that they would pick up TC and carry him off the field.

Blake Cashman epitomizes this team. A walk-on who gets coached up and strong and just goes out and kicks ass... the kid looked like a guided missile out there! Are you kidding me?!?!?!

That. Just. Happened.

Look, I think Mitch is below average.

We had a mix of OL that made mistakes.

That said,...

Our defense and the game plan was awesome. We did not play bend but don't break. We disguised blitzes. We played bump and run coverage. We did so many things no team was able to do against the Cougars this year.

What an awesome win.

F*ck you. I hope you were watching how a TEAM battled their asses off for their coach.

You and your group are a bunch of pathetic damn losers.

That is all. Go Gophers!

Richard Pitino
Opening Statement...
“I give credit to Michigan State. They showed really great toughness in the second half. We talked a lot about making sure we came into that locker room ready because we anticipated that they will fight back, which they did. I just thought the first 5 minutes in the second half; we let them set the rules and the tone and it really hurt us. They made some big plays tonight down the stretch. Alvin (Ellis III) made those two free throws that were big. Tum Tum (Nairn Jr.) hits that three, so give them credit. Our guys fought, but Michigan St. found a way to win.”

On closing out a tight game...“We gotta find a way to win it. You know these games always seem to come down to one or two possessions. Give Michigan State credit; they just found a way to win and we did not. There will be plenty more close games and hopefully we can be on the other side of that.”

On Nick Ward…
“He has gotten himself in pretty good shape and I know he will continue to get better shape, but he was terrific and ever since Miles (Bridges) has been out, they have been going to him, which they should and Coach Izzo obviously knows what he is doing there because he is a load and they put him in a spot that is tough to do off of him…..”

On the message to the team of the tough loss…
“You know just to stay together. We’ve been fortunate to win 12 games and it is easy to stay together when you win; it is easy to be happy when you win, but when you lose, you just gotta find a way to not point fingers, learn from it. You got 17 more of these. This is a grind. Every year that I kind of go through that; I learn that and just gotta make sure your guys stay confident, also learn why you lose and just find a way to get back up and prepare for obviously a good Purdue team in a tough road environment.”

Tom Izzo
General comments...
"Kind of a tale of two halves. And I really like Minnesota’s team. I think [Richard Pitino] has done an incredible job with them. I thought they outplayed us two thirds of that game."

On second half adjustments...
"To our credit, we scored more the second half, but we defended a lot better. It was a hard team to defend. They were driving around us, they were going around us. They were taking it to us, drawing fouls right and left and every way else. So I’m really proud of the freshmen because I told them they have no idea, they think Duke and Kentucky and those teams are tough. Big Ten games, like I said, Cleaves and Clem Haskins would have been proud of this game. It was a war."

On Minnesota...
"This is the best Minnesota team I’ve seen in a while. And I think, you know, it’s one thing that’s always left to do it learn how to close out games. And this team is going to be good this year. It really is. I’m impressed. I was impressed, I think some guys on their team have really really improved. Coffey, they recruited him, so I knew how good he was. But, you know, Murphy, McBrayer, and Mason have improved a lot since last year. This is going to be a good team, they’re going to win a lot of games I think.

On moving on...
"Until that plane’s wheels touch the ground, I’m gonna enjoy a victory because we’ve had a brutal stretch, and it’s been tough, and guys deserve to enjoy it."

Jordan Murphy
On his takeaways following the second half and overtime...
"I think that we just made too many mistakes going down the stretch. We didn’t make the free throws we needed and we didn’t make the winning plays. I think we had some good looks, but just didn’t convert."

On how foul trouble made it difficult to deal with Nick Ward throughout the game...
"You saw at the beginning where Reggie (Lynch) was affecting (Ward’s) shots. Then Reggie got in foul trouble, and there was a huge difference with the type of swagger that Ward had throughout the game, when Reggie was guarding him and when he wasn’t, or when Reggie was being too passive. You can see the affect that Reggie has on the game, just being there bothers people’s shots. They’re more hesitant to go in the paint than when he’s not there. I think him being in foul trouble really does put more of a load on Eric and Bakary, but then again you still have to play hard."

