It’s been a good week for burrowing rodents. The Gophers finally beat the Wolverines – something I wondered if would happen again in my lifetime – and Cricetus showed amazing truffle-locating brilliance in his football poll, taking the lead in the overall rankings of that unmoneyed pool but cashing in gleefully on his bragging rights.
But let’s focus on the Gophers… this is a bigger game than anyone outside Minnesota, and many inside Minnesota, can appreciate. The Gophers losing to Michigan has been an annual event, and sometimes taken place against amazing odds, with the Gophers taking and blowing huge leads to take the loss. Beating Michigan has been the biggest monkey on any college football team’s back: no team had as long a losing streak, or a more historic trophy (the Little Brown Jug) on the line. It came to symbolize the Gophers inability to play with the big boys, to go to bowl games in January, to be taken seriously as a Big 10 team. It came to represent coach Mason’s failings as a coach – he could knock off the Louisana-Monroes and Florida-Atlantics in the early part of the season and build a mirage-ish 6-0 record, sure, but could he beat Michigan or Purdue? No. The huge win against Penn State in 99 looked more and more flukey as season after season ended up at the late-December Gaylord Hotel Music City Bowl or (I kid you not!) the Buy.com bowl, which sad conclusion seemed always precipitated by the loss to Michigan, always followed by a hangover loss to whoever was next on the schedule. Michigan was the corner the “Morons in Gold” (as I called them in frustrated Octobers) could not turn.
Not any more. We finally beat the Blue, and on their home turf. There’s no silence like the shocked silence of a 110,000 Michigan fans on homecoming weekend watching a take-for-granted win turn into a sudden loss. They ask the Maroon & Gold back for homecoming so they’re guaranteed a win, and this is what happens.
So sure, Michigan sucks this year. But it’s still a big deal for Minnesota to beat 'em. I was so stunned it took me a day or two to realize what happened. In the fourth quarter, with their starting QB and Heisman candidate RB on the sidelines with injuries, the pathetic Gophers showed some moxie and made a big play and didn’t throw it away. I don’t care what happens now. It was a good season.