The Golden Gophers went into Columbus, Ohio on Oct. 19, 1940 and defeated Ohio State 13-7. This gave the Gophers a 3-2 lead in the series, and at that point, the fortunate athletes that the teams had not played more often were the Buckeyes. Bernie Bierman’s Gophers had been voted as national champions by varied outlets in 1934, 1935 and 1936. Ohio State was not on the schedule in any of those seasons. The Gophers were champs in that 8-0 season of 1940 and then again in 1941, when they didn’t play Ohio State. Squads were not traveling by chartered jet airplanes in the earlier decades of college football, and with Ohio State on the eastern edge and Minnesota at the northwestern point of the Big Ten, the schools did not get together often. There were also eight-game schedules (with five or six conference games) before the mid-1940s. Add up…
Continue Reading: Gophers have 7 football victories over Buckeyes, and we have the proof