Dupree McBrayer
On Michigan State grabbing momentum to start the second half...
"I think we got too complacent. We needed to score. They jumped on us in the first five minutes, and we really had no answer. I think we need to do a better job with that in the future."

On Michigan State building confidence to start the second half...
"That definitely built their confidence. The kid, Nick Ward, he’s a big load, so they went to him and got a couple of buckets down the stretch. Basically we just need to do a better job of knowing the scouting report."

On bouncing back following a home loss...
"We just have to get back in the gym and work. We didn’t win twelve games for no reason. We just have to get back in there and work, and like I said follow the scouting report for Purdue coming up, a big talented team that will be even more physical. We’ll have to be ready."

I could have commented on some of the other post bowl game threads, but they seemed to be wandering all over the place. To all of you that still can't seem to enjoy an amazing win, just leave. Go in your bedroom and cry if you still want Claeys to leave, 1st, because you're an ass, and 2nd, because you need serious psychological help.

This was one of the most amazing Gopher wins in any sport that I've ever seen!!!
And yes, this was a Signature Win!!!

We lose 10 scholly players including three starting DB's and we have to play against one of the top passing offenses on the country that averages 40+ points a game. So, what happens...we get killed and lose by 30 points, right???

No, actually we have a great Defensive game plan, we suck-it-up, we play two true Freshmen at DB (Durr and Creighton) and we kill them on defense (and special teams...unbelievable punting Santoso and clutch FG and kickoff kicking Carpenter!!!).

Can You Believe It, our coaching and our effort was just Off the Charts!!!

I am so incredibly proud of this team that I can barely stop smiling!

Honestly, with this incredible win, Claeys will not only not be fired, but the unity of the players along with great coaching will solidify this program for the near future.

Congratulations Gopher footballers, what an incredible win!!! I am so proud!!!

Link: Postgame presser transcript: Gophers win Holiday Bowl

Q. Tracy, that defensive performance by your guys, did you expect that they would rise to the challenges?
COACH CLAEYS: The only thing I know is you gotta go off practice and those kids have practiced awfully well. Jay Sawvel and his staff, they did a tremendous job, Adekunle and Damarius, they played their tail ends off and I just -- when you get in those situations and you're missing people, it all goes back to the next person has to step up and you ask them to do things that they're good at doing. I don't care, nobody is going to be successful if you ask them to do things they're not very good at, so I told our defensive staff to get our guys in a position to do things they're good at and they love love the game and they'll play hard for each other so great, great effort on their part.

Q. Mitch, what do you think galvanized this team? People will be talking about the boycott and did you guys even want to be here and to see the effort that you guys gave once the game started?
MITCH LEIDNER: I don't think it's a matter of nobody wanting to be here. It's just a matter of we wish our brothers would be better with us. Our coaches, you couldn't ask for a better way to go out, I'm proud of these guys, especially our defense, the way these guys played all night. Offensively, we knew they were probably going to score some points and we're going to have to keep answering, and it didn't end up that way at all. These guys played tremendous and this guy to the left of me, it's fun to be a part of.

Q. Tracy, not too many teams have kept the Cougs from getting into a rhythm offensively like you guys did. Can you talk about what you guys do to slow them down?
COACH CLAEYS: Like I say, I think we did a good job with forcing them to keep dumping the ball underneath without giving up the play or the top. It still goes back to some people they want to call it, bend don't break, but I think that's how you play that type of offense like that, so we -- if you're going to stop 'em, they've got awfully good players. You've got to tackle well in space, and that credit goes to the kids. We got them to dump the ball off in space and our guys ran and tackled extremely well.

