Gopher historians ? What is OUR largest comeback victory ?

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Texan Gopher

Texan Gopher

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Unfortunately, we have been on the wrong side of a lot of comebacks. That said, does anyone here know what OUR largest or biggest comebacks have been? What games did we win from a dang good comeback ?
 
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??? Have we ever came back from more than 10 ? Is last year Nebraska all we got ?
 


UpAndUnder43 said:
In the history of the gophers you think their largest comeback is 10?
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No. Of course not. I am simply poking the best to get a real answer as I have no clue.

I am wondering if he have some people here that can remind me.of what and when those comebacks were
 

So were we down 31-0 or 35-4,or 33-2? I am having trouble remembering that game.
 


Texan Gopher said:
No. Of course not. I am simply poking the best to get a real answer as I have no clue.

I am wondering if he have some people here that can remind me.of what and when those comebacks were
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I found a few 11 point comebacks
 

From recent years:
  • In the 2011 Floyd of Rosedale game Minnesota came back from 21-10 to win 22-21.
  • In 2014, Vs. Purdue, came back to win after trailing 31-20, final score 39-38
  • At Nebraska in 2014, came back to win after trailing 14, down 21-7. Final score 28-24
  • Again Nebraska in 2022, the Gophers came back from 0-10 to win 20-13.
 


per chatGPT:

As of my last knowledge update in September 2021, the largest single-game comeback win for the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team was a 35-point comeback against the Purdue Boilermakers on October 10, 1981. In that game, the Golden Gophers trailed 28-3 in the second quarter but managed to come back and win 31-28.

Is it just me or is the math not mathing here?
Looks like 25 instead of 35.
 



DoubleDeckerDons said:
per chatGPT:

As of my last knowledge update in September 2021, the largest single-game comeback win for the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team was a 35-point comeback against the Purdue Boilermakers on October 10, 1981. In that game, the Golden Gophers trailed 28-3 in the second quarter but managed to come back and win 31-28.

Is it just me or is the math not mathing here?
Looks like 25 instead of 35.
Click to expand...
According to wiki - Gophers beat Purdue 16-13 in September 19th, 1981 - not sure if the game referenced above is a different year?

Can't find anything better than 14 point comeback - however one of those games was the defeat of the Buckeyes on November 7, 1981. Rallying from a 14-0 deficit - the Gophers, behind 5 Hohensee TD passes, upset the Bucks to win 35-31. This is our last win over OSU in Minnesota and our last win overall at Memorial Stadium.

For the historians, a memorable 13 point comeback occurred against Wisconsin on November 23, 1940. After spotting the Badgers 13 early points, the Gophers scored 22 straight to win 22-13 at Camp Randle. This was the final game of the 1940 season and preserved our 6th National Championship.
 

Man, there definitely hasn't been too many.

The two I remember the most was '05 against Purdue, coming back from 8 down after Cupito pick-6 & driving to score, hit the 2, and win it in OT. The other was '98 against Michigan State when they got the onside kick, a big Cockerham scramble & Bailey hitting the winning FG.
 

DoubleDeckerDons said:
per chatGPT:

As of my last knowledge update in September 2021, the largest single-game comeback win for the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team was a 35-point comeback against the Purdue Boilermakers on October 10, 1981. In that game, the Golden Gophers trailed 28-3 in the second quarter but managed to come back and win 31-28.

Is it just me or is the math not mathing here?
Looks like 25 instead of 35.
Click to expand...
Sounds like ChatGPT to me.

Incredible, boundless talent and fumbling the ball away on the 1 yard line over a 3rd grade math problem.

Also, this is probably entirely made up by ChatGPT. Minnesota won the 1981 Purdue game 16-13. It was played on September 19 and no other games in nearby years match this score.
 




10 points down is PJ’s biggest comeback victory with the Gophers (Nebraska, 2022). I don’t know about prior years, though some folks have expressed the view above that large comebacks, at least by the Gophers, are a rare commodity. By comparison, makes the 21 point comeback by Northwestern, all scored in the 4th Q, not only massively improbable but damn near impossible (because no pick six, no interception or fumble recovery, just a series of offensive possessions after Gopher punts).
 
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I took a look at the data going back to 2003 (That's as far back as I could find good drive level detail). Here's what I found for comeback wins:

Northwestern 2003 down by 14 (ESPN Box Score)
Nebraska 2014 down by 14 (ESPN Box Score)
Iowa 2011 down by 11 (ESPN Box Score)
Purdue 2014 down by 11 (ESPN Box Score)

Games won when losing by...
14 points: 2
11 points : 2
10 points: 5
9 points: 1
8 points: 1
7 points: 19
6 points: 6
5 points: 1
4 points: 3
3 points: 14
1 point: 4
 


DoubleDeckerDons said:
per chatGPT:

As of my last knowledge update in September 2021, the largest single-game comeback win for the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team was a 35-point comeback against the Purdue Boilermakers on October 10, 1981. In that game, the Golden Gophers trailed 28-3 in the second quarter but managed to come back and win 31-28.

