Happy Rhys Lloyd Week!

BleedGopher

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Hard to believe this was the last time we won the Axe. This feels like a lifetime ago...

Beat wisconsin. It's time.

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Go Gophers!!
 

"It is up.... And it is good!!!"

What a great sight. Man, I wanna see that axe carried by Gophers again!
 

I was at this game. Was probably the start of what made me a massive Gophers fan. I remember them parading around with the axe and a bunch of people leaning over a gate trying to touch the axe just to have the gate bust open. A bunch of people toppled out onto the field.
 

If we can't have a huge dominating lead at the end of the game, I'd love to see Emmit have that outcome. Do you think the young guys can grasp the significance of the Axe? And bonus - poor Barry ;)
 

Mason has a story about what he told Rhys before the kick...I'm paraphrasing, "I'll love you either way Rhys...........but I'll love you a whole lot more after you make this!"

Priceless;)
 
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Great game, third on my list. My favorite in person is still 1993, with 1994 at Camp Randall a close second. Most fans were actually pretty nice in the bars after 1994.
 

Those were the ... that was the day. God, there have been so few of those euphoric moments over the years. Seems like I could count them on one hand.
 

Man that's way too long ago.

Unfortunately, something like 5495 days ago by the time kickoff occurs Saturday.
Our son was 5 months old at the time. Now a Freshman in HS.
I hope he will see the Gophers win the Axe - sooner rather than later.
 



My eyes actually teared up when they were parading the axe around after Lloyd's kick. We had great cheap season ticket seats somewhere near the 30 yard line lower deck.

What a weird season that was. Big Penn State win. The epic Michigan Masonesque meltdown followed by the Michigan State sleepwalking performance. Beat Whiskey. Travelled down to Iowa to watch the Gophies get blown out (had grilled Rocky Mountain Oysters for the first time while tailgaiting and barfed). Watched a great late win vs. Oregon on TV in a very nice Sunbowl venue (travelled there in 1999 to watch them lose a close one).
 


Does anyone have a link to a HD copy of that game? Oh wait, nevermind.

Obviously no HD but certainly Memorex.

It was a great game.

Hope you were there cheering on the Red and White and singing "On Wisconsin" on the way out of the Dome while The Rouser was playing victoriously in the background.

Admittedly a long time ago and all W's for the Badgers since then but a great night that night for UM football.
 

Unfortunately, something like 5495 days ago by the time kickoff occurs Saturday.
Our son was 5 months old at the time. Now a Freshman in HS.
I hope he will see the Gophers win the Axe - sooner rather than later.

I've been parent for 14.5 years and none of my kids have experienced an Axe win. Heartache.
 




STrib: Rhys Lloyd recalls the day he won Paul Bunyan's Axe for the Gophers

The voice on the other end of the phone answered affably and with a British accent.

“Every year,’’ Rhys Lloyd said, laughing, “like clockwork.’’

It’s Gophers-Wisconsin week, and that means Lloyd is getting an annual chance to reminisce about a career kicking highlight, though it’s one he wouldn’t mind recalling on a not-so-yearly basis.

Lloyd, you see, was the key player in Minnesota’s last victory over Wisconsin, the last time a Gophers player earned the right to touch Paul Bunyan’s Axe. Fourteen consecutive times the Badgers have won the axe, and the Gophers on Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium will try to end that streak before it reaches a decade and a half.

“That would be great,’’ the 36-year-old Lloyd said from his Orlando home.

Until that happens — this year’s Gophers (5-6, 2-6 Big Ten) are 10½-point underdogs to the Badgers (7-4, 5-3) — Lloyd’s big moment will be the most recent Minnesota highlight.

But what a highlight it was.

On Nov. 8, 2003, the 24th-ranked Gophers (8-2) met Wisconsin (6-3) in the Metrodome. Minnesota, with the backfield duo of Marion Barber III and Laurence Maroney, bolted to a 24-6 second-quarter lead, only to see the Badgers pull even, 34-34, with 7:15 left in the fourth quarter. After the teams traded punts, the Gophers got the ball back with 2:49 to play. With backup quarterback Benji Kamrath playing in place of injured Asad Abdul-Khaliq, the Gophers went on an 11-play march that set up Lloyd to win the game.

“I remember just feeling pretty confident,’’ said Lloyd, a junior then. “It was one of those days where the guys seemed different. Even when we went through adversity in losing some players, it didn’t faze anybody.’’

Adversity on that drive included a second-and-19 situation in which Kamrath first hit Jared Ellerson for 10 yards and Aaron Hosack for 22 to the Wisconsin 45-yard line with 1:21 left. “I got more and more confident as we were going down the field,’’ Lloyd said.

Runs of 13 and 11 yards by Barber and 3 by Maroney moved it to the Wisconsin 18. The Gophers called timeout with 1 second left and brought in Lloyd.

Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez used his team’s final timeout, trying to ice him.

“One of the players from Wisconsin started talking to me and tried to mess me up. And I responded with some stuff of my own,’’ Lloyd said. “All of the guys were like, ‘Just concentrate on what you’re doing.’ I said, ‘I’ve never been more confident. Let’s just do this.’ ’’

http://www.startribune.com/rhys-llo...-paul-bunyan-s-axe-for-the-gophers/501097771/

Go Gophers!!
 

Orlando is a nice place to retire to. I hope Rhys-Lloyd is enjoying his golden years.
 




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