Minnesota will play in its 24th bowl game Tuesday when the Gophers face Bowling Green in the Quick Lane Bowl at Ford Field in Detroit.
Most would agree that the most important of those appearances for the Gophers were the first two, as Minnesota played in back-to-back Rose Bowls at the end of the 1960 and 1961 seasons.
This newsletter focuses on those two games.
1961: Washington 17, Minnesota 7
Expectations weren’t very high for the Gophers in 1960 after three straight losing seasons including a 2-7 record in 1959 that included a 1-6 mark in the Big 10.
Minnesota opened the season with a 26-14 nonconference win at No. 12 Nebraska. Then came a pair of shutout wins, beating Indiana 42-0 and Northwestern 7-0. After a 21-10 home win over Illinois, the Gophers then blanked Michigan 10–0 in Ann Arbor to win the Little Brown Jug.
A 48-6 nonconference home romp over Kansas State put Minnesota at No. 3 in the country.
Up next was No. 1 Iowa at home, with the Gophers winning 27-10 in the Floyd of Rosedale to vault into the top spot.
But, Minnesota fell flat in a 23-14 home loss to unranked Purdue the next week.
The Gophers rolled to a 26-7 win at Wisconsin in the regular-season finale to regain the number one ranking.
No. 6 Washington upset the top-ranked Gophers 17-7 in the Rose Bowl, but the postseason loss did not affect Minnesota’s national championship. At the time, the final Associated Press and Coaches' Polls were released at the conclusion of the regular season in late November and did not consider the bowl results.
The AP changed that policy in 1965 and the Coaches Poll followed in 1974.
Halftime hoax
The TV audience, estimated at 30 million viewers, saw what has been described as the "greatest collegiate prank of all time" by the Los Angeles Times.
At halftime, Washington’s cheerleaders took the field to lead the spectators in the stands in a card stunt. It was a routine involving flip-cards depicting various images for the audience to raise.
However, a number of students from the California Institute of Technology managed to alter the card stunt shown during the halftime break, by making the Washington fans inadvertently spell out CALTECH.
1962: Minnesota 21, UCLA 3
Minnesota got the opportunity to play in a second straight Rose Bowl because Ohio State turned down the chance.
The Buckeyes played six conference games and won them all. They were 8-0-1 overall, having played to a 7-7 tie with TCU in their season opener.
The Gophers played seven games, losing 23-21 at home to Wisconsin on the final week of the regular season to finish 6-1 in league play. Minnesota was 8-2 overall, losing 6-0 to Missouri in its opener.
Big Ten rules said the faculty had control over the bid and Ohio State’s faculty council voted 28-25 to reject the bid.
A 1950s recruiting scandal was still fresh. Faculty were engaged to deal with the fallout and there were faculty members who didn’t like Ohio State having the perception of being a “football school.”
That’s when the students took to the streets. One day, there was a march of 2,000.
As described in Sports Illustrated: “They burned members of the faculty in effigy, snake-danced down the main street, surrounded the capitol building, broke windows, besieged and insulted their professors and generally raised the most hell that has been raised in Columbus since V-J day.”
Football co-captain Mike Ingram took a police bullhorn and convinced the marchers to return to their dorms.
Coach Woody Hayes got the news in Cleveland prior to a speaking engagement. He disappeared for more than an hour to digest it.
Hayes returned to address his audience and said, “I don’t agree with those 28 ‘no’ votes, but I respect their integrity, if not their intelligence. We have to accept defeat under pressure and that may help us now.”
Minnesota’s faculty voted 108-33 to go to the Rose Bowl and the Gophers beat UCLA 21-3.
Bowl results
Minnesota is 11-12 all time in bowl games
01-02-1961, Rose Bowl: Washington 17, Minnesota 7
01-01-1962, Rose Bowl: Minnesota 21, UCLA 3
12-22-1977, Hall of Fame Bowl: Maryland 17, Minnesota 7
12-21-1985, Independence Bowl: Minnesota 20, Clemson 13
12-29-1986, Liberty Bowl: Tennessee 21, Minnesota 14
12-31-1999, Sun Bowl: Oregon 24, Minnesota 20
12-28-2000, MicroPC.com Bowl: North Carolina State 38, Minnesota 30
12-30-2002, Music City Bowl: Minnesota 29, Arkansas 14
12-31-2003, Sun Bowl: Minnesota 31, Oregon 30
12-31-2004, Music City Bowl: Minnesota 20, Alabama 16
12-30-2005, Music City Bowl: Virginia 34, Minnesota 31
12-29-2006, Insight Bowl: Texas Tech 44, Minnesota 41
12-31-2008, Insight Bowl: Kansas 42, Minnesota 21
12-31-2000, Insight Bowl: Iowa State 14, Minnesota 13
12-28-2012, Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas: Texas Tech 34, Minnesota 31
12-27-2013, Texas Bowl: Syracuse 21, Minnesota 17
01-01-2015, Citrus Bowl: Missouri 33, Minnesota 17
12-28-2015, Quick Lane Bowl: Minnesota 21, Central Michigan 14
12-27-2016, Holiday Bowl: Minnesota 17, Washington State 12
12-26-2018, Quick Lane Bowl: Minnesota 34, Georgia Tech 10
01-01-2020, Outback Bowl: Minnesota 31, Auburn 31
12-28-2021, Guaranteed Rate Bowl: Minnesota 18, West Virginia 6
12-29-2022, Pinstripe Bowl: Minnesota 28, Syracuse 20
Bowling Green is 5-8 all time in bowl games
12-18-1982, California Bowl: Fresno State 29, Bowling Green 28
12-14-1985, California Bowl: Fresno State 51, Bowling Green 7
12-14-1991, California Bowl: Bowling Green 28, Fresno State 21
12-18-1992, Las Vegas Bowl: Bowling Green 35, Nevada 34
12-16-2003, Motor City Bowl: Bowling Green 28, Northwestern 24
12-28-2004, GMAC Bowl: Bowling Green 52, Memphis 35
01-06-2008, GMAC Bowl: Tulsa 63, Bowling Green 7
12-30-2009, Humanitarian Bowl: Idaho 43, Bowling Green 42
12-27-2012, Military Bowl: San Jose State 29, Bowling Green 20
12-26-2013, Little Caesars Bowl: Pittsburgh 30, Bowling Green 27
12-20-2014, Camelia Bowl: Bowling Green 33, South Alabama 28
12-23-2015, GoDaddy Bowl: Georgia Southern 58, Bowling Green 27
12-26-2022, Quick Lane Bowl: New Mexico State 24, Bowling Green 19
Quick Lane Bowl scores
2014: Rutgers 40, North Carolina 21
2015: Minnesota 21, Central Michigan 14
2016: Boston College 36, Maryland 30
2017: Duke 36, Northern Illinois 14
2018: Minnesota 34, Georgia Tech 10
2019: Pittsburgh 34, Eastern Michigan 30
2020: No game
2021: Western Michigan 52, Nevada 24
2022: New Mexico State 24, Bowling Green 19