TCF Bank Stadium is opening to applause and the new facility almost makes Minnesota unique compared to other college football programs and their old facilities, yet short term the stadium is a challenge to the Gophers’ on field performance.
Coach Tim Brewster has been saying all summer the focus of his team is on one goal: prepare for the opening game at Syracuse on September 5. There’s so much anticipation about the first game in TCF Bank Stadium on September 12 with Air Force, that Brewster welcomed last Saturday’s scrimmage and public open house in the new facility. Those were “butterflies” of the figurative kind floating out of the stadium and across campus on Saturday.
Still, the build-up to the first game ever in the stadium presents a challenge of focus for team and staff. The Gophers, 7-6 last season and 1-11 the year before, aren’t good enough to perform without their collective heads attached to their bodies. The return to playing home games on campus should mean more student interest and attendance, a potential temporary distraction for players. Then, too, there will be so much media and public conversation during game week that the players can’t help but notice.
Brewster told Sports Headliners earlier this summer that the focus challenge includes practice and the game on September 12. He and his staff have to help ready the players so they’re not so excited to play that they can’t execute properly—not understanding plays, overthrowing receivers, jumping off side, taking poor angles on tackles and other similar problems.
Quarterback Adam Weber acknowledged at last Saturday’s news conference that opening stadium week will be a challenge. He said the players will look to the coaches for help in staying on task.
Before kickoff on September 12, pre-game festivities (including fly-over jets and fireworks) will have the crowd rocking and players will be more nervous than usual. Who wants to be known as the team that lost the first ever game at TCF Bank Stadium?
Brewster isn’t interested in that scene right now. All that matters is preparing for Syracuse on September 5. He’s encouraging competition for playing time among his players and that provides day-to-day focus. He’s even told the Gophers the Wally Pipp tale, the New York Yankees first baseman that supposedly took a day off because of a headache and never got back in the line-up after Lou Gehrig won the job.
Today for the Gophers there’s likely no dwelling on the festive atmosphere that will surround the September 12 opener, or even the opening game at Syracuse. The messages to the players: stay in the moment, learn your practice lessons, take a calm approach and carry the preparation over to game days, September 5, 12 and beyond. The mantra is clear and the results will come soon enough.