There's no such thing as bad publicity. Or so the story goes. Well, Minnesota is definitely in the news. If not for James Madison knocking off Virginia Tech, Minnesota's game versus South Dakota could've been a headline story. Let's review all the commotion:
Our rival SBN blog south of the Minnesota border, from where I'm sure a more hilarious and witty article on Gopher football will soon emerge, writes the following:
While we cherish the schandefreude of Minnesota losing to South Dakota, we cannot help but be pained at the knowledge that this may be the proverbial last straw for the Tim Brewster Era; WIN FIGHT TRY is making its seemingly inevitable transition into LOSE FAIL FIRED. If our rodent-loving friends had any faith left in Our Man Brew before the season began, it's officially evaporated -- they're just counting the days and pining over replacements now.
Penn State blog Linebacker U chimes in, too:
Unless of course, you're Minnesota, you have a joke of a head coach in Tim Brewster, and an even bigger joke of a defense that allows South Dakota State's QB Dante Warren to look like Terrelle Pryor against you (352 yards passing for 3 TD's, 81 yards rushing for 2 TD's). This past Saturday, an ESPN announcer doing one of the noon games mentioned how Brewster was a "hot commodity a couple of years ago." As Ross over at BHGP tweeted to me: "Those used cars aren't going to sell themselves."
A site dedicated to monitoring coaches on the hot seat ranks Tim Brewster at #2:
One would think that a coach in his fourth year at a Big Ten school would have his team up and ready to play each and every game, but especially at home against a team like I-AA South Dakota, but Tim Brewster did not have his team ready to play and USD put up 41 POINTS ON A BIG TEN TEAM in THEIR HOME STADIUM! In the real world Tim Brewster would have been fired before he got to locker room after the game, but there are all kinds of excuses that can be made for flat-out not coaching your team and having them prepared to play the game of football...
Some writer going by JDMill writes at Off Tackle Empire:
Joel Maturi is looking like a damn genius right now for keeping the buyout on Brewster's contract surprisingly low.
Another commentary author writes:
Minnesota, 1-11, 0-8. I really, and I mean really struggled to put this in writing, but the Gophers, yikes, used to schedule pre-Big Ten season cupcakes under two ideas:
1. They needed more wins to make postseason play (which was true), and
2. That the cupcakes wouldn't beat them.
Scheduling USC? That was just a terrible idea.
But you know what isn't a terrible idea?...Tim Brewster leaving his time at Minnesota off his resume.
Pre-Snap Read writes:
Please, Minnesota. Please rid all of us - rid yourselves - of Tim Brewster. Three years ago, I wrote that Brewster couldn't "coach his way out of a cardboard box," though he could recruit with the best of them. I changed my tune a bit after the 2008 season, when the Gophers started strong, but have reverted to my earlier train of thought after his team lost at home to South Dakota - giving up 41 points in the process. Perhaps, in hindsight, it wasn't such a grand idea to bring in Kevin Cosgrove to help run the defense. Yesterday's loss will end up being Brewster's downfall; barring a miraculous turnaround, it will be the beginning of the end. At least he's consistent: in his first year, Brewster lost to North Dakota State; in what should be his last, he lost to South Dakota.
Ohio State blog Eleven Warriors won't be left out:
As if he wasn't fired enough already, Tim Brewster managed to lose at home to an FCS squad for the 2nd (!) time in his career. South Dakota QB Dante Warren fired away for 352 yards and 3 touchdowns in leading the Coyotes over the Golden Gophers, who surrendered 444 yards of offense to a team that, again, they probably should have beaten by five or six touchdowns. It's going to be a long, long year in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Feel free to leave some guesses into the comment section as to whom the next coach of the Gophers will be. I imagine USC's film room sessions this week will be a laugh riot for Trojan players, as they take on the Gophers next week in Minneapolis.
Border Battle Blog comments:
For a program that has had many lows, today might have been the lowest of all. Beaten by South Dakota???!!!??? My goodness. As a former student at the University of Minnesota, this football program embarrasses me. It almost makes me wish I'd have stayed in Wisconsin and went to UW.
A columnist for a Fargo magazine compares the game to the show "Dirty Jobs":
Folks, with all the heat Brewster is going to experience this week, that job is worse than being a roadkill remover. It's worse than being a worm-poop rancher. (Although, I don't know who slings more dung - those worms or Brewster).