinger was pressed into action. He played at Minnesota the rest of that year before going to Yale. He returned to Minnesota in 1895 to coach the Gophers for one season.
Hundredth Game
The turn of the century also marked the year for Minnesota’s 100th football game. On Nov. 12, 1900, the Men of Gold took the field to play Northwestern in front of 3,000 fans. Minnesota shut out Northwestern 21-0 on that day, and many who saw the game said it was the best performance of the year by the Gophers. One news source described the scene by writing, “victory is again Minnesota’s, and by the convincing score of 21 to 0. Northwestern’s gritty and clever football players could not stand against the terrific charges of the big North Star men, though they played a splendid game and used their heads in every play today.”
Turn of a Century
The season of 1900 was a year of great achievement for the Gophers. It was the first under the coaching of Henry “Doc” Williams. The Gophers went 10-0-2 in 1900 and captured their first Big Ten title. Dr. Williams was Minnesota’s first full-time, salaried coach. He left his mark on the game as a member of the rules committee: he was the first to propose legislation legalizing the forward pass. (The forward pass was legalized in 1906.) In 21 years as football coach, he compiled a 136-33-11 record. The Gophers won eight Big Ten titles under Williams. He was honored in 1950 when the U of M Fieldhouse was renamed Williams Arena.
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146-0
In 1904, Minnesota rolled to its most lopsided victory ever, a 146-0 thrashing of Grinnell. In this game Minnesota broke what was referred to as “the world’s record for scoring,” the previous high being a 130-0 Michigan victory over West Virginia. The Golden Gophers were consistent, scoring 73 points in each half. The record stood for 13 years. Minnesota went on to a perfect season that year, winning 13 games.
Ironman
In 1909, John McGovern was named the best quarterback in the country and given a place on the All-America Team, the second Gopher player to gain this honor. Squatty and powerfully built, McGovern was an outstanding player. Except for one game, he played every minute of every game for three years.
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Greater Northrop Field
1899-1923
Named in honor of University President Cyrus Northrop, Greater Northrop Field opened its doors in 1899. Prior to the stadium’s construction, the University played on a field south of the Armory. The grandstand consisted of chairs around the sidelines.
Built in front of Pillsbury Hall, which still stands today, Greater Northrop Field originally featured a nine-foot high board fence built by the student body and a quarter-mile track, which ran around the playing field. Alfred Pillsbury organized the building of a massive brick fence around the original grandstand. It made Northrop Field unlike any other in the country at that time. The grandstand seated 8,000 fans and was 33 rows high. Additional seating in the end zones added to the overall capacity.
Minnesota played its first game at Northrop field in November of 1899 against Northwestern. Minnesota suffered an 11-5 defeat. The last game was played in 1923 when Minnesota beat Iowa 20-7. Perhaps the most memorable game was a 6-6 tie with Michigan before an over-capacity crowd of 20,000.
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The Legend of Memorial Stadium
On Thursday, March 6, 1924, in spite of snow and cold wind, 500 Minnesotans gathered at the corner of Oak Street and University Avenue to watch University President L. D. Coffman pitch a spade full of dirt that marked the official start to the building of Memorial Stadium. The stadium was ready for the opening game of the 1924 season, 42 days ahead of schedule. The first official game in the stadium was against North Dakota. The Gophers won 14-0 after “playing far below expectations.” The first points scored in Memorial Stadium were by Minnesota’s Clarence Schutte, who plunged over the goal line from two yards out to break a scoreless tie in the third quarter against North Dakota. The formal dedication took place Nov. 15 against Illinois. The team responded by winning 20-7.
The last game at Memorial Stadium was Nov. 21, 1981, when Wisconsin defeated the Golden Gophers, 26-21. The final points scored by Minnesota came when quarterback Mike Hohensee connected with Chester Cooper on a four-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to give the Golden Gophers a 21-20 lead.
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Bronko
The 1929 season will be remembered as the final season for Bronko Nagurski. Sportswriters voted him the best fullback and best tackle in the nation, making Nagurski the only player ever named first-team, consensus All-American at two different positions in the same season. In 1979, his No. 72 was officially retired from the Minnesota roster.
First of Six National Championships
The 1934 season was one of the most memorable in Golden Gopher history. A 34-0 win over Wisconsin in the final game gave Minnesota an undefeated season, and they were voted national champions in every poll for the first time. Bernie Bierman, in his third year of coaching, led the team with a modesty and quietness that became famous. It wasn’t until the end of the season, when the Little Brown Jug, the Big Ten title and the national championship were secure, did Bierman smile.
Read about all the Gopher's national
championships.
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Heisman Trophy
The 1941 season was memorable not only for a national championship, but also for possibly the best football player in Golden Gopher history. Bruce Smith became the first and only U of M player to be honored with the Heisman Trophy Award. Smith was a great ball carrier, a fine passer, a superb blocker and a strong defensive player. Beyond that he was an outstanding spiritual leader.
