Best & Worst Gopher football moments in the dome

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As the Gophers get set to play their final game in the Metrodome this Saturday, follow the link to Cory Doffing's look at the best & worst Gopher games played there over the prior 27 years. (Warning: Read at your own risk!)

Best & Worst Gopher games in the dome
 

What a great recap. I'm sure there will be some doubters out there, debating the rankings. But this was a nice comprehensive look back at an era of Gopher football that we'll mostly just want to forget. Ooooh...new stadium.
 

I've got a new favorite moment from the Dome. It is going to be this Saturday for two reasons: 1) Beating Iowa is always fun 2) We are finally out of that sh-thole and back on campus!!!
 

never been to the dome...just wanted to break the seal on my new profile.:D
 

grunkiejr said:
I've got a new favorite moment from the Dome. It is going to be this Saturday for two reasons: 1) Beating Iowa is always fun 2) We are finally out of that sh-thole and back on campus!!!
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I agree. Say goodbye to the Humpty Dump Hall of Horrors.
 


I would think that the worst Gopher football moment in the dome would be Minnesota's loss to Iowa in 2002 and the subsequent charging of the field and tearing down of the goal posts by Iowa fans. In fact, I would think that would be the most embarrassing moment for any football fan in the history of college football. Something like that is unheard of. Can you imagine if Ohio State beat Michigan at the Big House and subsequently the OSU fans charged the field and tore down the goal posts at the Big House? It's just not possible. And if it did happen, I'd imagine that Wolverine fans would tell you that it would be a lot more embarrassing than losing to Appalachian State at home.

Not trying to stir the pot, but to leave that moment completely off the list is delusional (although I understand if Gopher fans are merely attempting to purge that momemt from their memories by pretending that it never took place).

Here's to a good game on Saturday and best of luck in your bowl game.
 

Absolute worst Gopher gutting

September 17, 1983: Nebraska 84 – Minnesota 13 OUCH!

I was at the game with my Freshman High School football team. Our local sporting goods store in south Minneapolis gave us free tickets to inspire us...nice!
To say the score was lopsided does not do the Huskers justice. The first half was a truly awesome display of wishbone offensive power and a killer attacking defense. #1 ranked and looked every bit of it.
Tom Osborne, to his credit, is a class act and tried his best to call off the dogs at halftime (3rd & 4th stringers only,did not pass once and only ran between the tackles). Back then, Nebraska traveled with around 100 players on short trips (lots of duplicate jersey #'s). It was such a beating that I'm willing to bet that anyone with an "N" on their helmet played in that game.
The U's defensive scheme that day was called the "fetal position."
If given the chance, my fellow 9th grade team might have moved the ball on them a little bit that day too.
Looking forward to moving to "the Bank" and avoiding flashbacks of that track meet!
 

Dahawk, if it happened at our stadium it would have been on the list. We used the metrodome because we were forced to. It was never our home stadium and as far as I'm concerned you guys can do it all over again if you win.
 

DaHawk56 said:
Not trying to stir the pot, but to leave that moment completely off the list is delusional (although I understand if Gopher fans are merely attempting to purge that momemt from their memories by pretending that it never took place).

Here's to a good game on Saturday and best of luck in your bowl game.
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Sorry, but that wouldn't make a top 30 list of bad moments at the Metrodome. It happened well after the game was over and most everyone had left the building and gone home. I didn't even hear about it until the following Monday. Honestly, when I was thinking about the article after reading it, that event never even occurred to me as a possibility. No offense, but I think Gopher fans are better qualified to decide what our worst moments have been. :)
 



Have to agree with the Gopher posters. The sentence should read:

"Can you imagine if Ohio State beat Michigan at Ford Field in Detroit and subsequently the OSU fans charged the field and tore down the goal posts"

I don't say they wouldn't be worked-up , but after watching Michigan this year, if the Wolverines were down by two touchdowns plus in the Fourth Quarter they'd have NO Michigan fans in the stands anyway.
 

I agree with the Minnesota posters on here.......I think the Iowa people think that tearing down the goalposts was a lot bigger event than what it really was. Didn't even care when I found out later and it wasn't a big deal at all for me....

The worst I have ever felt after a Gopher game was the Michigan game and I still say that was the Dome's signature game over the last 27 years and the game that will be remembered the most. The 1983 Nebraska debacle was expected to be a hellacious beating against the worst team in our history. I didn't see it (fortunately) but afterwards I just hoped we would get a better coach than Joe Salem at the end of the year.

The Michigan game had the most on the line and we absolutely kicked the Wolverines tails for 3 quarters. We looked like our long-suffering program was finally rising with a signature win. When we lost that one, some Gopher fans were too mad to talk and others were too depressed to talk, but it was an extremely quiet crowd that left the building.
One guy yelled "Let's go Vikes" and there were a few scattered Wolverines fans yelling and going crazy but that felt worse than any other loss.
 

Iceland12 said:
Have to agree with the Gopher posters. The sentence should read:

"Can you imagine if Ohio State beat Michigan at Ford Field in Detroit and subsequently the OSU fans charged the field and tore down the goal posts"

I don't say they wouldn't be worked-up , but after watching Michigan this year, if the Wolverines were down by two touchdowns plus in the Fourth Quarter they'd have NO Michigan fans in the stands anyway.
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I disagree...Ford Field in Detroit is not Michigan's home field (i.e., Michigan does not play every home game there). If they did, it would be a huge deal. I agree that if Michigan played their first 6-7 home games at the Big House and then played Ohio State at Ford Field in Detroit, it wouldn't be as big a deal (although it would still be a big deal). However, that situation is not comparable to what happened to Minnesota in 2002. The Dome was Minnesota's home field for decades...it's not like Minnesota just played one home game there in 2002. It may have been a crappy home field compared to other Big Ten venues, but it was the Gophers home nonetheless.
 

