The Big Ten book-ended the day with another home loss to a non-BCS foe. This time Minnesota fell at home to Bowling Green St. Minnesota was thoroughly dominated in the first half, trailing 21-0, leading me to proclaim that perhaps the new coaching staff would be immune to heart-breaking defeats and instead settle for blowout losses. As it turned out, Minnesota had one more heart-breaking loss in them. Minnesota forced overtime against Bowling Green and scored a TD on the first possession. But once again Minnesota managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Bowling Green answered with a TD on its overtime possession and converted a somewhat surprising 2 point conversion to win 32-31.
Glen Mason lost his job because of all the heart-breaking losses in his Minnesota Tenure (21 point home lead against Michigan, punt blocked in the final minutes vs Wisconsin, Texas Tech loss in last year’s bowl game), but in the end Minnesota proved the curse was not unique to Glen Mason.
Many experts predicted the Gophers to finish last in the Big Ten this year at 0-8 and this game helped validate that prediction. The problem is that new coach Tim Brewster is trying to implement a spread passing, option running offense, with Glen Mason’s players who have been trained in power running and zone run-blocking. Until Brewster recruits his type of personnel, Minnesota isn’t going to win a lot of games.
Conference Cup
Wins vs BCS/ND, Losses vs BCS/ND, Non BCS Losses
2-1-0 SEC
2-1-1 Pac10
1-1-0 Big East
1-1-2 ACC
1-1-2 Big 10
1-2-2 Big 12
0-1-0 Notre Dame
BCS vs BCS
Georgia beat Oklahoma St
Auburn beat Kansas St.
California beat Tennessee
Washington beat Syracuse
Wisconsin beat Washington St.
UConn beat Duke
Georgia Tech beat Notre Dame
Missouri beat Illinois
BCS Losses to MWC
BYU beat Arizona
Wyoming beat Virginia
TCU beat Baylor
Colorado St. also lost in overtime to Colorado or the MWC would have had a terrific weekend.
Really Bad Losses
Central Florida beat NC State
Appalachian St. beat Michigan
Bowling Green beat Minnesota
Kent St. beat Iowa St.
“Resume Problems” O’Leary has proven that even if he isn’t accredited enough to coach at Notre Dame, he still knows how to win. Not only did his team pick up a big road win, they now host the biggest game in school history against Texas. Texas struggled some against Arkansas St., so on paper the game should be entertaining.