Alabama Crimson Tide News - MinnesotaSportsFan https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/tag/alabama-crimson-tide/ Minnesota sports, but different Sun, 15 Sep 2024 01:21:53 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=32,height=32,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cropped-cropped-MSF-favicon-1.jpg Alabama Crimson Tide News - MinnesotaSportsFan https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/tag/alabama-crimson-tide/ 32 32 Wisconsin Student Section Arrived Late, Left Early vs No. 4 Alabama https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/gophers-football-news/wisconsin-student-section-vs-alabama/ Sun, 15 Sep 2024 01:21:50 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=55013 There isn’t a football fan in Minnesota, or elsewhere, who will try to argue that Gopher football fans are the most loyal CFB fans in the country. We’ve learned, over 50 years of football futility in Dinkytown, that most Minnesota Gophers fans do not love their teams unconditionally.

And that’s okay. They have legitimate reasons, that we’ll get into below. But one thing is for sure. When the Gophers, or other major local sports teams are playing well and need people to pack their stadium/arena, the fans show up every time. Apparently, the same cannot be said across the eastern border, in Madison, WI.

Unserious Wisconsin Badgers student section vs Alabama

On Saturday, the Wisconsin Badgers played against the No. 4 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide, a massive game on their non-conference schedule. Both teams were 2-0, entering the contest.

Pull an upset, at home, and they would have skyrocketed up the CFB standings. It’s one of those games that, you’d think, would have been circled by Badger fans across the country. A can’t miss matchup at Camp Randall, right?

Well, maybe the late-night scene in Madison got a little too crazy on Friday, for an 11 AM kick… but the Wisconsin student section sure wasn’t in a hurry to claim their spot in the stands. It filled out eventually momentarily. More on that below. But it was a sad scene, leading upto, and even beyond kickoff in Madison this morning.

I know I am biased. But seriously, this should be impossible for a school that thinks it belongs in conversations with the helmet schools of the Big Ten, these days. An undefeated home game vs the No. 4 team in the country, and the best team in college football for most of the last two decades… and your student section is a no-show at kick?

They left early too…

But wait… it gets better. Not only did they show up late, but most of the Badger student section left early, too. Luckily, the Camp Randall student section filled up for their “Jump Around” tradition, which takes place between the 3rd and 4th quarters.

As soon as the music stopped and the cameras turned away, the entire endzone emptied. In their defense, the game was long over and the hangovers were probably at full force.

Again, Dinkytown isn’t Lincoln. It doesn’t pretend (or want) to be. Gopher football fans do not bleed maroon and gold like other fanbases. You know, the ride-or-die CFB blue bloods. The Nebraskas, Alabamas, Ohio States, Michigans, LSU and, Tennessees of the college football world. We’ll never claim to be that.

But at least we aren’t Wisconsin Badger kind of fair weather. Man, what a bad look. Even national websites like Barstool have picked up on how pathetic the effort was today, in Madison. And they aren’t even writing about the 42-10 beatdown.

Minnesota Gophers fans are far from perfect… but come one

For context purposes only, the Minnesota student section was mostly full on Saturday for a 2:30 kick vs group of 5 Nevada. A game the Gophers won 27-0. And when big time opponents come to town, especially a historic program like Bama, Huntington Bank Stadium would be absolutely cooking, no matter the time of game.

And our team has mostly sucked since the 1960s. Even if the Gophers student section was this pitiful, at least they’d have a plethora of excuses. Not only has there been little to no success, but unlike Madison and many of these other CFB towns, there’s other stuff to do here.

Related: What We Learned About the Gophers in Week 3 Stomping of Nevada

There are four major pro teams in the Twin Cities, not to mention the growing popularity of non-major pro sports teams. Oh, it’s also a massive urban metropolis with a million non-sports related things going on every day and night of the year.

But even with all of that said, Gopher fans — ESPECIALLY THEIR OWN STUDENT SECTION — would never leave their football team hanging in a massive game, like the Badger student section did on Saturday.

]]> Sat, 14 Sep 2024 20:21:53 +0000 Minnesota Gophers Football News Minnesota Gophers Football New Alabama Head Coach Kalen DeBoer is a Die-Hard Minnesota Sports Fan https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/minnesota-twins/alabama-head-coach-kalen-deboer-die-hard-minnesota-sports-fan/ Sat, 13 Jan 2024 01:50:14 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=46598 Did you hear, Alabama Crimson Tide legendary head football coach Nick Saban has retired from his post in Tuscaloosa and it didn’t take the program very long to find his replacement, Washington Huskies head coach Kalen DeBoer, a hire that hit the newswaves on Friday.

Kalen DeBoer: Die-Hard Minnesota Sports Fan

DeBoer grew up in Milbank, South Dakota, just 15 minutes from the western border of Minnesota. And, fun fact, he grew up and remains a big Minnesota sports fan.

Related: Gophers Koi Perich Snags Interception, Blocks Punt in All-American Bowl MVP Performance

Back in 2018, when he was the Fresno State offensive coordinator, Coach DeBoer talked to Randy Johnson (Star Tribune) about the time he spent in the Metrodome as a kid rooting for the Vikings, Twins and Gophers.

A die-hard Vikings fan, DeBoer followed the Gophers, too. That wasn’t always easy when he was young, because his family lived outside of Milbank and didn’t have cable TV.

“We had an antenna hooked up, and about all we got to watch was the six [over-the-air] stations we had. I spent a lot of time at the Metrodome, watching the Vikings and Twins.”

Star Tribune – September 6, 2018

So while the Alabama Crimson Tide may not have hired ‘one of us’ as their new head football coach, you can’t get much closer than a South Dakota kid who grew up a hop, skip and a jump away from the MN border and a big time Minnesota sports fan.

]]> Fri, 12 Jan 2024 19:50:18 +0000 Minnesota Gophers Football Gopher Football Adds Alabama to Future Schedule https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/minnesota-gophers-football-adds-alabama-crimson-tide-to-2032-and-2033-schedule/ Tue, 11 Oct 2022 15:24:39 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=40665 In some eye-catching news that just dropped this morning, the Minnesota Gophers football team has added home/away matchups vs the Alabama Crimson Tide to their future non-conference schedule. Of course, college football teams schedule non-conference opponents a decade in advance. So, these two contests won’t be played until 2032 and 2033.

According to the athletic department’s media release, Minnesota Gophers football has only played Alabama one time, a 20-16 win in the 2004 Music City Bowl (Nashville, TN). Minnesota is 9-8-1 vs teams that currently play in the SEC. Their last win vs an SEC opponent was the 2020 Outback Bowl, a 31-24 victory over Auburn.

Nick Saban will be 80 and 81 years old when these games takes place. If PJ Fleck is still coaching from the Gophers sideline in 2032, there will already be streets, buildings and practice facilities named after him by then.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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