Q. Coach, what does it mean to you and to your program to win the Holiday Bowl and to your program and for recruiting?
COACH CLAEYS: It's a great bowl. We were excited to be here. When we got picked and when you play in the upper level bowl games and represent the Big Ten conference, that's what we came out here to do. We played a tough team and every bowl win is a great. We have won two in a row now and before that I think they had not won one in a while. It just shows we're moving in the right direction in my opinion. We know we've got work to do. But we're going to enjoy this through the first of the year before we start working on those types of challenges. For these seniors, for the ones that are seniors, it puts another feather in their cap that the other senior classes haven't been able to do by getting to nine wins and then we got that guy there, No. 1, that we will start with next year and there is not a better player that we want to start going forward next year with. Excited and, you know, it's a simple saying but it's very true, winning solves a lot of problems.

Q. Damarius, when you guys were prepping for the game, how much did you put on your shoulders and what was the scheme that Coach Sawvel used and then how did the guys step up today?
DAMARIUS TRAVIS: We just know we had to practice really well and every day at practice you could see the passion that everybody was practicing with. In my opinion, like this whole bowl week and the whole time we had the best practices that we had. We had juice, we had people communicating and we did the right thing and it translated over to the game. Look at the results.

Q. Damarius, what did you guys do defensively that kept them from getting into a rhythm on the offensive side of the ball?
DAMARIUS TRAVIS: Just like Coach Claeys said we made 'em throw the short ball and didn't let them get the deep ball.

Q. Damarius, they talked about their offense getting frantic, could you tell that on the field?
DAMARIUS TRAVIS: You could tell that because whenever the QB was going through his progressions he didn't see what he wanted and he just threw the ball over someone's head and he didn't have the look that he wanted so you could definitely see that.

Q. Did it feel like Washington State came out and underestimated your play in the backfield and your defense as a whole?
DAMARIUS TRAVIS: For sure, play anybody they underestimate us, don't matter if it's Washington State or not, we've always been the underdogs.

Q. Mitch, the numbers weren't gaudy, but the key to winning, was it avoiding turnovers, the usual, keeping the ball out of their hands?
MITCH LEIDNER: Exactly, try and win the turnover margin, manage the game, give the ball to these stud running backs and let the O line do their thing up front, and at times we were able to open some things down field and hit deeper passes.

Q. When Adekunle had that interception, goes for a pick six, it goes back, how excited were you guys for him to get that play, but then the offense putting it across the goal line at that point?
RODNEY SMITH: I was excited. It's unfortunate that he has loose ankles and stepped out-of-bounds! (Laughter.) But the offense in that situation in the red zone, we practice that all the time. And Shannon started the drive. I thought he was going to score, but once he told me he was tired I was like, you know I'm going to score, right? I give credit to the offensive line. They did a great job. Matt Leidner hadn't played all year and he stepped in in a big-time situation and he performed. I'm happy, happy for the team, it meant a lot to get this ninth win.

Q. Mitch, have you thrown many tipped touchdown passes in your career?
MITCH LEIDNER: I usually end up on the wrong side of those.

Q. When you did throw it were you thinking oh no?
MITCH LEIDNER: I thought it would go out the back of the end zone. We were getting heated and I thought I would let it rip and let it be Shannon's ball or nobody's ball, but that guy played a good play and tipped it into Shannon's hands for me.

Q. Mitch, 8-5 in the Big Ten, the Bowl win, how do you size up this season?
MITCH LEIDNER: We're 9-4 aren't we?

Q. Yeah, 9-4.
MITCH LEIDNER: It's been a long time since this program has had nine wins so to be able to get that with this group of guys and the senior class, and the coaches we have on this team it's been very special, so much chemistry, we're so close as an entire time and I love every single one of these guys and I'm excited.

Q. Tracy, Coney got hurt there. Can you tell us anything about the injury. You go to Zo and he makes, like, a saving tackle on the goal line there?
COACH CLAEYS: Like I say, that's the job of a back-up player. I will say this. For Coach Leach and Washington State, it's not an easy offense to prepare for. It was nice to have 10 practices, I will say that, to do what we did. But, yeah, Zo, everybody we put in, you know, it shows you how much they prepared and as the guys talked about how well practice went. They were all in it and coaches kept saying how well meetings were going, so they were all in it and ready to go. It's a great reward for them and the entire state of Minnesota. I know they want to be in the Rose Bowl out here, but to come out to California and get a win in a bowl game that treated us so well and treated our fans so well, it's a great thing for everybody associated with the University of Minnesota.

