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University of Minnesota Athletics
Blog: Gophers Arrive in Evanston
9/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
The University of Minnesota football team made the short, less-than-one-hour flight to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport Friday afternoon. From there, the Gophers hopped on buses directly to Evanston to walk through at Northwestern’s Ryan Field.
It is a homecoming for a handful of Minnesota football players, including Chicago native Brandon Green, who played his prep football at Robeson High School. A sophomore, Green said he is excited to play collegiate football for the first time in what is basically his hometown.
“I’m really excited,” Green said. “I’ve got a lot of people who are going to be here. I’m just ready to go.”
Green expects 22 friends and members of his family to be in attendance at Saturday’s contest. He had to hit up numerous teammates for help with the allotment of tickets he needed. But his buddies came through for him.
“They took care of me,” he said. “Now I’ve got to take care of them for Minnesota (home) games.”
See more of Green’s comments at the end of the video below, which was shot at the Gophers’ walk-through Friday afternoon at Ryan Field.
Green is one of five Gophers from the State of Illinois. Backup defensive back Johnny Johnson was Green’s high school teammate at Robeson. Freshman punter Dan Orseske also hails from Chicago. He would have played as a true freshman in front of numerous friends and family Saturday. But Orseske is not on the trip, as he fights off a bout of mononucleosis. Tight end Curtis Hughes (Naperville) and defensive tackle Eric Small (Joliet) are also from this area.
As for the game, Minnesota is looking to win its Big Ten opener for the first time in four years. The last time the Gophers won their first Big Ten game of the season was in 2005, when they beat Purdue 42-35 in double overtime on Sept. 24 at the Metrodome. It has been even longer since Minnesota has won a Big Ten opener on the road. The last time the Gophers accomplished that feat was in 2003, when they picked up a 20-14 victory at Penn State on Sept. 27.
As mentioned in an earlier blog post, Minnesota and Northwestern have had some barnburners in the last two meetings between the two teams. But the two meetings previous to that were blowout victories for the Gophers. Minnesota won 43-17 at home in 2004 and 42-17 in Evanston during the 2003 season.
Here’s a look at what’s being said in the media about Saturday’s Gopher-Wildcat matchup:
- Marcus Fuller says in the Pioneer Press that Saturday’s game will be the first time Minnesota will face a prolific passing offense this season.
- ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg talks about Eric Decker in his Friday mailblog.
- The Chicago Sun-Times wrote about Minnesota head coach Tim Brewster earlier this week.
Kickoff is slated for 11:01 a.m. Saturday. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network. Please join our live, in-game blog here on GopherSports.com, as well.
-Andy Seeley