If You Still Don't Get It

"..Gophers home nonetheless."

If you read the responses from Gopher fans you should know that's not true no matter how fervently you wish it to be. Or, to be fair, how logical it may sound.

Maybe the best comparison would be this. What if the Iowa legislature closed Kinnnick, for the good of the state, the local economy etc. and forced the Hawkeyes to play in Jack Trice Stadium. Before and after all games the colors would be red. All advertising inside All the stadium and outside would feature Iowa State. Though as a courtesy during Hawkeye game days you get some Hawkeye advertising in Jack Trice.

All Suite revenue would go to ISU. All parking revenue would go to the state and so would two thirds of the concession revenue.

Now Iowa is having a lousy season and Wisconsin comes in and womps on you. If you're telling me that the Iowa fans, whatever were left in the stands after the game, would rush the field to stop Wisconsin fans from tearing down the goalposts. This to prevent ISU GOALPOSTS from being torn down.

If you can't figure that out you're either: delusional, stubborn or not much of an HAWKEYE fan...

Or you just don't get it and reading won't help.
 



Iceland12 said:
"..Gophers home nonetheless."

If you read the responses from Gopher fans you should know that's not true no matter how fervently you wish it to be. Or, to be fair, how logical it may sound.

Maybe the best comparison would be this. What if the Iowa legislature closed Kinnnick, for the good of the state, the local economy etc. and forced the Hawkeyes to play in Jack Trice Stadium. Before and after all games the colors would be red. All advertising inside All the stadium and outside would feature Iowa State. Though as a courtesy during Hawkeye game days you get some Hawkeye advertising in Jack Trice.

All Suite revenue would go to ISU. All parking revenue would go to the state and so would two thirds of the concession revenue.

Now Iowa is having a lousy season and Wisconsin comes in and womps on you. If you're telling me that the Iowa fans, whatever were left in the stands after the game, would rush the field to stop Wisconsin fans from tearing down the goalposts. This to prevent ISU GOALPOSTS from being torn down.

If you can't figure that out you're either: delusional, stubborn or not much of an HAWKEYE fan...

Or you just don't get it and reading won't help.
Click to expand...

Great post!
 

Iceland12 said:
"..Gophers home nonetheless."

If you read the responses from Gopher fans you should know that's not true no matter how fervently you wish it to be. Or, to be fair, how logical it may sound.

Maybe the best comparison would be this. What if the Iowa legislature closed Kinnnick, for the good of the state, the local economy etc. and forced the Hawkeyes to play in Jack Trice Stadium. Before and after all games the colors would be red. All advertising inside All the stadium and outside would feature Iowa State. Though as a courtesy during Hawkeye game days you get some Hawkeye advertising in Jack Trice.

All Suite revenue would go to ISU. All parking revenue would go to the state and so would two thirds of the concession revenue.

Now Iowa is having a lousy season and Wisconsin comes in and womps on you. If you're telling me that the Iowa fans, whatever were left in the stands after the game, would rush the field to stop Wisconsin fans from tearing down the goalposts. This to prevent ISU GOALPOSTS from being torn down.

If you can't figure that out you're either: delusional, stubborn or not much of an HAWKEYE fan...

Or you just don't get it and reading won't help.
Click to expand...

I see where you're coming from but you need to keep in mind, that at the time of the 2002 Iowa v. Minnesota game, the Dome had been Minnesota's home for 20 years. It wasn't a 1-2 year fix...this was 20 years in. As I mentioned above, it may have been a crappy "home" venue, but it was Minnesota's home venue for the last 20 years, and a rival came into Minnesota's "home" and tore down the Gopher's goal posts (because on Saturday's in the Dome, those goal posts were Gopher goal posts). That's humiliating...and "f you can't figure that out you're either: delusional, stubborn or not much of [a GOPHER] fan...

Regardless, just stopped by to see if maybe last night's game made the top 10. I'm sure you guys are happy about moving to your new on-campus "home" stadium. Good luck in your bowl game.
 

DaHawk56 said:
I see where you're coming from but you need to keep in mind, that at the time of the 2002 Iowa v. Minnesota game, the Dome had been Minnesota's home for 20 years. It wasn't a 1-2 year fix...this was 20 years in. As I mentioned above, it may have been a crappy "home" venue, but it was Minnesota's home venue for the last 20 years, and a rival came into Minnesota's "home" and tore down the Gopher's goal posts (because on Saturday's in the Dome, those goal posts were Gopher goal posts). That's humiliating...and "f you can't figure that out you're either: delusional, stubborn or not much of [a GOPHER] fan...

Regardless, just stopped by to see if maybe last night's game made the top 10. I'm sure you guys are happy about moving to your new on-campus "home" stadium. Good luck in your bowl game.
Click to expand...


Again, I don't consider the 2002 event to be at all humiliating or embarrassing. Even if we consider the Metrodome to be our "home", it would be no different than if a group of Iowa fans snuck into the stadium in July and tore down the goalposts. There were no Gopher fans around to "defend" the goalposts. If anything, the Iowa fans showed a lack of courage by waiting so long before they tore them down.

Having said that, Saturday's game ABSOLUTELY makes the top 10 worst moments in Metrodome history. It was like watching a comedy play out.
 

JPIIGopher said:
Dahawk, if it happened at our stadium it would have been on the list. We used the metrodome because we were forced to. It was never our home stadium and as far as I'm concerned you guys can do it all over again if you win.
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I had always thought we were forced to as well. But apparently it was a sell job by holtz. The regents actually had to be sold on the idea, then they sat on memorial for a year just to be sure they wouldn't change their minds. So it was a U decision.
 

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