The Golden Gophers traveled to Columbus, Ohio on October 19, 1940, and defeated Ohio State 13-7. This gave the Gophers a 3-2 lead in the series, and at that time the high net worth athletes that the teams had not played more often were the Buckeyes.

Bernie Bierman's Gophers were named national champions by various outlets in 1934, 1935 and 1936. The state of Ohio was not scheduled for any of these seasons. The Gophers were champions in this season 8-0 of 1940 and again in 1941, while they were not playing against Ohio State.

The squads were not traveling on jet-chartered aircraft during the early decades of college football. With the state of Ohio to the east and Minnesota to the northwestern tip of the Big Ten, schools did not meet often.

There were also eight-game calendars (with five or six conference games) before the mid-1940s. Add the duration of the trip and availability of dates, and the Gophers and Buckeyes saw each other from time to time.

The 10^th the team in the conference in the 1940s was the University of Chicago. In 1946, Chicago gave up track and field. The state of Michigan was elected to replace Chicago in 1948, although it only started playing a Big Ten football program in 1953.

So, there are eight opponents who have been staples in this conference, and here's the number of games against Ohio State starting this season (including the Buckeyes advantage in the series):

Illinois-102 (69-30-3), Michigan-101 (50-47-4), Indiana-88 (75-9-4), Wisconsin-82 (59-18-5), Northwestern-76 (61- 14-1), Iowa 65 (47-15-3), Purdue 56 (40-14-2) and Minnesota-52 (45-7).

As noted here, the series has evolved strongly to the state of Ohio since the eight years leading up to the Great War, when Bierman and the Gophers had won five national championships.

Since 1940, the State of Ohio has opposed 42-4 Gophers and 38-2 over the last fifty years. The chances are against Phil Fleck's guys when they enter the horseshoe on Saturday morning – 29 ½ points, say the punters – but that has not always been against our Gophs. There are these seven victories.

OCT. 28, 1922 – GOPHERS 9, OSU 0, Minneapolis (Northrop Field)

Earl Arnold's report in the Minneapolis Sunday Tribune included:

"Using the same tactics as the one used to defeat Indiana, green and inexperienced Gophers coach Bill Spaulding walked the red and gray of the state of Ohio under the foot, 9 to 0, keeping the Minnesota slate for 1922 … "

"Once in the third quarter, the state of Ohio made a pass that landed on the 2-meter line of Gophers. But it's over there [with] perfect football from a defensive point of view. "

NOV. January 28, 1931 – GOPHERS 19, OSU 7, Minneapolis (Memorial Stadium)

The legendary George Barton wrote the game story for the Sunday Tribune and bore the subtitle "Devastating Munn Game and Manders Wrecks Bucks' Line".

Biggie Munn was a guard from all over America and Jack Manders was the back halfback. Barton also paid tribute to an estimated crowd of 25,000: "The crowd that braved the winter weather to cheer the Gophers in the service of a noble cause was spoiled by an impressive show that will remain etched in their memories. "

OCT. 19, 1940 – GOPHERS 13, OSU 7, Columbus.

Charley Johnson pointed out in the Minneapolis Star Journal that it took a lot of outstanding positions for the Bierman's Gophers to take revenge for a defeat against the Buckeyes in 1939.

"For Bobby Paffrath, who plays the biggest defensive game of his career, and George Franck must have the merit of having saved this match …"

Johnson also said Bruce Smith has proven himself for the first time this season by scoring two touchdowns. Smith became the only winner of the Gophers Heisman Trophy one season later.

OCT. 15, 1949 – GOPHERS 27, OSU 0, Columbus.

It was only the fourth year that Big Ten and the Rose Bowl had agreed to send a representative to Pasadena, California, to face a Pacific Coast Conference team. Illinois, Michigan and the Northwest had been the first three teams to officially represent the Big Ten (although it was the Big Nine for a few years after the withdrawal from Chicago).

There was considerable optimism in Minnesota: the Gophers had the talent to make the trip to Pasadena after the 1949 season. Line players Clayton Tonnemaker and Leo Nomellini were named All-Americans, and Bud Grant was named Most Valuable Player of the team.