Q. How much do you relish in this victory given what you have gone through in the last couple of weeks and where things are and where they can go in the future?
COACH CLAEYS: We relish 'em all! I don't think you understand, these guys, it's like that tipped pass, I told the guys on the offense after the tipped pass, we ain't apologizing for anything. We've had our fair share of close games, we've lost, we've had our instant replays that went against us, so just take whatever you can. I do believe good things happen to good people who worked hard and in the last two weeks, these guys have worked extremely hard.

Q. Tracy, do you expect to sign a contract extension?
COACH CLAEYS: I don't know. I don't like doing that in the media. That's not important. What's important is you walk in the locker room and you see the smiles on the kids' faces, that's what's important, because it's just as bad when you walk in there and we haven't won. I get great joy to sit here and Damarius and those guys sitting here smiling, I will sleep awfully good through the new year.

Q. Have you shown that look where you have one down lineman with Steve this year? I know you have done it with two.
COACH CLAEYS: You're going to have to ask Coach Sawvel, if that is one, when you get a team to where they've got to throw it, that we have messed around with, but him and the defensive staff have done a good job. I've been a four-man D-lineman most of my career when I was a defensive coach. We knew we needed to mix in the three-man and two-man defensive line stuff, because of where some of the offense was going. So when I got out of there, I didn't sit in on one meeting last spring when I took over, and I told the defensive coaches to go ahead and experiment. I just wanted to see it on film before I seen it in a game. I told them that. They've done a tremendous job and like I say, they did things that the kids were good at and I think that's what good coaches do.

Q. Can you talk about the play calling? The playaction call seemed to work well in this game.
COACH CLAEYS: It all rides on the strength of those backs. You've got Rodney and Shannon back there and even Mitch had a couple of big runs for us. That's the advantage of that type of offense, so when they commit to the run you've got to be able to make plays, especially play-action pass. Drew made a couple of big catches and Mitch put the ball where he needed to put it. That's who we are this year. Every year, every team is different and that's what we were good at, so in the second half that's the same thing, we're going to come out and do what we're good at and kids did a great job.

Q. With the bowl win and getting the last word, what would you want somebody to know about the Minnesota program now that you have that platform with a bowl win like this?
COACH CLAEYS: I will just tell you, our kids go to class, our GPA is above a 3.0, our kids graduate and they love playing the game of football. They want to be at the University of Minnesota. They've done a great job representing our football program, the kids did, on this trip. When you are dealing with 17 to 22 years old, there is always something that pops up every now and then and we'll deal with it. We do have good kids that play hard and go to class. As long as we're around, that's how it will always be. One big family.

Q. Adekunle, just to confirm, that was your last game? You tweeted that before the game. Is that the end for you?
ADEKUNLE AYINDE: I didn't tweet that. I still have another year.

Q. I thought so. Can you sum up what this means for this team after all you've been through this year?
ADEKUNLE AYINDE: It's a great way to send out our seniors. This whole week we were just preaching to play for those ten that weren't able to come here on this trip. It just shows how close we are as a team and how passionate we are about football.

i think the most overlooked area of this years team is the special team coverage. Usually I cringe every time we kick off but this year I looked forward to who would make the tackle inside the 20. Cashman, Barber, Coughlin and more were just outstanding. Despite what Leach said, the physicality of our team was the difference and it all started with our special teams.

I think the Gophers will grind out a tough one 87-3. What say you?

That's a damn nice trophy to put in the case!

Huge win for this program regardless of what shakes out in the coming months.

Thank you players and coaches for an amazing effort!

