Preps – Page 45 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Glorious U Win 60 Years Ago Today

Posted on November 5, 2020 by David Shama

It was a game of the century by our standards, a matchup for the ages when 60 years ago today No. 1 ranked Iowa came to Minneapolis to play No. 3 Minnesota at Memorial Stadium. A potential national championship, Rose Bowl invitation and Big Ten title meant the rewards couldn’t be better for the winner on November 5, 1960.

The energy at the stadium was beyond electric. The rivalry to gain possession of Floyd of Rosedale always made Minnesota-Iowa an emotional day for the two teams and states, but never before had there been a Golden Gophers-Hawkeyes matchup like this. There were an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Iowa fans in the stadium and they were loud and sometimes obnoxious. The Gophers fans, though, answered back in the noisy “Brickhouse” that housed a season record crowd of 65,610, with the turnstile count way over capacity and fans sitting in the aisles.

The buildup to the game and demand for tickets was so intense newspaper columnist Sid Hartman pleaded not to bother him anymore for tickets. Scalping prices were reportedly as high as $100—big money in those days. This wasn’t just a local or Big Ten phenomenon, Minnesota-Iowa was a national story that included major coverage by Sports Illustrated.

After a 2-7 record in 1959, Minnesota was 6-0 and the surprise of college football in the fall of 1960. Insiders had seen the success coming. Coach Murray Warmath had expanded his recruiting to far away places like Pennsylvania and North Carolina. He opened a pipeline for Black players that included the likes of quarterback Sandy Stephens and tackle Bobby Bell.

Stephens was a junior, Bell a sophomore in 1960. To this day, they remain two of the most gifted football players in Gopher history. They were impact players on a roster anchored by a heavy dose of players from Minnesota, with none more important than Minneapolis native and nose guard Tom Brown who won the 1960 Outland Trophy recognizing the nation’s best lineman. He finished second in Heisman Trophy voting—a remarkable achievement for a lineman.

Dana Marshall, from Braham, Minnesota, became a Gopher football student manager starting with the 1957 season. That team was a preseason favorite to win the Big Ten and go to the Rose Bowl. Minnesota began 3-0 but collapsed, finishing the season 4-5 overall, 3-5 in Big Ten games. Marshall recalled in a phone interview the Gophers went on to lose 20 of their next 24 games after that 3-0 start.

In 1960 Marshall was the senior student manager. The season would be the last for redemption for seniors like Brown and captain Greg Larson, another Minnesota native and one of the Big Ten’s best centers. Marshall remembered the morning of the Iowa game there was a players-only meeting at the St. Paul Hotel. Larson spoke and so did Stephens whose words are remembered to this day by Marshall, now retired from a Minneapolis business career and living in Las Vegas.

“Everything we’ve hoped for, or dreamed of, is here before us today,” Stephens told his teammates.

Stephens (front seat) with Bell behind him and RB Bill Munsey.

Make no mistake Stephens had big days in mind when he came to Minnesota. He was a prize recruiting catch for Warmath. Woody Hayes wanted him at Ohio State. Ara Parseghian, coaching at Northwestern, badly wanted Stephens who was a high school superstar in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Gopher historians might tell you that never in the history of Minnesota football has the school landed a more sought after recruit than Stephens, who as a dual-threat star made All-American in 1961 and was named by the Chicago Tribune as the Big Ten’s MVP.

But if November 5, 1960 belonged to any single player, it was Brown. The undefeated Hawkeyes had an explosive offense led by a group of running backs who probably were all faster than any of the Gophers. This game, however, was defined by strength, cunning and sheer will as Brown and Company shut down the Hawkeyes. “Players were just in awe watching Brown because he was so strong,” Marshall said.

Brown made his presence known early in the game, rattling Iowa center Bill Van Buren whose bad snap on a first quarter punt led to a short drive for a Minnesota touchdown. Marshall said word was a frustrated Van Buren uttered the following on that Saturday afternoon years ago: “I’ve got a second half to play against that son of a bitch.”

