Both the major college football program (University of Minnesota Golden Gophers) and the NFL squad (Minnesota Vikings) in the Twin Cities had critical games on their schedule this past weekend. Going in, it was difficult for me to be optimistic that just one of these teams would win, much less both. Inexplicably, both emerged victorious!
It has been well documented that Vikes QB Kirk Cousins has rarely delivered his teams (including the Washington Redskins, for whom he was the starter 2015-2017) to victory against above .500 opponents in prime time. While I always thought that stat was overblown given Cousins' numbers in such scenarios suggested he wasn't solely responsible for his clubs losing, the fact of the matter is that the lack-of-clutch-performances narrative would dog him until he was at the helm of such a win. A 28-24
victory over the first place Dallas Cowboys (a game which Cousins was good, not great) is a huge first step. It also put the Vikings at 7-3, which means they're in solid position for a postseason berth.
But let's be honest here. This past football weekend belonged to the Gophs! Ranked #13 in the Associated Press poll, the Gophers would be prime to leap into the Top 10 for the first time in
57 years with a win over #4 Penn St. It got a little to close for comfort, but the U of M hung on for
an exhilarating 31-26 win at home, resulting in thousands of fans storming the TCF Bank Stadium field. And sure enough, the Golden Gophers surged into the Top 10 with a # 7 ranking!
In a conversation Sunday with Jason, fellow MN football enthusiast and 25-year old board op of my radio show, he declared that this was definitely the first time in his lifetime that the Gophs usurped the Vikes in terms of football enthusiasm in Minnesota. He then asked if I could say the same given I am literally twice his age. In thinking about it, I'd have to say the only other year that could come close is 1984, which saw the Gophers have an edge by default. That was first year the Vikings would be without the legendary Bud Grant as their head coach. It was apparent early on that the Vikes weren't competitive as new coach Les Steckel guided them to an awful 3-13 season, one in which it appeared the players had quit over the final six weeks. Meanwhile, there was renewed optimism at the U of M as the loquacious and entertaining Lou Holtz assumed the helm of a Gophers program that hit rock bottom after an 84-13 loss at home to Nebraska the season before. Sure, the Gophs only finished 4-7 in '84, but it was very apparent they were on an upswing. Their wins over both Wisconsin and Iowa was the first sweep of their two border rivals since 1975.
Bottom line is that the Vikings, from an enthusiasm standpoint, have ruled not only football but
all sports in this state for more than two decades. The fact that the 2019 Vikes are legit playoff contenders but suddenly second fiddle to the Division I squad which has finished in the AP Top 20 only twice since 1962 is unfathomable to me. Truth be told, I didn't really think about Sunday evening's Vikings game until about 3 PM Sunday. This is literally uncharted territory for me.
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