I know Baldy instructed us not to discuss but thought this was a very interesting look into how the the players feel behind closed doors.

http://collegefootball.ap.org/artic...alFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP_Top25

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota President Eric Kaler stepped behind the podium and began to speak, a crisis averted after seven Golden Gophers football players announced that the team would not boycott the upcoming Holiday Bowl against Washington State because 10 of their teammates had been suspended in a sexual assault case.

"I listened to their concerns," said Kaler, who had negotiated with the players. "I was able to explain our point of view around the actions that we took. It was a very frank and candid conversation. I'm glad it led to this resolution."

Listening from another room in the team's football building, players fumed. They thought Kaler was taking credit for solving an impasse even though he left the talks the previous night without a deal, a group of four that included players and other people involved in the talks told The Associated Press. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because of a team-wide agreement not to speak publicly about the case to keep a focus on the bowl game in San Diego on Tuesday.


The interviews revealed a lingering divide between an administration trying to actively investigate allegations from a woman who says she was pressured into sex with multiple football players and a team that was concerned about the fairness of the process.

Tensions ran so high that the players' decision to participate in the bowl nearly collapsed a day after it was made. Players, angered by Kaler's remarks, called an emergency meeting the next day as they returned to practice after some pushed to reinstate the boycott.

"Things were still very raw for them," Regent Darrin Rosha, who was asked to attend the meeting, said. "For some, the allegations and due process issues had somewhat taken a backseat to the way they felt team members who were not involved had been treated by the university."

Kaler and athletic director Mark Coyle declined to be interviewed about the boycott talks, instead releasing a joint statement pledging to work "to address issues and concerns that have risen to the surface from across our University community, to make a difference and improve things moving forward." Federal laws written to protect the privacy of students involved in investigations like this one restrict their ability to comment directly on many of the details in the case — with the media or the team.

Universities have been under pressure to more aggressively respond to sexual assault on campus, and high-profile cases at Florida State, Baylor and Stanford involving athletes in recent years have intensified concerns that the rules are bent for those playing a sport. At Minnesota, the president acted swiftly to address the case, and made it clear in statements the university was taking the allegations seriously.

Even if it meant sacrificing the bowl game — and the roughly $2.8 million it pays out.

The case started at the beginning of the season. Five of the players — Carlton Djam, Dior Johnson, KiAnte Hardin, Ray Buford Jr. and Tamarion Johnson — told police they had consensual sex with the woman at an off-campus dorm. Four of them were suspended for three games early in the season, but reinstated in October.

Prosecutors cited a lack of evidence when they declined to press charges, but the university, which has a different standard of proof, conducted its own investigation. The school announced on Dec. 13 that those five players were suspended and Antoine Winfield Jr., Seth Green, Mark Williams, Kobe McCrary and Antonio Shenault were out for the bowl game as well.

A redacted copy of the university's 82-page investigation report published by a local television station quotes the woman as saying she believed 10 to 20 men had sex with her, though she was not certain. She told university investigators she was too traumatized to clearly remember events.

The team thought the case had ended when their four teammates returned to the field in October. They also were worried about due process for their teammates as the case played out in a school, not a court, those involved with the boycott told the AP. They questioned why the players did not have representation with them while being interviewed by university employees.

Coyle met with the team on Dec. 14, but players were frustrated that coach Tracy Claeys was alleged to be involved with the decision to suspend them and repeatedly invoked federal privacy laws, according to three people who were there. The team was also upset when he wouldn't discuss the timing of the suspensions, which left no time for an appeal before the bowl game, and punishing the five additional players, two of whom claimed to have not been in the apartment that night.

Twenty-four hours later, the players took a vote and announced they would boycott all team activities unless the players were reinstated.

With a deadline fast approaching to participate in the bowl and talks with Kaler and Coyle going nowhere, players asked for a meeting with Rosha and Michael Hsu, two of the newest members of the board of regents, on Dec. 16. They reached out to them because they had been vocal about the school's sexual assault policies before.

