Minnesota Football Countdown to Kickoff: 39 Days
The countdown to kickoff for the Minnesota Golden Gophers is now at 39 days. Currently, there are no Golden Gophers on the roster entering this season. The 1939 season was also a dud for the Gophers, a rare losing season during Minnesota’s dominance in the 1930s and 40s.
With that, we had to be a bit creative with today’s countdown.
As we continue our countdown series, today’s spotlight goes back to 2014’s homecoming against Purdue, a 39-38 win for the Golden Gophers.
Entering that 2014 homecoming game, the Golden Gophers were sitting at 5-1 on the season, winners of three straight over San Jose State, Michigan, and Northwestern. Their only loss to that point was a 30-7 loss to TCU in mid-September.
Purdue, on the other hand, was 3-4 and fell the previous week to No. 8 Michigan State 45-31. Long did the Boilermakers know that season, they would not win another game, their 39-38 loss to the Gophers being the closest they would come to victory.
Nonetheless, on that October afternoon in 2014, the golden Gophers were led by star running back David Cobb who had 35 carries for 194 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Mitch Leidner didn’t have his best day but was still productive enough completing 9-of-18 passing attempts for 165 yards and two scores. While also adding on 84 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground.
It would be a high scoring first half as both Purdue and Minnesota traded touchdowns in the first quarter but it would be all Purdue in the second quarter. After the Golden Gophers scored early in the second quarter to take a 20-14 lead, Purdue would score three straight touchdowns including two touchdowns within two minutes to take a 31-20 lead into the break.
In the third quarter, the Gophers in desperate need of a score would find the endzone on a six-yard touchdown from Mitch Leidner before a Ryan Santoso field goal a few minutes later pulled the Gophers within two.
Purdue would extend their lead back to nine in the third quarter thanks to an Austin Appleby one yard run. Before the end of the third quarter, Minnesota would make it just a two-point game thanks to a 37-yard touchdown reception from KJ Maye.
After a combined 77 points through the first three quarters, there would be just three points scored in the fourth quarter. Luckily, for Minnesota, those three points would come from kicker Ryan Santoso who nailed a 52-yard field goal with 4:59 remaining to give Minnesota a 39-38 lead.
Purdue would look to answer in the final minutes, but a Cedric Thompson interception at midfield with under two-and-a-half minutes to go would effectively ice the game for the Gophers, giving them their sixth win of the season.
After starting the season with a 6-1 record, the Gophers would lose four of their last six games to finish the season 8-5. The back end of the Gophers schedule was notably tough with games against No. 8 Ohio State (31-24 loss), No. 21 Nebraska (28-24 win), and No. 14 Wisconsin (34-24 loss) to end the regular season before facing No. 16 Missouri in the Citrus Bowl (33-17 loss).
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