The 2009 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team was the third under head coach
Tim Brewster
Tim Brewster (born October 13, 1960) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the tight ends coach for the University of Colorado. He also served as the tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator for the North Carolina ...
. They began play on September 5, 2009, at Syracuse, a member of the
Big East Conference
The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...
. On September 12, the Minnesota opened the new
TCF Bank Stadium
Huntington Bank Stadium (formerly known as TCF Bank Stadium) is an outdoor stadium located on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The stadium opened in 2009, after three years of construction. It i ...
with a 20–13 win against
Air Force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...
, moving from the
Metrodome
The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (commonly called the Metrodome) was a domed sports stadium located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It opened in 1982 as a replacement for Metropolitan Stadium, the former home of the National Football League' ...
, which had been their home stadium since 1982. The Golden Gophers finished the season 6–7 and 3–5 in Big Ten play and lost 13–14 to Iowa State in the
Insight Bowl
The Guaranteed Rate Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that has been played in the state of Arizona since 1989.
Played as the Copper Bowl from inception through 1996, it was known as the Insight.com Bowl from 1997 through 2001, then ...
. Despite the worse overall record, the Golden Gophers only suffered two blowout losses in the 2009 season (20-0 to Penn State and 38–7 to Ohio State), compared to 3 in 2008 (55–0 to Iowa, 42–21 to Kansas, 29–6 to a 3–9 Michigan team, and one could possibly also include a 34–21 loss to Ohio State that was 34–6 until the Buckeye reserves came in).
Preseason
The Golden Gophers came off a 7–6 season after starting 7–1, capped by an appearance in the
2008 Insight Bowl
The 2008 Insight Bowl was a college football bowl game played at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. The game, in its 20th year of existence, was played on December 31, 2008. The game, which was telecast on NFL Network, featured the Kansas Jay ...
. On January 6, offensive coordinator Mike Dunbar resigned and defensive coordinator
Ted Roof
Terrence Edwin Roof Jr. (born December 11, 1963) is an American football coach and former player who is the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at the University of Oklahoma. He previously served as a defensive analyst at Clemson Univers ...
left Minnesota for Auburn. On January 9, former Nebraska defensive coordinator
Kevin Cosgrove
Kevin Michael Cosgrove (January 6, 1955 – September 11, 2001) was an American insurance senior business executive and victim of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. He served as a vice president at Aon Corporation.
Cosgrove is k ...
was hired as the co-defensive coordinator, a position he will share with
Ronnie Lee
Ronnie Lee (born 1951) is a British animal rights activist. He is known primarily for being the Press Officer for the UK Animal Liberation Front (ALF) in 1976. He also founded the magazine '' Arkangel'' in 1989. On January 21, Jedd Fisch was named the offensive coordinator. He had previously been the wide receivers coach for the
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...
.
Schedule
Regular season
Syracuse
Air Force
California
Northwestern
Wisconsin
Purdue
Penn State
Ohio State
Michigan State
Illinois
South Dakota State
Iowa
Insight Bowl
Iowa State
Awards and honors
References
{{Minnesota Golden Gophers football navbox
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
Minnesota Golden Gophers football
The Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represents the University of Minnesota in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Founded in 1882, Minnesota has been a member of the Big Ten Conference since its incept ...