1973 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team

The 1973 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represented the University of Minnesota in the 1973 Big Ten Conference football season. In their second year under head coach Cal Stoll, the Golden Gophers compiled a 7–4 record but were outscored by their opponents by a combined total of 295 to 260.^[1]

1973 Minnesota Golden Gophers football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	7–4 (6–2 Big Ten)
Head coach	Cal Stoll (2nd season)
MVP	Steve Neils, Matt Herkenhoff
Captain	Mike Steidl
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium
Seasons ← 1972 1974 →

1973 Big Ten Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 2 Ohio State +	7	–	0	–	1			10	–	0	–	1
No. 6 Michigan +	7	–	0	–	1			10	–	0	–	1
Minnesota	6	–	2	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Illinois	4	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Michigan State	4	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Purdue	4	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Northwestern	4	–	4	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Wisconsin	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Indiana	0	–	8	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
Iowa	0	–	8	–	0			0	–	11	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

End Steve Neils and offensive tackle Matt Herkenhoff shared the team's Most Valuable Player award. Neils and end Keith Fahnhorst were named All-Big Ten first team. Offensive guard Darrel Bunge and wide receiver Rick Upchurch were named All-Big Ten second team. Defensive lineman Jeff Gunderson was named Academic All-Big Ten.^[2]

Total attendance for the season was 245,706, which averaged to 40,951. The season high for attendance was against Nebraska.^[3]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance
September 15	at No. 3 Ohio State	Ohio Stadium Columbus, Ohio	L 7–56	86,005
September 22	North Dakota*	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis	W 41–14	35,477
September 29	at Kansas*	Memorial Stadium Lawrence, Kansas	L 19–34	30,205
October 6	No. 2 Nebraska*	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis (rivalry)	L 7–48	56,782
October 13	Indiana	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis	W 24–3	37,710
October 20	at Iowa	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, Iowa (rivalry)	W 31–23	55,137
October 27	No. 4 Michigan	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis (Little Brown Jug)	L 7–34	44,435
November 3	at Northwestern	Dyche Stadium Evanston, Illinois	W 52–43	30,081
November 10	Purdue	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis	W 34–7	36,890
November 17	at Illinois	Memorial Stadium Champaign, Illinois	W 19–16	34,438
November 24	Wisconsin	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis (rivalry)	W 19–17	34,412
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Personnel

1973 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class OL Darrel Bunge OL Dan Christensen QB Tony Dungy TE Keith Fahnhorst QB Gil Fash WR Vince Fuller OL Dale Hegland WR Dale Henricksen OT 72 Matt Herkenhoff Sr RB Buddy Holmes RB John Jones WR Mike Jones RB John King QB John Lawing RB Larry Powell OL Jeff Selleck OL Greg Shoff OT 71 Dave Simonson Sr RB 40 Rick Upchurch Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB Ollie Bakken DB 22 Doug Beaudoin So DB Greg Engebos DB Orville Gilmore LB Paul Glanton DL Jeff Gunderson DE 97 Steve Neils Sr DB Todd Randall DL Keith Simons LB Mike Steldl	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K Steve Goldberg	Head coach Cal Stoll Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: 2018-03-11

Season summary

At Ohio State

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Minnesota	0	7	0	0	7
Ohio State	14	21	7	14	56

Game information

First quarter OSU – Champ Henson 2-yard run (Blair Conway kick), 10:24. Ohio State 7–0. Drive: OSU – Cornelius Greene 4-yard run (Blair Conway kick), 8:44. Ohio State 14–0. Drive: Second quarter MINN – John King 1-yard run (Steve Goldberg kick), 12:59. Ohio State 14–7. Drive: OSU – Archie Griffin 93-yard kickoff return (Blair Conway kick), 12:45. Ohio State 21–7. OSU – Champ Henson 2-yard run (Blair Conway kick), 0:51. Ohio State 28–7. Drive: OSU – Brian Baschnagel 5-yard run (Blair Conway kick), 0:00. Ohio State 35–7. Drive: Third quarter OSU – Neal Colzie 78-yard punt return (Blair Conway kick), 5:36. Ohio State 42–7. Fourth quarter OSU – Champ Henson 1-yard run (Blair Conway kick), 10:39. Ohio State 49–7. Drive: OSU – Billy Ezzo 55-yard pass from Greg Hare (Blair Conway kick), 1:51. Ohio State 56–7. Drive: Top passers MINN – John Lawing – 5/9, 31 yards, INT OSU – Greg Hare – 2/2, 64 yards, TD Top rushers MINN – John King – 17 rushes, 51 yards, TD OSU – Archie Griffin – 15 rushes, 129 yards Top receivers MINN – Keith Fahnhorst – 3 receptions, 23 yards OSU – Billy Ezzo – 1 reception, 55 yards, TD