Smelling Roses
The 1960 season will always be remembered as the biggest turnaround in the history of Minnesota football. The Golden Gophers finished the 1959 season 2-7 overall and dead last in the Big Ten at 1-6. The 1960 season saw the Gophers finish 8-2 overall and 6-1 in the conference to earn the school’s first trip to the Rose Bowl. The national champion Golden Gophers lost the Rose Bowl game, 17-7, to Washington. Back to top
Rose Bowl Champions
On January 1, 1962, Minnesota evened its record in the Rose Bowl with a 21-3 win against UCLA. Murray Warmath’s Golden Gophers simply outclassed and overpowered UCLA before nearly 100,000 fans in Pasadena. Sandy Stephens, who would eventually be named to the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame, ran for two touchdowns and Bill Munsey added the other score in the Gopher win.
Gutekunst Takes Gophers To Two Bowls
In 1985, assistant coach John Gutekunst took over for Lou Holtz in the final game of the season against Clemson in the Independence Bowl. The Golden Gophers’ 20-13 victory gave Gutekunst a victory in his first collegiate game as a head coach.
The 1986 season ended with an invitation to the Liberty Bowl for the Golden Gophers, which was the last bowl game Minnesota played in prior appearing in back-to-back bowl games with the 1999 Wells Fargo Sun Bowl against the Oregon Ducks and the 2000 Micronpc.com Bowl against North Carolina State.
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Homecoming Heroes
One of the great traditions anywhere in college football, homecoming also has its place at Minnesota. With a .617 winning percentage in homecoming games since the first game in 1914, the Golden Gophers have a history of “homecoming heroes.”
The list includes such performances as the Golden Gophers’ 490 yards of offense in 1936 that led to the most lopsided win in homecoming history, a 52-0 thumping of Iowa. Minnesota fans will never forget Paul Rogind’s last-second 31-yard field goal in 1978 that defeated Indiana, 32-31, after the Hoosiers owned a second-quarter 24-0 lead. Finally, no one will ever forget the Golden Gophers scoring 10 points in the final three minutes of the 1998 homecoming game, the 1,007th overall game in school history, to earn a 19-18 victory against Michigan State.
In 2005, the Gophers beat Purdue, 42-35. With just over a minute in regulation, Bryan Cupito hit Matt Spaeth with an eight-yard touchdown pass. Cupito then ran in the two-point conversion to send it to overtime. After both teams scored in the first overtime, the Gopher defense held the Boilermakers on fourth down to win in double overtime.
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Gophers and Awards
Minnesota has had its name on several major individual awards. In addition to Bruce Smith’s Heisman Trophy Award in 1941, Tom Brown won the Outland Trophy in 1960 as the nation’s finest interior lineman. He also finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting. The Golden Gophers rode his broad shoulders to a No. 1 national ranking, a trip to the Rose Bowl and a national championship.
Bobby Bell earned the Outland Trophy in 1962 by a landslide vote. A member of the College and Pro Football Hall of Fame, Bell led the Golden Gophers to a Rose Bowl win in 1962. Called “the best football player we’ve ever had here” by the legendary Butch Nash, Bell could run as fast as the running backs and throw farther than the quarterbacks but ended up playing offensive and defensive tackle. He became one of the best tackles in Big Ten history.
Tyrone Carter established himself as one of the greatest defensive backs in NCAA history, racking up 582 career tackles, the most ever by a defensive back in NCAA history. The strong safety won the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation’s top defensive back in 1999.
Greg Eslinger has proven to be one of the most dominant offensive linemen in Gopher football history. After winning All-America honors in his junior season, Eslinger continued his dominance by leading the Gophers to their NCAA record-breaking third consecutive season with two 1,000-yard rushers. In addition to being named to numerous All-America teams, Eslinger won the distinguished 2005 Outland Trophy, given to the nation’s best interior lineman. Additionally, Eslinger was named the nation’s best center in 2005 by winning the Rimington Trophy.
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Back to the Bowls
Under head coach Glen Mason, the Golden Gophers have returned as one of the top programs in the Big Ten Conference. Minnesota’s resurgence began when Mason engineered an 8-4 season in 1999, which included an upset of second-ranked Penn State on the road. Minnesota earned a bid to the Wells Fargo Sun Bowl, its first postseason trip since 1986. That bowl appearance began a stretch of four bowl bids over the next five years.
The Golden Gophers returned to the postseason in 2000 with a bid to the Micronpc.com Bowl in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Minnesota reached the postseason under Mason again in 2002, earning a trip to the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn. The Golden Gophers pounded Arkansas 29-14 to earn their first bowl victory since the 1985 Independence Bowl. Mason became the first Gopher coach to take Minnesota to three bowl games during his tenure. Mason took Minnesota to new heights in 2003, leading it to a 10-3 season and a 31-30 over Oregon in the Sun Bowl. The 10 wins marked the first time since 1905 that the Golden Gophers reached double figure wins.
In 2004, Mason led the Gophers back to the Music City Bowl, where they beat SEC rival Alabama 20-16. The Gophers were invited to the Music City Bowl again in 2005, where Virginia rallied to a 34-31 victory over the Gophers. The game marked the programs 6th bowl in seven years and 4th consecutive bowl appearance. |