Minnesota had a 7-3 halftime lead and Iowa scored a touchdown in the third quarter to go ahead 10-7 . But the Gophers led 13-7 entering the fourth quarter and added two more scores to make the final 27-10 for the nation’s new No. 1 team. Marshall said the fourth quarter domination was typical of Minnesota’s performance late in games all season.

Warmath was a hero and was hoisted on to the players’ shoulders in the delirious moments after the game. In the coach’s biography, The Autumn Warrior, author Mike Wilkinson reported “the crowd went crazy” and fans hoisted up reserve quarterback Joe Salem who had come off the bench to provide key plays in relief of Stephens.

“This is the greatest moment of my life. Nothing comes close,” Larson said in a quote from the Warmath book. A modest Brown said, “I guess I got in my licks.”

Minnesota stumbled at home the next Saturday, when Purdue got out to an early lead and the Boilermakers went on to a 23-14 victory that quickly took the Gophers out of the No. 1 spot in the nation. The Gophers then went to Madison for the season finale and got an impressive 26-7 victory over Wisconsin on November 19.

Marshall recalled that the win over the Badgers had the Gophers wondering if they still could become national champions. No. 1 Missouri was upset by Kansas the same day Minnesota was winning in Madison. In late November when the final polls came out Minnesota was back on top at No. 1 in the country.

Back then the Associated Press and United Press International named their national champions before bowl games and didn’t change rankings afterwards. Minnesota’s record was 8-1 overall and 6-1 in the Big Ten. Iowa, also with an 8-1 record, finished No. 2 in the UPI poll and No. 3 in the AP.

The Gophers had a better conference record than Iowa’s 5-1 but the two teams were declared co-Big Ten champs. One of Minnesota’s league wins was against an Indiana program on NCAA probation, so the victory wasn’t credited to the Gophers in determining the Big Ten champion. “We precariously got punished for Indiana’s problems,” Marshall said.

The Gophers had won their first league and national titles since 1941. They earned the school’s first ever Rose Bowl invitation. Although Minnesota lost to Washington in Pasadena, the 1960 season was the start of a glorious three-year run where the Gophers compiled a 22-6-1 record. Through it all, no game had higher stakes than November 5, 1960.

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U May Sign Record Total of 4-Stars

Posted on October 26, 2020 by David Shama

College football’s early Signing Day for high school players is only about eight weeks away and it looks like the Gophers will land a program record seven four-star players, per information from 247Sports.

Ryan Burns from 247Sports and Gopherillustrated.com told Sports Headliners Minnesota may even push that total beyond seven. Davon Townley, the defensive end from Minneapolis North High School, is a coveted four-star who the Gophers want as part of their 2021 recruiting class. “I think they’re probably the favorite right now,” Burns said.

Townley is also considering Arizona State, Michigan State and Penn State.

Burns said Minnesota is also pursuing four-star defensive lineman Andre Porter who made his reputation last year playing in the Washington D.C. area. Porter has made a verbal commitment to Boston College but the Gophers are trying to change his mind.

If Townley and Porter become Gophers, they will join three other defensive linemen who have already verbally committed to Minnesota in anticipation of Signing Day, December 16. Deven Eastern from Shakopee and Jacob Schuster of Olympia, Washington are four-star recruits, per 247, while Austin Booker, from Greenwood, Indiana, is a high three-star.

Great Power Five programs feature outstanding defensive line talent and performance. Highly coveted prep defensive linemen are among the most difficult to land because of their impact. Could Booker, Eastern, or Schuster play for Minnesota next year?

The Gopher d-line roster will have returnees who are playing this year so their experience and maturity gives them an edge over freshmen. But Burns believes Schuster at 300 pounds and Eastern at 280 could see some time off the bench in a defensive line rotation.

“These are guys who don’t have to put on 40, 50 pounds before you can ask them to contribute,” Burns said. “These guys have bodies that are ready now, but I think it all comes down to how ready are they in comparison to the rest of the defensive line—because, ideally, you don’t want your freshmen playing if you’re expecting to win a lot of games.”

