Patrick Reusse: Save the dedication for after a meaningful victory, coach

The Gophers opened the 2001 season with a 38-7 loss at Toledo. That Toledo team would finish 10-2, including a victory over Marshall — the Mid-American Conference's perennial powerhouse — in the league championship game.

Glen Mason's Gophers would follow that thumping with 17 consecutive nonconference victories in the regular season.

The reward offered to Mason for this winning streak by the public and the media was zero. In fact, a cabal of local sports columnists made an agreement to attend one of these nonconference games annually and use the allotted space to ridicule Mason's schedule.

Mason's lowest September moment came in 2000. The Gophers were coming off an 8-4 season and carried sizable expectations. They lost 23-17 to Ohio's option offense inside the Dome.

The review in the next day's Star Tribune started thusly: "The Gophers, the defending Wells Fargo Sun Bowl runners-up, made history Saturday afternoon at the Metrodome. They accomplished a feat the Gophers of Smokey Joe Salem, the Gophers of John Gutekunst, even the Gophers of Jim Wacker, were never able to accomplish."

The accomplishment was Minnesota's first loss against a Mid-American opponent. The Gophers were 16-0-1 all-time against MAC teams before that Ohio upset.

Mason's 17-game winning streak came to an end last September when the Gophers stepped way up in nonconference class and lost 42-17 at California.

Mason's nonconference record in 10 regular seasons was 28-5, including 7-2 against the MAC. When he defeated a MAC opponent, we yawned, and when he lost, we guffawed.

He was fired because Texas Tech's Alex Trlica kicked a 52-yard field goal to send the Insight Bowl into overtime last Dec. 29 in Phoenix. On Jan. 17, Tim Brewster was hired to replace Mason.

He inherited a schedule that started with two MAC opponents, Bowling Green and Miami (Ohio). He also inherited an all-time Gophers record of 21-2-1 against the MAC.

On Saturday, Brewster evened his record at 1-1 against the MAC when the Gophers defeated Miami 41-35 in three overtimes. To do this, Brewster received a large boost when it was deemed that receiver Armand Robinson was not in possession of a winning touchdown pass with 16 seconds remaining in regulation.

The Big Ten replay official spent several minutes wrestling with his conscience, and finally decided to remain loyal to the conference, uphold the on-field verdict and give the Gophers a chance in overtime.

Finally, after 4½ hours, the Gophers won on Amir Pinnix's 2-yard run. This set off a celebration that was remindful of the Gophers' zaniness in State College, Pa., on Nov. 6, 1999, after they defeated No. 2-rated Penn State 24-23.

The wallpaper in the lobby of the Gophers football office was a photo of that victory scene for the next several years. Then Mason was fired, and his smile and those of his hooting, hollering players were quickly expunged from the wall.

Brewster promised many grand victories to replace that one.

Who could have guessed that, in his view, the first monumental victory would come in triple overtime against a MAC opponent?

Asked his feeling as he left the field, Brewster said: "It was awful good. The Minnesota Golden Gophers are so special to me. It's an honor for me to be the head football coach, because it's such a tremendous responsibility to the state of Minnesota and to Minnesotans.

"This win today is for the state of Minnesota. This is for the Gophers fans. This is for the high school coaches in the state of Minnesota, because everyone knows how important that is to me."

That's it? After Brewster's nine months of blowing hard, what the citizens and the diligent football coaches of this great state have dedicated to them is a triple-overtime, official-assisted victory over a MAC team?

Mr. Brewster, in the name of all Minnesotans blessed with reason, and particularly for all the high school coaches who work endless hours for short money, I reject this dedication.

We've endured Gopher Nation, Rose Bowl, blah, blah, blah, and we certainly deserve more than our state university's 22nd victory in 26 all-time games against the MAC.

Listen, coach, if you're going to dedicate a victory to me, it has to be at least a Big Ten victory, and not against Northwestern or Indiana.

Patrick Reusse can be heard weekdays on AM-1500 KSTP at 6:45 and 7:45 a.m. and 4:40 p.m. preusse@startribune.com