In October of 2008, I was sitting in the bar at the MGM Grand in Vegas. A friend of mine was with me, and we were having drinks and watching college football. The Gopher game was on right in front of me, and they were in the process of beating Illinois to run their record to 6-1. It was Brewster's second season.
My buddy, a Hawkeye fan, congratulated me. I remember telling him that I wasn't going to get too excited. Everything just seemed to be bouncing right - passes were clanging off linemen helmets and somehow finding their way into Gopher hands, fumbles were taking weird bounces away from opposing players - strange circumstances that just seemed too fortunate. Too random. Too lucky.
As we all remember, after beating Purdue the next week to jump into the Top 20, the Gophers lost their final five, including being blown out by Kansas in the Insight Bowl. Those first several games were a mirage.
This year feels different to me. These three wins don't feel fortunate or random or lucky. The Gophers have felt like the better team each game, but have simply not played terribly well, or at least just well enough. And that's a great feeling to have, because that means the ceiling is higher. It's like when Tiger Woods would struggle to a two under in a round and all the announcers would say that he was right in the thick of it despite not playing particularly well, so the other players better look out tomorrow.
What a rejuvenating feeling to have three wins and absolutely know that the best is yet to come.
My buddy, a Hawkeye fan, congratulated me. I remember telling him that I wasn't going to get too excited. Everything just seemed to be bouncing right - passes were clanging off linemen helmets and somehow finding their way into Gopher hands, fumbles were taking weird bounces away from opposing players - strange circumstances that just seemed too fortunate. Too random. Too lucky.
As we all remember, after beating Purdue the next week to jump into the Top 20, the Gophers lost their final five, including being blown out by Kansas in the Insight Bowl. Those first several games were a mirage.
This year feels different to me. These three wins don't feel fortunate or random or lucky. The Gophers have felt like the better team each game, but have simply not played terribly well, or at least just well enough. And that's a great feeling to have, because that means the ceiling is higher. It's like when Tiger Woods would struggle to a two under in a round and all the announcers would say that he was right in the thick of it despite not playing particularly well, so the other players better look out tomorrow.
What a rejuvenating feeling to have three wins and absolutely know that the best is yet to come.