.EL PASO, Texas - It didn't take long for Minnesota defensive coordinator Greg Hudson to realize what his defense was up against in the 2003 Sun Bowl on Wednesday afternoon. Midway through the game's opening...

The game won't be played in the location Minnesota's football team had hoped for. And its opponent won't be from the conference of preference. But for all the would'ves and could'ves left unanswered since...

The question of exactly why the Alamo Bowl decided to select Michigan State over Minnesota will remain with Athletics Director Joel Maturi for at least one more day. The discussion between Minnesota's...

In hindsight, Minnesota Athletics Director Joel Maturi saw it coming. Immediately after the Gophers football team concluded its regular season Nov. 15, Maturi made it a priority sit down with coach Glen...

Never one to suffer from a lack of confidence in himself, Minnesota running back Laurence Maroney admitted even he was surprised when he received a call on his cell phone late Tuesday morning informing...

Minnesota coach Steve Plasencia hesitated for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders when asked what he thought of his team's 26th-place finish Monday at the NCAA Division I cross country championships. "It...

It was shortly after midnight Nov. 16 when Minnesota cross country runner Luke Mullranin returned home to his Minneapolis apartment, physically and emotionally drained. A few hours later, Mullranin was...

As the final seconds ticked off the clock at Iowa's Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, Minnesota Athletics Director Joel Maturi stood on the field shaking hands with Minnesota football players. Many Gophers...

For a few brief seconds in the second quarter of Minnesota's 40-22 loss against Iowa on Saturday, the 70,397 fans at Kinnick Stadium went quiet as running back Laurence Maroney burst through a pile of...

All week long, Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz has racked his brain to find a way to contain Minnesota's rushing attack. While some of Ferentz's Big Ten counterparts might suggest he would be better off...

Ten minutes after Rhys Lloyd's game-winning kick sailed through the Metrodome uprights for a dramatic 37-34 victory over Wisconsin on Saturday, Minnesota football players were still celebrating. Fans clad...

If it had not been for the estimated 35,000 Badgers fans who turned sections of the Metrodome into seas of red and the presence of Wisconsin's marching band on the sideline, it would have been easy to...

A smirk emerged on Ben Utecht's face when the question came up - almost as if he'd been waiting all year to hear it. So Ben, how would you evaluate the first 10 games of your 2003 season? The smirk quickly...

Minnesota senior linebacker Ben West is already making the necessary preparations for Saturday's game against Wisconsin. And not just on the practice field or in the film room. A native of Appleton, Wis.,...

By now, opponents of Minnesota's football team can basically expect that the Gophers will find a way to put their share of points on the scoreboard. Minnesota scored more than 40 points for the sixth time...

At 18 years old, Matt LoVecchio was living the dream. Just three months removed from Bergen Catholic High School in New Jersey, LoVecchio began the 2000 football season as Notre Dame's third-string quarterback....

Minnesota is probably the last team in the Big Ten that should have any kind of complaint about its schedule. By virtue of the conference's rotating scheduling process, the Gophers have the good fortune...

Smiles abounded in the visitors' locker room of Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon as Minnesota football players congratulated each other on a much-needed 36-10 victory over Illinois. But there was...

Minnesota coach Glen Mason admitted he had forgotten about it. Luckily for him, his team didn't. After two unsuccessful attempts in previous weeks against Michigan and Michigan State, Mason earned the...

Tony Patterson was not about to say anything, but the frustration was palpable. Minnesota football coach Glen Mason could sense it brewing in his fifth-year wide receiver without ever hearing a word. So...

Heading into the final month of the regular season, Minnesota's football team finds itself in an uncomfortably familiar position. Saturday's loss to Michigan State leaves the Gophers with a 6-2 overall...

Minnesota football players had to wait seven days for a chance to get back on the field and avenge their fourth-quarter collapse against Michigan. But the Gophers had to wait just six seconds Saturday...

Even when his future appeared as though it couldn't get any bleaker, Jeff Smoker maintained a quiet confidence in himself. Surrounded by a Michigan State football program caught up in negative distractions...

In the moments following the Gophers' 38-35 loss to Michigan last Friday night, an emotional Asad Abdul-Khaliq predicted the tears probably would not stop until Tuesday. After three days to reflect and...

It was an innocent mistake. Early in the second quarter of Minnesota's Big Ten bout against Michigan on Friday night, the sound technicians at the Metrodome accidentally followed a Gophers first down by...