Other Minnesota four-star commits are cornerbacks Avante Dickerson (Omaha) and Steven Ortiz (Goodyear, Az.), offensive tackle Cameron James (Chicago), quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis and running back Mar’Keise Irving (Country Club Hills, Ill.).

Minnesota has 17 total verbal commits, per 247, and Burns said another pledge isn’t “imminent,” but between now and Signing Day the Gophers could be prepared to offer about three more scholarships. “The focus right now is certainly trying to shore up that defensive line,” Burns added.

Minnesota is on course to land a record number of four-stars in what Burns refers to as the “Internet era.” As referenced earlier in this column that total of seven could grow and at the same time set a record for four-star defensive linemen landed by the Gophers.

Minnesota is coming off a 2019 season when the Gophers went an uncharacteristic 11-2 in coach P.J. Fleck’s third season. That success is impacting recruiting for 2021.

Worth Noting

Former Viking Willie Howard, now head coach at Cooper High School, has a sophomore son playing for him who already has 43 college offers, Burns said. Minnesota is among those interested in the 15-year-old who is about 6-4 and 235- pounds and might project as a college defensive lineman. “He can go anywhere (to school) in the country,” Burns added.

247 has Jaxson Howard ranked as the No. 47 prospect nationally in the class of 2023. He is a 247 four-star now but Burns said Howard has the potential to become a rare state of Minnesota five-star recruit.

Fleck talking this afternoon about true freshman linebacker Cody Lindenberg who started Saturday night’s first game of the season: “He is going to be a very good player in this league.”

The Gopher Goal Line Club reports selling over 300 memberships to support the U football program. Past funding has gone for various projects including special weight lifting equipment. The club is doing informative Zoom programs on Fridays prior to home games this fall.

Paul Molitor, one of just 57 players elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, speaks to the Capital Club via Zoom Wednesday morning. The Minnesota native is one of five MLB players with at least 3,000 hits, a .300 batting average and 500 stolen bases.

Former Gophers running back Barry Mayer remembers early morning phone calls from the late Sid Hartman that got him “staggering” out of bed in his U dorm. “No intro, no notice, just the question right out of the box,” Mayer said via email. “I was still asleep in answering so I had to read his column for the next couple of days to see what I had answered! He was one of a kind!”

That was Minnesota Twins broadcaster Cory Provus doing play-by-play for BTN’s telecast last Saturday of the Purdue-Iowa game.

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What to Know for Gophers-Michigan

Posted on October 21, 2020October 22, 2020 by David Shama

It’s no exaggeration to write that Saturday the nation’s college football fans will have eyes focused on Minneapolis, and the Big Ten Conference’s premiere season opening matchup of Minnesota and Michigan.

The hoopla starts at 8 a.m. with ESPN’s GameDay reporting for three hours from inside TCF Bank Stadium. The weekly program is coveted everywhere by college football pitch artists, and their cities. The show arrives in Minneapolis this week for the second time ever. Know that high school players, including recruiting targets of the Gophers, will be watching and listening to what is said.

No inside word yet on who exuberant Lee Corso will pick to win the game, but social media geniuses will be typing at high speed about whoever gets the nod from the former Indiana head coach. While signaling his prediction, maybe he will slip on a Goldy head and hoist the Little Brown Jug in deference to the Golden Gophers. Then, again, perhaps he poses in a Desmond Howard mask and strikes a Heisman Trophy pose to predict a Michigan win—making Howard, Corso’s GameDay colleague, giggle about his old school and his Heisman hardware.

Hopefully, the game will be even more entertaining than Corso, GameDay’s undisputed showman. It should be with two top 25 teams playing in primetime (6:30 p.m. kickoff) on national TV via ABC. Somewhere near the top of storylines will be the two head coaches, P.J. Fleck of the Gophers, and Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh.