The title of the Sunday Tribune in the title announcing the atmosphere in Minnesota after this huge victory on the road: "Goodbye, Gregory Pace Gophers in Drive Toward Rose Bowl."

Charley Johnson has again written the story of the game and announced the following:

"Billy Bye, disabled, showed the Gophers how to pay for the dirt in the first quarter." Dick Gregory continued his lead, Bernie Bierman's big players have completely mastered the undefeated Buckeyes in front of 82,111 disappointed home fans . "

Not only do I no longer see 27-0 victories for the Gophers in Columbus; you do not see much before in the game stories.

Unfortunately, Grant and Sid Hartman will tell you that Bierman has decided to practice the Gophers too hard as a result of Columbus' big win. It was a tired team the following week in Ann Arbor, beaten by Michigan.

And Minnesota's chance to represent the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl would not happen until the 1960 season.

OCT. 29, 1966 – GOPHERS 17, OSU 7, Memorial Stadium.

The Gophers and Ohio State did not play between 1951 and 1964. When the rivalry was renewed in 1965, the state of Ohio defeated the Gophers 11-10 in Columbus. This Gophers team finished 5-2 in the Big Ten.

A year later, the Gophers surprised Woody Hayes and Ohio State with a Training offense. Rear-half Denny Cornell blocked for John Wintermute's back and quarterback Curtis Wilson as a great threat when he kept the ball. Wilson's rushed for 138 yards and Wintermute for 98, big totals for that Big Ten football era.

NOV. 7, 1981 – GOPHERS 35, OSU 14, Memorial Stadium.

The Gophers started playing at Memorial Stadium in 1924 and it was the last big win in Brickhouse. The decline in the Gophers' public reputation began in 1968 when Bud Grant led the Vikings in the playoffs for the first time.^thBuckeyes came to Minneapolis:

The crowd was announced to 42,793 spectators to see Joe Salem's open attack with quarterback Mike Hohensee. The Gophers lost 14-0 and 21-7 at half-time. Hohensee started throwing and never stopped.

Jon Roe, writing in the Sunday Tribune, describes it as follows:

"Hohensee has 67 assists. He made 37 of those shots. For 444 yards and five touchdowns. And the last throw, although it may not have been his best throw, was certainly the sweetest. "

It was a touchdown pass with 2:38 to put to put the Gophers on the front, and that happened when Ohio State back defender, Kevin Bell, took it escaped the hands and Jay Carroll. The tight end of the Gophers corrected the ball for his third touchdown long afternoon.

The Gophers joined the Metrodome in 1982. They started 3-0, ranked 19th in the country, and 63,000 people showed up for the fourth game of the season against Illinois, with quarterback Tony Eason and half-tight Tim Brewster.

The Gophers lost that game and, in total, 18 of Salem's last 19 games as a coach, which means that the assist for Carroll was pretty much the last stop of Smokey Joe's five seasons with his alma mater .

OCT. 14, 2000: Gophers 29, OSU 17, Columbus.

Ohio State was ranked 6th in the country and Glen Mason's fourth-seeded Gophers were an 11 and a half point outsider. Quarterback Travis Cole, running back Tellis Redmon and receiver Ron Johnson led a 381-yard offense against Canada's number-one defense.

He must be ranked as the No. 1 win of Mason's decade in Minnesota, considering it was in the stadium where he played and where he was an assistant coach for eight years. It was the first Gophers victory in Columbus since 1949.

Also: The third win of all time in Columbus and remains the last.

However, before despairing and having derogatory thoughts about the Buckeyes, remember this:

If the Ohio State Senate had not voted (for academic reasons) not to allow the Woody Hayes Buckeyes to go to the Rose Bowl after the 1961 season, the Gophers would not have been invited to Pasadena for a second year in a row. and our boys would not have had the chance to defeat UCLA 21-3 on January 1, 1962, and Minnesota would still be waiting to win a Rose Bowl.

Thank you, pompous senators from the OSU faculty for three generations.