Minnesota Golden Gophers (0–0) at #3 Ohio State Buckeyes (0–0)

at Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

• Date: September 15
• Game weather: 74 °F (23 °C)
• Game attendance: 86,005
• Box Score

North Dakota

At Kansas

Nebraska

Indiana

At Iowa

1 2 3 4 Total • Minnesota 6 16 2 7 31 Iowa 14 3 6 0 23 Date: October 20 Location: Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, Iowa Game attendance: 55,137

Scoring summary 1 IOWA Jensen 3-yard run (Kokolus kick) Iowa 7–0 1 MINN Powell 46-yard run (kick failed) Iowa 7–6 1 IOWA Jensen 54-yard run (Kokolus kick) Iowa 14–6 2 MINN Lawing 1-yard run (Henrickson pass from Lawing) Tie 14–14 2 IOWA Kokolus 22-yard field goal Iowa 17–14 2 MINN Upchurch 3-yard run (Sims pass from Dungy) Minnesota 22–17 3 IOWA Fetter 10-yard pass from Ousley (pass failed) Iowa 23–22 3 MINN Safety Minnesota 24–23 4 MINN Dungy 10-yard run (Goldberg kick) Minnesota 31–23

Michigan

At Northwestern

1 2 3 4 Total • Minnesota 7 14 21 10 52 Northwestern 7 7 14 15 43 Date: November 3 Location: Dyche Stadium • Evanston, Illinois

Scoring summary 1 NW Craig 18-yard pass from Anderson (Blazevich kick) Northwestern 7-0 1 MINN J. Jones 4-yard run (Goldberg kick) Tie 7-7 2 NW Craig 19-yard pass from Anderson (Blazevich kick) Northwestern 14-7 2 MINN Upchurch 5-yard run (Goldberg kick) Tie 14-14 2 MINN Upchurch 5-yard run (Goldberg kick) Minnesota 21-14 3 NW Stevens 21-yard pass from Anderson (Blazevich kick) Tie 21-21 3 MINN M. Jones 40-yard pass from Lawing (Goldberg kick) Minnesota 28-21 3 MINN M. Jones 48-yard pass from Lawing (Goldberg kick) Minnesota 35-21 3 MINN Lawing 5-yard run (Goldberg kick) Minnesota 42-21 3 NW Key 12-yard run (Blazevich kick) Minnesota 42-28 4 MINN Goldberg 35-yard field goal Minnesota 45-28 4 NW Harris 13-yard pass from Anderson (Blazevich kick) Minnesota 45-35 4 MINN M. Jones 48-yard pass from Lawing (Goldberg kick) Minnesota 52-35 4 NW Frederickson 20-yard pass from Anderson (Harris pass from Anderson) Minnesota 52-43

^[4]

Purdue

1 2 3 4 Total Purdue 0 0 7 0 7 • Minnesota 17 10 0 7 34 Date: November 10 Location: Memorial Stadium, Minneapolis Game attendance: 36,890

Scoring summary 1 MINN John Lawing 1-yard run (Steve Goldberg kick) MINN 7-0 1 MINN Goldberg 32-yard field goal MINN 10-0 1 MINN Rick Upchurch 21-yard run (Steve Goldberg kick) MINN 17-0 2 MINN John Lawing 1-yard run (Steve Goldberg kick) MINN 24-0 2 MINN Steve Goldberg 43-yard field goal MINN 27-0 3 PUR Bobrowski 1-yard run (Conner kick) MINN 27-7 4 MINN Holmes 1-yard run (Steve Goldberg kick) MINN 34-7

^[5]

At Illinois

Wisconsin

References

1. "1973 Minnesota Golden Gophers Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
2. Keiser, Jeff (2007), 2007 Media Guide (PDF), pp. 179–182^{[permanent dead link]}
3. Keiser, Jeff (2007), 2007 Media Guide (PDF), p. 160^{[permanent dead link]}
4. Palm Beach Post. 1973 Nov 4.
5. "Gophers Shock Purdue." Palm Beach Post. 1973 Nov 11.