In July of 2015, Hsu and Rosha called for the president to delay implementing a new affirmative consent policy that was designed to help prevent sexual assaults on campus. Concerns emerged on other campuses that the policy shifts the burden of proof to the accused in rape cases, and Hsu wanted the board to discuss the possible legal ramifications.

Kaler and Coyle tried to re-engage the players before Hsu and Rosha could meet with them that night. They offered to reinstate the second group of five players for the bowl, but pulled that back when the university said the woman who made the accusations would have to approve that, four people involved in the discussions told the AP.

Kaler and Coyle left talks with the players before 9 p.m. without an agreement and players prepared to skip the game. The players invited the regents in, according to three people who were there, and a marathon discussion lasted until dawn.

"We weren't negotiating," Hsu said. "We had nothing to give them. We were only there to talk to them, help understand them, help them understand us, the university, us as regents. Help them think through the ramifications."

They talked about criticism the team received after announcing the boycott with a statement that paid little attention to the allegations made by the woman. If they pulled out of the bowl game, would they look like they were defending sexual assault?

Would the coaching staff lose their jobs?

They talked about their legacies. Carrying through with the boycott would have made them the first team in college football history to pull out of a bowl game under protest. Did they want to be known for that?

"They appeared to really want to get it right for all involved: the reporting student, the public, the university, the team," Rosha said. "While they didn't seem sure about what the right approach was, they did conclude it wasn't maintaining the boycott."

The players voted around 6 a.m.

The boycott was done, but the hard feelings remained.

A few hours later, without inviting the school president or athletic director or making them aware of their decision, the players called a news conference and delivered a statement that said "sexual violence and violence against women have no place on campus, our team or in society."

They were playing, they said, because Kaler and Coyle had agreed to ensure that their teammates would get an appeals hearing before a diverse panel — something they insisted on because all 10 accused in the case are black.

But even with the boycott rescinded, they didn't feel like they had a resolution, at least not with school leaders.

"I believe this could very well have been avoided," Rosha said. "The team appeared to appreciate having a respectful dialogue."

Shannon Brooks and Rodney Smith are about as big of recruiting steals as we have on offense. They have performed well for us since they have been here. I was really impressed with that Brooks' run on the last drive where he gained 5 more yards(24 yard line to the 19 yard line) where it was ALL HEART... That was some tough running.. Then, Smith was determined to get that last TD... Give the o-line credit, no doubt but Brooks and Smith are some pretty tough runners for their size.... I bet a lot of good teams are kicking themselves for not making those 2 kids a priority in recruiting.

Izzo out coached Pitino big time.

1. Why is konate in the game in regulation with the ball and last possession?. Call a TO and get springs in the game. Konate only clogs the lane and isn't great at carching a drive and dish anyway.

2. Murphy touches the ball 1 time in OT and it's an And 1. Alvin Ellis guarded Murphy entire time down stretch in regulation and overtime and he gets 1 touch? That is your mismatch! Get him the ball, it's at least a foul everytime. Our dribble weave at the top was just not working. Either was the ball screen.

3. Izzo puts in 5 guards with last 10 seconds left and we play right into it with a ball screen so mich st can switch everything. Nate Mason gets stuck with no momentum to turn the corner and ends up with off balance contested shot. Would have loved to see a 1-4 low once it was recognized that would give Mason an easier time to get going towards the hoop not losing his momentum. Anyone who has played knows it's not easy guarding a guy on an island coming at you with a full head of steam.

Smith and Brooks both run REALLY hard. That 11 yard gain by Shannon late in the game to move the chains was nothing more than guts and "want to." Neither of these guys goes down on first contact. We are really blessed to have them on the squad. Tough as nails.

Our guy kicked the ball on the punt. It should have been WSU ball.

I "think" the call where Leidner fumbled and the call where they caught a 20 yard catch down to the 8 were maybe incorrect. That said, I KNOW the call we got on that punt return was incorrect.

Thank you Replay Jesus. It's about time you helped us.

Any chance whatsoever?

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Jesus, how do some of you people live your lives day to day.



Yeah, I mean you people that just automatically give up on next year before this season is even over.

