BleedGopher
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2008
- Messages
- 60,728
- Reaction score
- 16,029
- Points
- 113
My Dad used to tell me stories about this game and how the Gophers tried to grow the grass on the field long to slow down The Juice.
Per Shama:
It was 50 years ago today, September 21, 1968, that Minnesota lost to USC in one of the grand games in Gopher football history. The buildup and hype to the game at old Memorial Stadium on the Minnesota campus was extraordinary. The Trojans were college football’s defending national champions. The Gophers had shared the 1967 Big Ten title with Indiana and Purdue.
USC was a glamour team featuring senior All-American halfback O.J. Simpson who would go on to win the 1968 Heisman Trophy. Yes, for those who need a history lesson, the same Orenthal James Simpson—nicknamed the “Juice” for his orange juice-like initials—that was charged in 1994 with killing his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson.
Minnesota had talented players, too, including All-American defensive end Bob Stein. USC’s John McKay was a national championship coach and Minnesota’s Murray Warmath had coached the Gophers to the 1960 national title.
In the weeks leading up to the game there was a buzz around town seldom seen with Gophers football before or since. It was Minnesota’s opener and the game drew a crowd of 60,820 crazed fans to Dinkytown. It would be the largest crowd at Memorial Stadium until the Gophers abandoned the “Brick House” after the 1981 season and moved into the Metrodome.
Warmath was known from International Falls to Austin as a defensive authority and military-like taskmaster. Stop the other team. Gain field position with a strong punting game. Don’t make mistakes. If you’re worried about the offense screwing up, punt the ball on third down and let the defense take over winning the game.
Warmath, then 55, had been the Golden Gophers head coach since 1954. Before that he was head coach for two seasons at Mississippi State. This assignment of stopping Simpson and USC was hardly his first “rodeo.”
Sometime during the offseason of 1968 Warmath got an unusual idea. He decided to let the grass at Memorial Stadium grow long in an attempt to slow down Simpson who not only was powerfully built but had track star speed.
How long was long? “Unusually long,” said former Minnesota offensive tackle Ezell Jones.
Fullback Jim Carter was a teammate of Jones in 1968 and also recalled the long grass. “It was deep,” Carter said. “I don’t know if it was six inches or what. But the problem with that strategy is, it didn’t work.”
The grass was long and the field was wet from rain, but the Gophers couldn’t do enough to contain Simpson in a 29-20 loss. Simpson ran for four touchdowns and had 375 all-purpose yards, according to Warmath’s biography, The Autumn Warrior by Mike Wilkinson.
After the game Simpson expressed his admiration for Minnesota’s defense. “Simpson praised the Gophers, saying he had never been hit harder than he was that day,” Wilkinson wrote.
http://shamasportsheadliners.com/
Go Gophers!!
Per Shama:
It was 50 years ago today, September 21, 1968, that Minnesota lost to USC in one of the grand games in Gopher football history. The buildup and hype to the game at old Memorial Stadium on the Minnesota campus was extraordinary. The Trojans were college football’s defending national champions. The Gophers had shared the 1967 Big Ten title with Indiana and Purdue.
USC was a glamour team featuring senior All-American halfback O.J. Simpson who would go on to win the 1968 Heisman Trophy. Yes, for those who need a history lesson, the same Orenthal James Simpson—nicknamed the “Juice” for his orange juice-like initials—that was charged in 1994 with killing his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson.
Minnesota had talented players, too, including All-American defensive end Bob Stein. USC’s John McKay was a national championship coach and Minnesota’s Murray Warmath had coached the Gophers to the 1960 national title.
In the weeks leading up to the game there was a buzz around town seldom seen with Gophers football before or since. It was Minnesota’s opener and the game drew a crowd of 60,820 crazed fans to Dinkytown. It would be the largest crowd at Memorial Stadium until the Gophers abandoned the “Brick House” after the 1981 season and moved into the Metrodome.
Warmath was known from International Falls to Austin as a defensive authority and military-like taskmaster. Stop the other team. Gain field position with a strong punting game. Don’t make mistakes. If you’re worried about the offense screwing up, punt the ball on third down and let the defense take over winning the game.
Warmath, then 55, had been the Golden Gophers head coach since 1954. Before that he was head coach for two seasons at Mississippi State. This assignment of stopping Simpson and USC was hardly his first “rodeo.”
Sometime during the offseason of 1968 Warmath got an unusual idea. He decided to let the grass at Memorial Stadium grow long in an attempt to slow down Simpson who not only was powerfully built but had track star speed.
How long was long? “Unusually long,” said former Minnesota offensive tackle Ezell Jones.
Fullback Jim Carter was a teammate of Jones in 1968 and also recalled the long grass. “It was deep,” Carter said. “I don’t know if it was six inches or what. But the problem with that strategy is, it didn’t work.”
The grass was long and the field was wet from rain, but the Gophers couldn’t do enough to contain Simpson in a 29-20 loss. Simpson ran for four touchdowns and had 375 all-purpose yards, according to Warmath’s biography, The Autumn Warrior by Mike Wilkinson.
After the game Simpson expressed his admiration for Minnesota’s defense. “Simpson praised the Gophers, saying he had never been hit harder than he was that day,” Wilkinson wrote.
http://shamasportsheadliners.com/
Go Gophers!!
