Vince and Ramona Settergren of Edina attended the Gophers’ upset of No. 11 Southern California last Saturday. After Koi Perich’s interception sealed the victory, fans poured from the seats down to the field at Huntington Bank Stadium to celebrate.
“We were there,” Vince said, “but we did not go out on the field. The drop to the field from our seats is about 6 or 7 feet.”
Their decision is understandable. Vince is 89, Ramona 87, and they didn’t want to jeopardize an important trip they’re taking: The Settergrens are going to Pasadena, Calif., to see the Gophers play UCLA on Saturday night in Rose Bowl Stadium.
They’re not the only ones.
Mike Wierzbicki, Gophers senior associate athletic director for external affairs, estimates that 12,000 to 15,000 Minnesota fans will attend the game. “Our feeling is that this will be the largest-attended road regular-season game during Coach [P.J.] Fleck’s tenure as head coach and Mark Coyle’s time as AD,” Wierzbicki said.
The game will be Minnesota’s first at the storied venue since Jan. 1, 1962, when the Gophers beat UCLA 21-3 in the second of back-to-back appearances in the Rose Bowl game. The year before, they lost 17-7 to Washington but already had been crowned national champions.
“This game is not the Rose Bowl,” Vince said of Saturday’s matchup of Big Ten newcomer UCLA and Minnesota, “but it’s in the Rose Bowl, so it’s kind of the same.”

For the Settergrens and many other Minnesotans, the Gophers playing in Pasadena is a chance to scratch an itch that’s nearly 63 years old. Vince, who’s had Gophers season tickets for 69 years, had tickets to both of Minnesota’s Rose Bowl appearances, following the 1960 and ‘61 seasons, but couldn’t make it to California either time because he was leading excursions to Canada for a Minneapolis ski shop he owned.