Gophers Gear Up For Fall Camp With Higher Goals, Expectations
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The University of Minnesota football team is back with the same type of optimism as the Vikings.
The Gophers officially open fall camp on Friday, with the team's season opener against No. 2-ranked TCU looming on Sept. 3 under the lights at TCF Bank Stadium. Coach Jerry Kill is entering his fifth season with the Gophers and held his first news conference of the season on Tuesday.
WCCO's Mike Max was there.
The Gophers wanted a ninth win to cap off last season. It did not happen, and they finished with their second straight 8-5 season. The feeling was the mission was incomplete. The correction: Work harder in the offseason.
It is through losses this team understands how close it is, like Wisconsin for the right to play in the Big Ten Championship game.
"I think it did a lot and I think they're getting tired of it. Everybody in our state is getting tired of it," Kill said. "The No. 1 question I get in this state when I go out and talk is we've got three trophies but where is the axe?"
What the Gophers also know about the upcoming season is this: It won't take long to figure out where they stand. That's what happens when you play the No. 2 teams in the country in your opening game.
They got a lesson last season from TCU in Fort Worth. In a month, a measuring stick.
"We played them last year and didn't play them very good. At the same time, that might have been a wakeup call that we better get going. Our schedule is very difficult and everybody knows that," Kill said.
You see this program has come far enough that you can talk openly about disappointment because they know close they are to taking another step.
"Expectations of the program and everything like that, to me we've gotten better every year and everybody goes what do you want to do this year? We want to be better," Kill said.