Based strictly on wins and losses, the Minnesota-Michigan football rivalry would hardly be considered one of the best in college football. But in terms of tradition, it ranks right near the top. Michigan...

For members of the Minnesota football coaching staff, it's a chance to get in on the action while reinforcing an important lesson. For players, the lesson has been more beneficial than they could have...

Any one of the 105 players on Minnesota's football roster might want to consider mailing Northwestern cornerback Jeff Backes a thank-you card this week. The sophomore's seemingly innocent misstep was just...

It hardly ever fails. When the name Jason Wright comes up in a conversation anywhere outside of Evanston, Ill., someone invariably asks the question - or at least thinks to himself - Jason who? For those...

Terry Jackson II waited patiently on Minnesota's sideline during the first quarter of Saturday's game against Penn State. The junior running back, who led the team in rushing last season with 1,317 yards,...

All week, Minnesota football players and coaches hinted there would be more to see from the Gophers' offense in Saturday's game against Penn State. This was supposed to be the game when coach Glen Mason...

It was early one morning in June when Jared Ellerson saw the light. He proceeded to crawl out of bed, get dressed and make the one-mile trip from his University Village apartment to the Bierman athletic...

Start fast, finish faster. Following that strategy would seem to give any team a pretty good chance to win. But in the case of Minnesota's football team, the process has been refined a step further. In...

Minnesota approached its final nonconference game of the season against Louisiana-Lafayette as a final tune-up for the Big Ten season. Judging from its performance Saturday night against the Cajuns, Minnesota...

At this point in a normal 11-game collegiate football schedule, Minnesota would be gearing up for its first real test of the season against a Big Ten opponent. But with an extra nonconference game on the...

Minnesota running back Marion Barber III answered questions outside of the visitor's locker room in Ohio's Peden Stadium on Saturday evening, wearing his usual straight face. There was nothing particularly...

Just when it looked as if Minnesota's defense was finally coming together, it surrendered 14 points in the first half of Saturday's game against Ohio. In the Gophers' previous two games, the defense only...

Midway through the third quarter of Saturday's game against Troy State, Minnesota quarterback Asad Abdul-Khaliq jogged lightly toward the sideline, unbuttoned his chin strap and exchanged congratulatory...

More than anything else, Minnesota freshman running back Laurence Maroney remembers one thing in particular from all the football games he's watched - the way players on special teams throw their bodies...

Complaints from anybody on the Minnesota football roster were hard to find late Saturday night after the Gophers wrapped up their second blowout victory in the past two weeks. Spurred by a dominant performance...

It's been a long and winding road for coach Larry Blakeney and Troy State's football team the past two years - literally. Since making the jump to Division I-A competition prior to the 2001 season, the...

Ben Utecht has been showcasing his talent in the Gophers' passing game for years. But Saturday night the tight end, named a 2003 preseason All-American by Athlon and College Football News, displayed his...

A quick glance at the 2002 season recap for Minnesota's men's cross country team would make it seem like the Gophers had it all figured out. The team climbed as high as 13th in the national polls and earned...

Tulsa head football coach Steve Kragthorpe was fortunate enough to have a front-row seat for the rushing exhibition put on by Minnesota on Saturday night at the Metrodome. Although Kragthorpe probably...

For Keri Hehn, every lap in the pool, every rep in the weight room and every ounce of energy she's ever devoted to the sport of swimming paid off in one special moment earlier this summer. It was the day...

The blink of an eye. The snap of a finger. Six thousandths of a second. That was the difference between being a national champion and being second best in the men's 400-meter dash at the NCAA track and...

It's just a coffee mug, but to Minnesota's women's swimming coach Jean Freeman it serves as a constant reminder. "Things do not change," an inscription on the mug in her office reads. "We do." Not so long...

Minnesota sprinters Mitch Potter and Adam Steele have earned their share of frequent flyer miles this summer. Since competing in the NCAA championships in Sacramento, Calif., two months ago, Potter and...

Beginning this season, the Big Ten will experiment with a behind-the-scenes instant replay system to test the consequences replay might have on the college game and its officiating, Big Ten Commissioner,...

More than 100 bodies lay strewn about on mats inside the Bierman athletic complex on a muggy July afternoon, most of them motionless. A few kids sit up and joke quietly. Some listen to music. Most are...