'Tim told Ron he was going to regret hiring Zook for a long time.'

Gophers vs. Illini...

Minnesota (5-3) at #24th-ranked Illinois (6-2)

Saturday 11AM central kickoff

TV: FS1

Notes: Gophers started out last Sunday as 3-point underdogs by mid-week some shops had Minnesota 3-point favorites.....Know Illini wide receiver Patrick Bryant in concussion protocol after the Oregon game...with a line going up and down like that....other Illini hurt?.....don't trust any Bret Bielema injury updates....Dad's day Saturday in Champaign.

Minnesota on a three-game win streak should be four cause they out-played Michigan didn't get a chance to win that contest bad call on an on-side kick....Coming of a  48-23 home win over Mike Locksley's Terps....lets just say the Maryland effort level was questionable at best.......P.J. Fleck 8th year as Gophers head coach...former Kaneland (Ill.) High School/Northern Illinois wide receiver....2001 he had almost all the receiving yards in a 17-12 Illini win over the Huskies always remember that game cause....few days later 9/11 happened....football took a week off....remember it cause then head coach Ron Turner wanted to play that week....didn't understand why not and told the Champaign News-Gazette that....when informed of what the head coach had reportedly said, Illinois football SID office/athletic director Ron Guenther both called the newspaper to make sure they knew Turner 'thought' the comment was off the record/quote never saw the light of day....coaches all about the next game....Tim Brando and Devin Gardner have the call for FS1....yeah mute TV synch up the radio call with the game.

*Gophers at a glance...

-Offensively....Gophers run a lot of 11 personnel (one back/one tight end)....down the field passing game and will throw to the tight ends in the seam......Minnesota has a hot quarterback in New Hampshire transfer Max Brosner (#16) making all the throws...last two games in a groove sitting back in the rockin' chair throwing down the field....looks like 7-on-7....Gophers usual power run game hasn't been good this season....speed back is Marcus Major (#24) power back 215-pound Darius Taylor (#1) if Gophers able to run on the Illini’s ‘D’ going to be a long day....senior Daniel Jackson (#9) Brosner's go-to pass catcher...6-foot-6, 330-pound senior left tackle Aireontae Ersery (#69) future NFL first round pick....rest of the o-line has been questionable at best.

After several late game defensive breakdowns in 2023.....Fleck hired Corey Heatherman as new defensive coordinator off his buddy Greg Schiano's Rutgers staff when Joe Rossi left Minneapolis to take the Michigan State DC job....even during a three-game win streak Gophers 'D' has had trouble getting off the field on 3rd down....play a lot of zone coverage/bend don't break/make offense's sustain long drives without making mistakes...want to funnel run game inside so senior linebacker Cody Lindenberg(#45) can make tackles...true freshman free safety Koi Percich (#3) outstanding centerfield/has five interceptions/dangerous return man....special teams have struggled coached by former Illini assistant Bob Ligashesky. 

*Prediction-Don't like this one at all....Gophers hot streak/improving every week...coming off a relatively easy win over the Terps....Illinois coming off three physical games....Fleck wanting to avenge last year's 27-26 Illini miracle win....Gophers head coach always has a hard on wanting to beat Illinois especially for recruiting purposes...supposedly tells state of Illinois recruits, 'it’s our home away from home’ when it comes to the Land of Lincoln....Minnesota has a hot QB with the Illini needing a break advantage Gophers.

*'Tim told Ron he was going to regret hiring Zook for a long time'…

-Minnesota vs. Illinois in football so many memories....little if any success beating them in that fuckin' Metrodome....Glen Mason's team cut-blocking injuring Illinois defensive players it seemed yearly....this story...about former Illini tight end/one-time Gophers head coach Tim Brewster....when Turner’s team struggled 2003....Brewster then an NFL assistant behind the scenes started gathering support from former teammates/'influential' townies hoping to be the next head coach at his alma mater.

November 2004 Guenther fired Turner....he had Ron Zook on the line to hire …Brewster didn't know that/felt his 'support' would be able to talk the AD into hiring him....Zook turns down Ole Miss/calls Guenther to take the Illini job....next day athletic director was reportedly to interview Brewster 'just in case' Zook headed to Oxford……when that wasn't necessary...Guenther called Brewster told him he was going in a different direction, 'hiring Ron Zook'....Brewster side from a townie booster close to the former Illini, 'Tim told Ron he was going to regret hiring Zook for a long time' how the situation wasn't handled properly in Brewster's eyes and....AD could 'go screw'  or words to that effect.

Fast forward December 2007....Gophers AD Joel Maturi decides… '(Head coach Glen) Mason was fired Dec. 31, two days after Texas Tech rallied from a 38-7 deficit to complete the biggest comeback in major college bowl history with a 44-41 victory over Minnesota in the Insight Bowl' (Courtesy AP)....AD's four top candidates reportedly were TCU's Gary Patterson, Tech’s Mike Leach, University of Arizona's Mike Stoops and former Gopher QB/long time NFL-college offensive coordinator Marc Trestman....Patterson/Leach/Stoops all turned the job down....Trestman fired after the season with rest of the North Carolina State staff reportedly came off 'too weird' during interview process…..two weeks later Maturi had no head coach...story always was both Mike Shanahan and Mack Brown repeatedly called to recommend their former assistant...panic hire Brewster new Gophers head coach.

Right off the bat….Brewster/his assistants negative recruited against Illinois and Wisconsin (when Bielema was Badgers head coach)....2007 Illini staff and players laughed on the sidelines as Zook's team beat the Gophers 44-17 in the Dome...hell I think even Walter Mendenhall scored a TD that game....Brewster vowed revenge after.

2008 got it....the infamous stay after the game for the men’s basketball practice in Memorial Stadium...Gophers come out chippy/instigating fights with Zook's team...worked Illinois lost poise....Minnesota gets the lead early holding on for a 27-20 win...after Brewster shaking his fists at the Memorial Stadium press box hoping Guenther seems him.

Zook, Bielema became buddies/one thing they bonded over their disdain for Brewster....Zook always told the story of how at a Big Ten coaches meeting then....Brewster and Bielema almost came to blows because Bielema was sick and tired of Brewster running his mouth ‘all the time’ in recruiting/coach meetings...…..telling story Zook laughed, 'I think Bret would have taken him....I would have let him do it'...rest of the coaches got in between the pair before anything happened...good times!