Sunday, December 28, 2008
TEMPE, Ariz. — After winning only one game last season, the Minnesota Golden Gophers had plenty of people surprised when they started this season 7-1 and were ranked 20th in the nation.
But that soon changed, as they lost four consecutive games including a 55-0 drubbing by Iowa in their last game to finish the regular season at 7-5. After being in second place in the Big Ten and the surprise team in college football, Minnesota ended up tied for sixth and was the last Big Ten team selected to play in a bowl.
University of Minnesota head coach Tim Brewster chats with an assistant coach during the Golden Gophers' open practice on Sunday afternoon in Tempe, Ariz. Minnesota is returning to the Insight Bowl for the second time since 2006, when they were defeated by Texas Tech 44-41 in overtime after squandering a 38-7 lead.
“Go home and look yourselves in the mirror,” Eric Decker, Minnesota wide receiver, said of the message coach Tom Brewster sent to his players after the embarrassing 55-0 loss at home to end the regular season. “We had to understand that it’s up to us if we wanted to change the attitude and mentality of this team. And I think we’ve done that, and hopefully we will show that out on the field.”
Minnesota arrived in Phoenix on Christmas and has practiced each of the past two days at the practice facility of the Arizona State Sun Devils because the local high school assigned to them for practice was flooded during a recent rain storm.
Brewster said the game plan had been in place for several days now and the remaining time leading up to Wednesday’s Insight Bowl against Kansas would be used to fine tune and mentally prepare.
“We are sharpening the knife,” Brewster said following the team’s Sunday morning workout. “The physical hay is in the barn. It’s all mental. We’ve had 13 very physical practices and it’s time now that we just focus in on the details of the plan.”
Brewster went 1-11 in his first year as coach of the Golden Gophers in 2007 after former KU coach Glen Mason was fired from Minnesota following the 2006 Insight Bowl, when the Golden Gophers committed the biggest collapse in bowl history — losing 44-41 in overtime after leading 38-7 in the third quarter.
The seven wins this season makes Minnesota the nation’s most improved team from a year ago, and Brewster knows that the extra month of practice will pay dividends both in the bowl game and into next season.
Photo Gallery
Insight Bowl, Day One
The Minnesota Golden Gophers gathered for an open practice on Sunday afternoon in Tempe, Ariz.
“Just the fact that we got 15 extra practices to improve as a football team is outstanding,” Brewster said. “And that’s what good programs do, they go to bowl games year in and year out and the reason why they are good football teams is because of the extra practices that they get. I think we’ve really utilized these 15 practices to get better as a football team.”
Decker, who was a First-Team All-Big Ten selection by both the coaches and the media, knows just how big an eight-win season would be after winning only one game a year ago.
“It would be huge,” Decker said. “We started out so strong this season and kind of got tired. With such a young team, we just didn’t finish how we wanted to. It would be big momentum going into next season with the new stadium. It would cap off how much work we’ve put in the last couple of years and send these seniors off the right way.”
— — Edited by Kelsey Hayes
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