Look, I get it. Claeys doesn't excite you. He's not a "rah rah" guy. He hasn't won the "big" game. Well, I hear you and agree with that sentiment. What I don't get is why it means that he has little to no chance going forward? Look, I've been there. After the Rutgers game, I wanted a change and I wanted it now! But, that was quick-trigger emotional day or two.

After looking deeper into it, I could begin to feel that we can win, and win big (meaning a West title in the next 3 to 4 years if not sooner) with TC and staff. The guy has been a major part of making our program respectable again. His staff has done a fine job recruiting the home state, and has found their share of diamonds in the rough. Regardless of many of your dreams, Minnesota will never be a 5-star destination consistently, but they have found enough winners IMO to compete for the West.

Why can't we win next year?

I see sure to likely wins vs Buffalo, at Oregon St., MTSU, Maryland, at Purdue and Illinois.
I see reasonable chances to win vs MSU, vs Nebraska and at Northwestern
I see not-unthinkable wins at Iowa and vs. Wisconsin
The least likely win would be at Michigan, but they lose a ton of seniors.

If you get the 6 "sure to likely" wins + 2 of the "reasonable" wins, + 1 of the 3 trophy games, we are sitting at 9-3. That might sound unrealistic to some, especially with a new QB, but let's be honest, we were held back by what Mitch could do for this team. We need new blood at the position. If we see steady improvement from the O-Line, and the Rodney/Shannon show continues unaffected by injury, I have to believe we will see at least similar offensive production. Add a dynamic, unpredictable athletic QB to the rotation and maybe, just maybe we can take the next step forward and be somewhat scary on offense, and that's regardless if the WR corps improves much, if at all.

As for the Defense, we will miss #7 Travis terribly. We will also miss Jack Lynn and the Ekpe Bros. However, we have lost much more in recent years and Sawvel has shown he can make his unit into a formidable squad. I have tons of faith in our D-line for next year (I'm truthfully scared about this group in 2018 though). I LOVE our linebacking crew. Tons of fresh blood and experience ready to pound opposing offenses. Damarius Travis will be greatly missed no doubt. That will be a spot to watch, but again I have faith in Sawvel.

Special Teams should continue to be as good or slightly improved. Maybe we'll find a more dynamic punt returner? If nothing else, we didn't lose games with the Special Teams, and I don't expect us to next year either. That's a win in my book.

So, while some of you people want to give up on your seats (it's your prerogative), I'll be purchasing mine again to be a part of something I still think can be a WINNER.

For those of you feeling like this...



BUCK the FÛCK UP!

Only 1 Defensive penalty until the 2pt. Fiasco
Against An offense like WSU
With us down to the last players on the bench


Way to go coaches and players

Rodney Smith practiced at DB due to a shortage of bodies, and volunteered to play there if needed.

If anybody thought Claeys lost the team, there's your answer!

Mel Bonehead Kiper only has Mitch as a Gopher pro prospect. Crock of crap. Pirsig, Travis, and Myrick should all get drafted IMO ... Anyone else I'm overlooking?

This is really really fun but we need to get the basketball win.. Great games. 10.6 seconds left with Minnesota leading by 1 and Michigan State shooting FTs.

Congrats to Tracy Claeys and the great Gophers football team.. So proud of the guys!!

Let's go kick some Wazzu A$$! Its a beautiful day in San Diego! The Team Is Excited!!! The Holiday Bowl is a GREAT Bowl!

I honestly have no clue what to expect here. The only thing I don't see is a close game either way. Either we win by 2 TD's or more, or WSU wins big.

I think we actually come out strong as the team is united and wants to take out their aggresive on the opponents. We run and even pass ourselves to a 14-10 lead with about 12 minutes left in the 1st half.

Then, it happens. We don't have the horses to compete and our D gets exposed. The route is on.

Gophers 24
WSU. 45

What say y'all?

Didn't do a great job at LSU but he'd excite the fan base and get tickets moving. Recruiting would be off da chain. I'll hang up and listen