When the Gophers go to the Ohio Stadium on Saturday, they will face the Buckeyes, ranked third in the world, reigning Big Ten champions with strong aspirations for college football playoffs.

The Gophers? Well, they gave up 90 points in the Big Ten losing streak and went into the game as underdogs with 29½ points. Quite simply, a win in Minnesota would be a setback of the season in college football.

"We can be caught in the big stadium and all the fans and so on … It's just that they are the No. 3 team of the country at the present time", has said Gophers linebacker Blake Cashman. "But you just have to forget that and understand that it's a football team, just like us, they sweat like us, they bleed like us, they spend two days a day like us."

It is with this approach that Cashman has related minds in the 2000 and 1981 Gophers teams, which were the only ones to beat Ohio State in the last 40 games. What some of the personalities of these teams remember is the conviction that turns to trust and then to victory.

"We took the time to win," said Mike Hohensee, the quarterback who helped the Gophers win 35-31 at Memorial Stadium in 1981, passing 444 yards and five touchdowns. "We did not just go there and did a lot of work. We tried with a goal. "

Glen Mason coached the 2000 Gophers to a 29-17 victory at Ohio State. "Every day, if you have a group of players who play better together, you can beat anyone, even if they have more talent," he said. "It was a classic example."

The state of Ohio leads the all-time series with 44 wins to seven, with only two of those victories won by the Gophers over the last fifty years. But these are two memorable ones:

November 7, 1981, Minneapolis: Gophers 35, No. 18 Ohio State 31

The 1981 Gophers, coached by Joe Salem, were by no means also runners. They entered match 5-3 and had just upset No. 6 Iowa 12-10 two weeks earlier. Staying against the Buckeyes 6-2 – led by quarterback Art Schlichter – was disheartening.

Hohensee, however, saw something in Buckeyes' defense watch that piqued his interest.

"To win this kind of match, you have to believe that you can win this kind of match," Hohensee said. "I do not know if this really happened before the middle of the week when we started watching a movie – especially the players who are watching a movie together and have noticed some trends from the other side. a certain player. " This player – whom Hohensee has not identified to date – would indicate his intentions by his attitude or by crawling to the line of scrimmage and then backing up.

"I remember talking to [wide receiver] Chester Cooper at our meeting. I said, "Coop, I think we got it," Hohensee said. "He just got that big smile from Chester Cooper."

Have they ever had this defender Buckeyes? Hohensee completed 37 of his 67 passes and 12 of the 182 completed yards went to Cooper. The two numbers received were school records at the time, as were Hohensee's 444 passing yards.

Cooper was not the only one to put up passes. Former sophomore striker Jay Carroll, who made his second start, caught three TD passes, including the winning goal with time remaining at 2:38.

Carroll remembers the ease with which he opened up in defense of the Buckeyes, who often covered him with a linebacker.

"I kept coming back to Hohensee and saying," They do not cover me "- what each receiver says to the quarterback after each route," said Carroll. "… Hohensee told me," Yes, I've got it. "Shortly after, he hit me on a wheel-stand going up the sideline for my first touchdown of the game."

Carroll hardly remembers TD because he slipped on concrete adjacent to the end zone and hit the brick wall at Memorial Stadium. "It almost knocked me out," he says.

Ohio State had a 31-21 lead in the middle of the fourth quarter. Hohensee's 18-yard pass to Carroll with a time of 6:56 was reduced to 31-28, and they made contact for the winner when Carroll caught a 28-yard pass tipped by defenseman Buckeyes, Kevin Bell .

"I immediately knew what had happened," Carroll said. "My God, we defeated the Ohio State."

He celebrated by making a sign of the cross with football. "It was really just me who was exuding my gratitude and appreciation that this miracle had happened," said Carroll.

Hohensee, a native of California, was touched by what the first win over the Ohio State since 1966 meant for his Minnesota teammates.

"To see the joy in the locker room and see the tears in your eyes …", said the longtime coach of the Arena Football League, who is now working in sales in the Chicago area. "You understood the importance of this game and the importance of this victory."

October 14, 2000, Columbus: Gophers 29, No. 6 Ohio State 17

After 1981, the Gophers lost 16 points directly against the Buckeyes, but in 2000, Mason – a former player and coach of the state of Ohio – brought his team to the Horseshoe.

"It was mid-October in Columbus and it was an absolutely beautiful day," recalls Mason. "… As a general rule, when I go back there, before the match, there will be people in the stands screaming at me. Some were, "Hi!" And of others, "We are going to kick you buttocks," laughing. "

It turns out that it is the Gophers who are kicking. Behind eight catches for 163 yards and a touchdown by wide receiver Ron Johnson, the Gophers controlled the game. Travis Cole had 243 yards and two touchdowns, and Tellis Redmon had 118 yards and a score. The Gophers took a 10-0 lead and never let the Buckeyes take advantage.

"When we got up at 10-0, we were not worried that they were the country's No. 6 team," said Johnson, who fought the Buckeyes cornerback, Nate Clements. , a future choice of the first round that played 12 years in the club. NFL.

The morning of the game, Mason gave his team some tips on how to handle the crowd.

"I said, Fellas, you're going to the Ohio stadium. There will be 108,000 people. You will not believe the strength. But let me give you a small tip. Here's how it works: if it becomes silent, you'll do well. If you hear boos, you're doing really well.

"So, towards the end of the game, one of the players came to see me and said," Coach, we are doing well. "I said," What do you mean? He said, "They are going away. & # 39; "

Johnson had a similar story, with the Gophers heading for their final touchdown.

"At one point on one of my deep balls, my mother was interviewed by [ESPN’s] Holly Rowe, he says. "It was so quiet that when I caught the ball, I could hear my mother screaming.

"We removed them from the game – not just physically, but mentally. They could not believe that they were losing to Minnesota. "

It was the first Gophers victory in Columbus since 1949, and Mason recalled the reaction of longtime broadcaster Ray Christensen.

"He came to see me after the match and he was crying literally," said Mason. "… Ray said:" I never thought I'd see the light of day. "