Is it just me or is the math not mathing here?
Looks like 25 instead of 35.
Click to expand...

Maths, or sensical statements, are not crapGPT’s strength.
 

Ski U Master said:
I took a look at the data going back to 2003 (That's as far back as I could find good drive level detail). Here's what I found for comeback wins:

Northwestern 2003 down by 14 (ESPN Box Score)
Nebraska 2014 down by 14 (ESPN Box Score)
Iowa 2011 down by 11 (ESPN Box Score)
Purdue 2014 down by 11 (ESPN Box Score)

Games won when losing by...
14 points: 2
11 points : 2
10 points: 5
9 points: 1
8 points: 1
7 points: 19
6 points: 6
5 points: 1
4 points: 3
3 points: 14
1 point: 4
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An uninspiring list....
 



In 1978 I believe we had a large comeback win vs Indiana at home, but the details elude me
 

There is a bit of a reason for the lack of huge comeback wins over the years, and its this: The Gophers, traditionally, have been a running team. They tried getting crazy a 2-3 times with Salem, Wacker, and Brewster but we saw how those turned out. As such, running teams do not typically stage such comebacks the way that passing teams do. Granted, the Gophers win more when they have run well. Its just the nature of where they are. However, there likely won't be those big comeback wins so often.
 

metrolax said:
There is a bit of a reason for the lack of huge comeback wins over the years, and its this: The Gophers, traditionally, have been a running team. They tried getting crazy a 2-3 times with Salem, Wacker, and Brewster but we saw how those turned out. As such, running teams do not typically stage such comebacks the way that passing teams do. Granted, the Gophers win more when they have run well. Its just the nature of where they are. However, there likely won't be those big comeback wins so often.
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Yep, was thinking the same thing. Even with guys like Decker and Johnson, the offenses from Mason through Fleck have been defined by Barber, Maroney, Cobb, Smith, Brooks and Ibrahim. The Gophers have been a grinding team.

Style of play in the Big Ten West probably has played a factor, too.
 

The gophers don’t have many huge comebacks. They also haven’t faced a lot of huge deficits when they were good. A 2-10 team isn’t likely to come back down 35-3. But an 8-4 fleck team hasn’t seen many 30 point deficits.
 


NateDawgUM said:
One of the key components of a good comeback victory is a great QB...........
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Well, two of those comebacks in GopherIceBox's list were from 2014 with Leidner at QB. He was regularly maligned during his time here. Mostly I thought he was underrated although he was surprisingly disappointing playing with a pretty good team in his final year.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Maths, or sensical statements, are not crapGPT’s strength.
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Worse, it just makes shit up.

The Purdue comeback in 1981 was total BS. I went and asked ChatGPT a few more times and learned about the 35 point Gopher comeback in 1973 against Michigan. According to ChatGPT, that game is called "The Greatest College Football Comeback of All Time" in CFB lore.

I also learned of a couple of 28 point comeback wins in the 70s and 80s against Ohio State.

Normally this would just be a lark, but real people and businesses are banking real money (hundreds of billion$) and service models on ChatGPT. I'm working on a project with it for a very big, well known, and heavily scrutinized company. It's worrisome that AI is flagrantly making junk up, at the same time people are starting to take it seriously.

I can't ethically put this stuff out there to the public any time soon.
 

Gophergrandpa said:
10 points down is PJ’s biggest comeback victory with the Gophers (Nebraska, 2022). I don’t know about prior years, though some folks have expressed the view above that large comebacks, at least by the Gophers, are a rare commodity. Make the 21 point comeback by Northwestern, all scored in the 4th Q, not only massively improbable but damn near impossible (because no pick six, no interception or fumble recovery, just offensive possessions after punts).
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The contrast to the 2022 Vikings is pretty remarkable. They overcame deficits of 33,17, 14 twice and 10 once...so 5 times just last year. In 2023, one victory and it was from a 10 point deficit.
Yet, the Gophers have one 10 point comeback victory in 7 years.
 

This is one of those stats we all feel but don’t have numbers for. It adds to the constant feelings of indifference and malaise around this program. Once a team is up 10, it feels absolutely insurmountable, and if these posts are accurate, then yeah that has been insurmountable.

It also shows how insanely non-explosive the gophers have been, in all facets of the game.

Reciprocally, no lead feels safe. And it hasn’t been. Time after time we have examples of that. So many examples.

Truly wild the inability of this team to make a small comeback, while massive leads are blown with semi-regularity.
 

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