Minnesota Golden Gophers football

The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers are one of the oldest programs in college football history. They compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and the Big Ten Conference. The Golden Gophers have claimed six national championships and have an all time record of 646–481–44 as of November 26th, 2011. Since 2009, the Gophers have played all their home games at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

History
The Minnesota Golden Gophers college football team played its first game on September 29, 1882, a 4–0 victory over Hamline University. Eight years later in 1890, the Gophers played host to Wisconsin in a 63–0 victory. With the exception of 1906, the Gophers and Badgers have played each other every year since then. The 117 games played against each other is the most played rivalry in Division I-A college football.

Glory years
The Gophers enjoyed quite a bit of success in the early 20th century, posting winning records from 1900 - 1919. Head coach Henry L. Williams developed the "Minnesota shift", a predecessor to later quick line shifts, which was adopted widely. In 1932, Bernie Bierman became the Gopher head coach and led the Gophers to their first dynasty. From 1934 - 1936 the Gophers went on a run of winning three straight National Championships, the last Division I team to accomplish this feat. During the run, Minnesota went unbeaten in 28 straight games, a school record, 21 of which were consecutive victories. The school record for consecutive victories is 24, which spanned 3 seasons from 1903 to 1905. The Gophers also won two more national championships in 1940 and 1941. Those two seasons comprised most of an 18 game winning streak that stretched from 1939 to 1942.

After some mediocre seasons throughout the remainder of the 1940s and 1950s, the Gophers rose back to prominence in 1960 with their sixth national championship (because polling ended after the regular season, the Gophers were crowned AP and UPI national champions despite losing the Rose Bowl to Washington). That national championship followed a 1-8 record in 1958 and 2-7 record in 1959. Minnesota played in bowl games the two following years as well, in 1961 and 1962. The Gophers earned their first berth in the Rose Bowl by winning the 1960 Big Ten title. The following year, Minnesota returned to Pasadena despite a second-place finish in the conference. The Ohio State Buckeyes, the Big Ten champions in 1961, declined an invitation to the Rose Bowl because of tension between academics and athletics at the school. Minnesota beat UCLA 21-3 to claim its first and only Rose Bowl victory. This game also marked the Gophers last appearance in a New Year's Day bowl game. Minnesota's last Big Ten title was in 1967, tying the Indiana Hoosiers and Purdue Boilermakers atop the standings.

Recent history
After their 8–2 record in 1967, the Gophers would not win 8 games in a season again until they went 8–4 in 1999. Their 10–3 record in 2003 gave the Gophers their first 10 win season since 1905.

The 2006 team had the dubious distinction of blowing a 38–7 third-quarter lead in the Insight Bowl against Texas Tech, losing 44-41 in overtime. The collapse, which was the biggest in the history of Division I-A postseason football, directly led to the firing of head coach Glen Mason. On January 17, 2007, Tim Brewster was officially announced as the next head coach of the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

In 1981, the Gophers played their last game in Memorial Stadium and played their home games in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome until 2008. The Gophers moved back to campus with a 20-13 win against Air Force on September 12, 2009, when their new home, TCF Bank Stadium, opened.

In 2010, after a 1-6 record to start the season, the Gophers football head coach Tim Brewster was fired. Jeff Horton served as the interim head coach going 2-3. On December 6th, 2010, Jerry Kill, former Northern Illinois University head coach was hired to take over the University of Minnesota football program.



National championships
''Note: The NCAA itself does not award a championship for Division I-A football. A number of different organizations and publications designate a national champion.''

Big Ten Conference championships
Note: bold years indicate outright conference titles

TCF Bank Stadium
TCF Bank Stadium is the football stadium for the Minnesota Golden Gophers college football team at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The 50,805-seat on-campus "horseshoe" style stadium is designed to support future expansion to seat up to 80,000 people, and cost $288.5 million to build.

Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex
The complex is a state-of-the-art facility housing the team administrative offices, team locker room, team meeting rooms, equipment room, training room, and players’ lounges.

Past Venues



 * Northrop Field (1899–1923)
 * Memorial Stadium (1924–1981)
 * Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (1982 - 2008)

Bowl games
''Note: From 1918-1945, the Big Ten did not allow its teams to participate in bowls. From 1946-1974, only the conference champion was allowed to attend a bowl.

Trophy games

 * Floyd of Rosedale - Iowa Hawkeyes
 * Governor's Victory Bell - Penn State Nittany Lions
 * Little Brown Jug - Michigan Wolverines
 * Slab of Bacon/Paul Bunyan's Axe - Wisconsin Badgers

Players

 * Heisman Trophy
 * Bruce Smith - 1941


 * Outland Trophy
 * Tom Brown - 1960
 * Bobby Bell - 1962
 * Greg Eslinger - 2005


 * Jim Thorpe Award
 * Tyrone Carter - 1999


 * Dave Rimington Trophy
 * Greg Eslinger - 2005


 * John Mackey Award
 * Matt Spaeth - 2006

Coaches

 * Amos Alonzo Stagg Award
 * Bernie Bierman - 1958


 * Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year
 * Murray Warmath - 1960


 * Paul "Bear" Bryant Award
 * Murray Warmath - 1960

Players

 * Chicago Tribune Silver Football
 * Biggie Munn - 1931
 * Pug Lund - 1934
 * Paul Giel - 1952, 1953
 * Tom Brown - 1960
 * Sandy Stephens - 1961


 * Offensive Lineman of the Year
 * Greg Eslinger - 2005


 * Defensive Lineman of the Year
 * Karon Riley - 2000


 * Freshman of the Year
 * Darrell Thompson - 1986
 * Laurence Maroney - 2003

Coach

 * Glen Mason - 1999

AFL

 * Antoine Burns - Wide Receiver, Milwaukee Iron

CFL

 * Arland Bruce - Wide Receiver, Hamilton Tiger-Cats
 * Willie Middlebrooks - Cornerback, Toronto Argonauts
 * Ryan Thelwell - Wide Receiver, Calgary Stampeders
 * Jerome Davis - Offensive lineman, Toronto Argonauts, Hamilton Tiger-Cats

UFL

 * Anthony Montgomery - Defensive Tackle, Hartford Colonials
 * William VanDeSteeg - Linebacker, Hartford Colonials

Other notable coaches and players

 * Marion Barber Jr. - Retired NFL Running Back
 * Phil Bengtson - Retired NFL Head Coach
 * Rene Capo - Olympic judoka
 * Gino Cappelletti - All-time AFL scoring leader
 * Gil Dobie - Won two national championships as head coach of the Cornell Big Red football team
 * Tony Dungy - Retired NFL Head Coach
 * Verne Gagne - Professional wrestler; founder AWA
 * Chip Lohmiller - Retired NFL Kicker
 * Karl Mecklenburg - Retired NFL Linebacker
 * Cory Sauter - Retired NFL Quarterback
 * Darrell Thompson - Retired NFL Running Back, current Gopher football radio announcer
 * Rick Upchurch - Retired NFL Wide Receiver
 * DeWayne Walker - Head Coach, New Mexico State Aggies football team
 * Murray Warmath - Last head coach to lead Minnesota to the Rose Bowl and National Championship
 * Bud Wilkinson - Won three national championships as head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners football team
 * Norries Wilson - Head Coach, Columbia Lions football team, first African American head football coach in the Ivy League