The 1925 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

team that represented the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

in the

1925 Big Ten Conference football season The 1925 Big Ten Conference football season was the 30th season of college football played by the member schools of the Big Ten Conference (also known as the Western Conference) and was a part of the 1925 college football season. Over the cours ...

. In their first year under head coach

Clarence Spears Clarence Wiley "Doc" Spears (July 24, 1894 – February 1, 1964) was an American college football player, coach, and doctor. He was an All-American guard at Dartmouth College (1914–1915) and served as the head football coach at Dartmouth (1917� ...

, the Golden Gophers compiled a 5–2–1 record and outscored their opponents by a combined score of 176 to 91. Guard Len Walsh was named All-Big Ten first team. Total attendance for the season was 193,707, which averaged out to 27,672 per game. The season high for attendance was against Notre Dame.

Schedule

Game summaries

Michigan

Minnesota concluded its 1925 season with a 35–0 loss to Michigan. The game was played at

Ferry Field Ferry Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It opened in 1906 and was home to the Michigan Wolverines football team prior to the opening of Michigan Stadium in 1927. It had a capacity of 46,000. It is currently used as a ta ...

before a sellout, homecoming crowd of 47,000 on a warm Indian summer afternoon. Minnesota came into the game with a 5–1–1 record and a highly touted offense featuring Herb Joesting that was averaging 25 points per game. More than 3,000 Minnesotans and the 100-piece Minnesota band traveled to Ann Arbor on five special trains. The Associated Press wrote that Michigan won the game with "a driving line attack and a bewildering aerial game." Michigan's first touchdown drive was led by

Benny Friedman Benjamin Friedman (March 18, 1905 – November 24, 1982) was an American football player and coach, and athletics administrator. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Friedman played college football as a halfback and quarterback for the University of ...

's passing. He completed a pass to sophomore

Bennie Oosterbaan Benjamin Oosterbaan ( ; February 24, 1906 – October 25, 1990) was an American football end and head coach for the University of Michigan. He was a three-time All-American college football player, a two-time All-American basketball player, and ...

for a 23-yard gain and followed with a pass to William Flora for an 11-yard gain. Fullback Bo Molenda then ran 24 yards for the touchdown, and Friedman kicked the extra point. Michigan's second touchdown drive started with a 25-yard gain on a pass from Friedman to Oosterbaan. Sophomore halfback Louis Gilbert then ran 20 yards, and Molenda ran for the touchdown from the one-yard line. Friedman kicked the extra point, and Michigan led, 14–0, at halftime. In the third quarter, Friedman threw a touchdown pass to Oosterbaan, and Friedman kicked his third extra point. In the fourth quarter, Minnesota opened up its passing game in an attempt to overcome Michigan's 21–0 lead. Halfway through the quarter, Louis Gilbert intercepted a pass and returned it 60 yards down the right side for a touchdown. In addition to the interception return, Gilbert also returned a punt 35 yards in the second quarter, handled the punting for Michigan, and was credited by the ''Chicago Daily Tribune'' with "sensational open field running." Michigan's final touchdown was set up by another turnover, as Carl Stamman intercepted a pass and returned it 35 yards to the Minnesota nine-yard line. Friedman threw a pass to Oosterbaan for the touchdown. Friedman completed seven of 16 pass attempts for 130 yards and converted all five extra point kicks to give Michigan a 35–0 victory. On defense, Michigan did not allow Minnesota to complete a pass and held the Gophers to four first downs, two in each half, and 45 net rushing yards. Minnesota ran an offense featuring the "Spear shift," named for the team's head coach

. The shift failed to gain against Michigan's line, leading the ''Chicago Daily Tribune'' to write:

"The famous Minnesota shift was a bloomer. The Gophers shifted and shifted and kept on shifting like a lot of hop toads and every time they shifted, the Michigan line shifted with them and knocked them flat as soon as the ball was snapped. To the Michigan team that shift was about as puzzling as a dog's bark."

References

{{Minnesota Golden Gophers football navbox

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

Minnesota Golden Gophers football seasons

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 ...