Run the North | Golden Gophers football

[toysoldier00]

talk about a title game where you want both sides to lose

[supahotfire]

Nice touch with the past winners. Love the parity we’re seeing with 6 different teams reaching the natty

[redsox907]

Championship winners during this chise
2025 - Miami over Texas Tech
2026 - USC over Ohio State
2027 - Texas over Michigan
2028 - Minnesota over Miami

make it happ'n, cap'n

[djp73]

Arch living up to the hype in this chise

[Soapy]

my fault lol summoned you back to an ass whooping

[ShireNiner]

my fault lol summoned you back to an ass whooping

I do blame you. I wasn’t ready yet.

[Caesar]

I'm not going to lie. I would've forced a Michigan win over letting Arch Manning win a natty.

[ShireNiner]

I'm not going to lie. I would've forced a Michigan win over letting Arch Manning win a natty.

I should have but I was more rushed to get the season over with after that loss. I did not even think about that.

[ShireNiner]

Mick Smith took a step back in 2027, losing the first round of the CFP at home to Oregon (ShireNiner PS5 images.)

Has Mick Smith reached his Peak at Minnesota?

By: Aiden “AJ” Wexler | August 1, 2028
Minnesota Golden Gopher Reporter

MINNEAPOLIS —Mick Smith arrived in Minneapolis with one goal in mind - to build the program back. Restore a program that had been knocking on the door of Big Ten relevance for years without ever breaking through. Three seasons later, he has done exactly that, and yet, at the start of his fourth season, a question is swirling around the Big Ten and Minneapolis. Can Mick Smith actually finish the job?

The records have improved, the ranking has certainly improved, but each season ends the same way. A loss without a championship. Two Big Ten Championship losses in heartbreaking fashion, a semi-final collapse in the postseason, and then a complete embarrassment at home against Oregon in the first round last season.

Year One: The Year of Surprise
Nobody expected miracles in 2025. Smith inherited a program in a rebuild, and the first few weeks of that season looked exactly like that. A team still trying to find out who they are, with losses to Texas A&M (22–30), Ohio State (28–42), and Iowa (24–38) in the first eight games, suggested a long road ahead.

Then the first big win of Mick Smith’s career, a road win at #9 Oregon. The win put Minnesota into the top-25 for the first time under Smith. Minnesota finished the regular season with two wins over Northwestern and Wisconsin and then had results fall their way, putting them into the Big Ten championship game with a 9-3 record.

The Big Ten Championship was, by any measure, a moral victory dressed up as a loss. Smith's Gophers went toe-to-toe with the #1 team in the country and lost by two, 41-39, in a game that came down to a missed two-point conversion at the end.

The bowl game against Georgia, 31-30, was just as heartbreaking. For a team desperate for a big bowl win, Smith went for two at the end and came up short instead of playing for the overtime win.

Year Two: The Playoff Run
The 2026 season had people talking about Minnesota from week 1. Smith's Gophers started the year ranked #11, lost to #10 Miami on the road in September on a fumble that earned Smith his first NCAA fine for comments after the game, then navigated a brutal conference schedule that included ranked wins over Notre Dame 34–22 and, most memorably, #3 Michigan at home 32–31.

Minnesota climbed as high as #3 in the national polls. Twelve wins in the regular season. The Big Ten Championship game, again, this time against USC.

And then the ceiling arrived. Minnesota blew a fourth-quarter lead, and the Trojans celebrated the Big Ten Championship as Minnesota walked off as the second-favorite again. Smith had two cracks at a conference championship and lost them both. The consolation prize was a CFP run that turned genuinely exciting. A quarterfinal upset of #2 Texas Tech, a semifinal date with Ohio State, and then the familiar ending: another Buckeye victory, 24-17, another season over one game short of where it was supposed to go.

Final record: 12-4. A breakthrough season by any historical standard for this program. And yet the loss in a game they could have won is what stayed on Smith’s resume.

Year 3: The Year Being Favorites

The third season came with different expectations for Minnesota. For the first time in a long time, people talked about the Gophers as a contender, not a Cinderella story. That is how the season started as well, three wins in a row before falling to Ohio State 38-20. Minnesota would rattle off five straight conference wins, moving up to #3 in the polls before losing to Washington at home, 41-38, dropping the Gophers to 10th.

Minnesota missed the Big Ten championship for the first time under Smith, but did earn a home playoff game in the opening round against conference opponent, Oregon. The game was a dud on all levels. Oregon came to Minnesota and handed Smith the worst loss of his career, 42-20, in a game that was never close.

The Ohio State Problem
It bears stating plainly: Mick Smith is 0–4 against Ohio State. The losses have come at different moments, under different circumstances, with different rosters — and every single time, the Buckeyes have ended the Gophers' season or derailed their momentum. Ohio State is the wall that this program keeps running into, and until Smith finds a way through it, his Gophers will always be falling short of their goals.

The broader numbers against quality competition are just as sobering. Against opponents who finished the season ranked, Smith's record stands at 2–5. Two wins — Michigan in 2026 and Texas Tech in the CFP quarterfinals. Five losses, including the two most painful: both Big Ten Championship games, and the semifinal that ended an otherwise magical run.

The great coaches find a way. They win the game they're not supposed to win, and they win the games they are leading late. Mick Smith has not yet done that. He has brought Minnesota back to being relevant, but can he take them a step further and make them a true Big Ten Championship?

What did you think of this story?

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Aiden “AJ” Wexler is a writer for ShireNiner Nation covering Minnesota Gophers Football. He previously covered local high schools in the Minneapolis area. He is based in Minneapolis, MN. Follow AJ on Twitter @AidensFake.

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Comments

[ShireNiner]

I had to reread a bit and write myself a little recap to get back into it. This is the year boys, champs are coming