Gophers Prep For 'Pig' Win Against Iowa
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Gopher football team meets Iowa on Saturday. It's the first test in a final stretch that features four teams with a winning record.
"It's just one of those things where sometimes things aren't clicking right away for us," said quarterback Mitch Leidner. "And, you know, once they click it, like in the second half there, it's just too late I guess."
In the first of the final four is Iowa, a team that looked down early in the season, but this is November.
"They just stay with what they do, they don't panic, they don't listen to anyone outside, they just keep doing what they do," said Gopher Coach Jerry Kill. "They're kids believing what they're doing."
The Gophers found out just how loud TCF Bank Stadium can get. On Sunday they were practicing on a field just four blocks away from the stadium, and players thought Coach Kill was playing a recording of crowd noise on the field. However, it was just the racket from the nearby Vikings game.
The noise resonated, sending a message.
"It was kind of funny," said defensive tackle Cameron Botticelli. "It was a surreal experience to hear the Vikings fans and the Viking horn going off during our practice, and it was clear across campus, so that was a fun experience."
And then there is that pig, the one they play for that has such a strange history.
"Our coach … gave us the info behind [the pig tradition]," said wide receiver K.J. Maye. "And it was a very crazy story (laughs). It was a live pig before, and now it's just a trophy."
Kickoff is 11 a.m. Saturday at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.