Sitting atop the Big Ten West Division standings, the Golden Gophers football team is as confident as its been in recent memory – maybe since the last time the Gophers won a Big Ten title 52 years ago in 1967.
With that, you can now jump on the Gophers bandwagon by filling out this application, which the Gophers cheekily shared with the public on Monday.
There's enough room in the boat for everybody. 🚣‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/QyDF8DqThb
— Minnesota Golden Gophers (@GopherSports) October 28, 2019
The attempt at having a little fun hasn’t been met with enthusiasm by all.
Scott Korzenowski, a sports radio host with KFAN, tweeted: “Not exactly the way I would market the Penn State game. Gophers FB hasn’t seriously contended for a Big Ten title in 52 years. Gophers marketing should not deride those among us who have wisely tuned them out.”
That leads to the debate about Gophers fans filling TCF Bank Stadium, which hasn’t happened often and certainly was the cause for reaction when Minnesota didn’t sell out Saturday’s Big Ten game against Maryland.
The debate accelerated over the weekend after Gophers diehard Nadine Babu tweeted a photo of empty seats in the upper level of TCF Bank Stadium during Minnesota’s 52-10 victory.
She says she snapped the picture early in the third quarter when the Gophers were up by about four touchdowns.
Unpopular opinion: This soon-to-be 8-0 #Gophers team deserves better. pic.twitter.com/HcLgWxzIN0
— Nadine Babu (@NadineBabu) October 26, 2019
The official attendance for the game was 44,715 fans, shy of TCF Bank Stadium’s 50,805 capacity. Still, it was a larger crowd than the Nebraska game (43,502) and much bigger than their home game against Illinois (39,341).
Not elite, but improvement over Nebraska game. pic.twitter.com/uJwCCCUbar
— RocketRob 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀IG: rocketrob_e (@Rocketrob_) October 27, 2019
The only home game with with a larger crowd this season was the opener against South Dakota State (49,112), and that was a border battle featuring one of top teams in the FCS.
Yet, when the Gophers are undefeated and ranked in the top 20 nationally, it’s sellout or bust for some, including former Gophers running back Kobe McCrary, who retweeted Babu’s photo, saying: “I’m telling you! Our fans are horrible.. 8-0 but still talk bad about the team?! This (expletive) crazy.. y’all gotta do better.”
We’ll see if the bandwagon application results in more fans showing up for the battle of undefeated when Minnesota and Penn State, both 8-0, meet on Saturday, Nov. 9.