Fleck’s record since November 10, 2018 is 14 wins, 3 losses. In that stretch his teams have won at Wisconsin, upset No. 4 ranked Penn State at home and taken down No. 12 Auburn in the Outback Bowl. After the bowl game, Minnesota was ranked No. 10 nationally, the program’s highest poll position since 1962.

But Fleck, starting his fourth season at Minnesota, will be the first to acknowledge success must be sustained year after year, and Project Consistency comes one step at a time. Another successful season, starting with a win over the Wolverines, will chase more of the anti-Fleck crowd toward the Gopher bandwagon. And a lot of admirers are already more worried about holding on to the 39-year-old Fleck as coach, than fretting over whether the program will be an annual winner.

Harbaugh has a losing record at Michigan against A.P. top-25 teams, 10-14, per Michigan.rivals.com. Although he is among the best paid coaches in the country at more than $7 million this season, he has yet to defeat hated rival Ohio State in five seasons coaching in Ann Arbor and he is 1-4 in bowl games.

With two seasons remaining on his contract, Harbaugh’s seat will be warm at chilly TCF Bank Stadium Saturday night. Power Five coaches almost never have just two years left on a contract, so it seems the higher-ups in Ann Arbor are sending a message.

Here are six more things to know about the game:

No. 1. Among the players, who is healthy and available to play? Testing positive for COVID-19 will likely sideline players for both teams. Who and how many may determine the game’s outcome. Subtract too many top playmakers and key defenders, and this game likely doesn’t fulfill its potential to be special.

No. 2. How high will the total points be in the game? College football scores this fall can resemble low scoring basketball games. Powerhouse programs like Alabama have even experienced poor defensive outings. In explaining the offensive fireworks, COVID is again a villain. The pandemic cancelled spring practices and since then has limited teams from having full contact. The over-under total for Michigan-Minnesota should be about 60 points.

No. 3. Will Minnesota’s defense be a liability? While the starting offense has nearly everyone returning from 2019, the defense is without several regulars including its best performers. Defensive coordinator Joe Rossi, though, has shown an unflappable demeanor and golden touch since being elevated to his position after the infamous November 3, 2018 loss at Illinois.

Rossi is kind of starting over now, but not without talent including a pair of the Big Ten’s better cornerbacks in Coney Durr and Benjamin St-Juste, plus exceptionally athletic defensive lineman Boye Mafe, and a “coach on the field” leader in linebacker in Mariano Sori-Marin.

No. 4. Does Rashod Bateman’s presence push the Gophers over the top? The NCAA has done few favors for the University of Minnesota Athletic Department over the years (see Clem Haskins scandal), but the governing organization granted the return of Bateman, the Gophers’ All-American wide receiver who initially had opted out of the 2020 season. He is an extraordinary playmaker, and opinion here is his presence could tip one or more games into the win column this fall. Will that start Saturday night?

No. 5. Is the 2020 game the start of a new age in the Minnesota-Michigan rivalry? Michigan leads the all-time series by a dominating 70-23-3 total. Long ago, though, this was a rivalry about Heisman Trophy winners, All-Americans, Big Ten titles and national supremacy. Since 1970 the ineptitude of Gopher football has mostly made folly of a rivalry that is symbolized by possession of the famed Little Brown Jug. Minnesota hasn’t defeated the Wolverines in Minneapolis since 1977, although the Gophers have won three times in Ann Arbor since then.

Sadly, the two programs don’t compete against one another every year because they are in different Big Ten divisions. Minnesota and Michigan last played in 2018 and aren’t scheduled again after Saturday evening until 2023. There is the possibility of the two schools meeting in the Big Ten championship game as champions of the West and East Divisions. That would wake up the echoes of a rivalry that once had Gophers fans and players circling the Michigan game before all others on the schedule calendar.

No. 6. Get ready to cringe every time GameDay and ABC talking heads bring up how cold it is here. How high can you count? Some stereotypes don’t go away—like cold weather in Minnesota even in October. However, Weather.com predicts the evening low Saturday in Ann Arbor will be 35 degrees. So take that, Minnesota weather bashers.

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