Minnesota (Big 10) 2015

College:  The University of Minnesota

Year:   2015

Game: TCU 23 Minnesota 17

Rating: 7
Cost Index:  Low
Tickets:  Moderate

Stadium:  TCF Bank Stadium

Let's start this one with the city, or more accurately, the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.  I've always liked this area, I think I've been there three times over the past six years. The people are very nice without being overbearing.  The city itself is clean and there is plenty to do.  More importantly there is depth to the place.  I can't put my finger on it, I'm not sure if it's the Nordic influence or the cold weather culture, but it's there.  One other observation:  If Chicago is the western most east coast style city I would classify Minneapolis as the eastern most west coast city.  It reminds me of Seattle.

TCF Bank Stadium is a perfect stadium in what is the most perfect campus I've been on.  The only bad thing I can say is that maybe it's too perfect?  The buildings all match one another, almost like they were all built at the same time.  The atmosphere in the stadium was pretty good but I would stop short of calling it electric. This is typical at a school where football is important but it's not the most important sport.  Minnesota is a hockey school, that's their number one sport and they do it well.  I've been to a hockey game there, in scale it's closer to an NHL game compared to typical college hockey. The tail gate reflected this, it was decent but it was not at the caliber of what you would see down south.

The game itself was sloppy, you would not look at TCU after that game and expect a playoff team....but you can't read too much into the first week.  I do think Minnesota has a good defense and that had a lot to do with how TCU played.  Minnesota did not get any help from the refs, but they also shot themselves in the foot, particularly with a goal line fumble in the first half.  The Gophers were dominated by TCU's Terrel Lathan, evidently their starting LT is hurt.  With a little luck Minnesota could have stolen this game.

One note:  Minnesota's chief rival is Wisconsin, who has the best student section in the country (at least the best I've seen).  Minnesota's student section is good....and they have a great concept in "Do the Gopher" but they need to refine that and commit to it a little more.  

There is a chant that I could not make sense of:

http://tourtheten.com/minnesota/traditions/game-day-traditions/ski-u-mah-chant/#.Ve48zigVhBc

If you want to make it part of a larger trip:  The Boundary Waters, Minnesota State Fair

Don't Miss:  The University of Minnesota campus
Avoid:  The area around the stadium is ok but it's not typical of a college football party scene

Attendees:  Bones, #YankeesSuck, The President

Game Recap: http://espn.go.com/college-football/recap?gameId=400763398\