Media to erect Bowling Green statue commemorating Gophers’ loss

Members of the Twin Cities sports media and more than a few national sportswriters unveiled plans Thursday morning to build a statue commemorating the Minnesota Golden Gophers’ 14-10 loss to the Bowling Green Falcons earlier this season.

The announcement follows the release of the first College Football Playoff committee rankings of the season, which ranked the Gophers at No. 20, and the news that the University of Minnesota has agreed to a new seven-year contract with head football P.J. Fleck.

“What we are witnessing now is an attempt to rewrite history,” said Chad Todd, a Minnesota Vikings beat writer for The Galaxy Gazette. “Six weeks ago, the Bowling Green Falcons came into Huntington Bank Stadium as 30-point underdogs and delivered the upset of the century. We were told that their heroics that day would reverberate throughout the annals of history, but in the span of only six weeks, most people seem to want to forget. But not us.”

Since that fateful Saturday in September, Bowling Green has lost four of their last five games, dropping their season record to 3-6. Minnesota has won four straight, all against Big Ten competition, and sits atop the Big Ten West division standings.

But Todd believes that one game defines a season.

“You can’t just lose to a team like Bowling Green and then move on with your life. There have to be consequences, and that’s why we’re building this statue.”

No details have been released regarding what the statue will look like nor where it will be erected, though Todd has said he would like to see it built near U.S. Bank Stadium so that he doesn’t have to go out of his way to see it. He stresses not to take the lack of concrete plans as a sign they haven’t put a lot of thought into this.

“To be honest, I haven’t even watched the Gophers since the Bowling Green game,” Todd confessed. “That’s how much it affected me. I saw everything I needed to see in that game.”