The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-11-18
SEEMS Ikea DREAM
nIINNEs0TANs CANNOT REALIZE
THEIR UNEXPECTED
DEFEAT
NO EXPLANATION FOR SLUMP
Acted as if They Were in Trance
Players Express Themselves
Madison Hospitality
Chilly Article.
what the Players Have to Say.

What the Players Have to Say.
1--WE played like a lot of dubs, and
IN poorer form than at any time before
Gful consistent game, and deserves all
credit for their fast and steady work,
and yet we all feel that we could defeat
them if we had another chance. It is a
mistake to say they beat US at football.
We did not play football. 1t all seems
unreal to us and we cannot understand
1t. One play beat us. We
could not get onto their open play. Our
A1ne was all right on defense. Wisconsin
never budged The center men. We must
nave been hypnotized. It was the first
Time Minnesota ever lacked the fighting
spirit .'-Dobie.
Excuses are no good after it is over
nut no one will claim that we played
our game. Defeat is not the worst thing
IN the world when we have done our best
out We did not do anywhere near our
pest; we dldnt get into the game at all.
What makes it hard for me is the
Iact that l will never get another
cnance at Wisconsin. "-Aune
us no use to kick. We were licked,
s ana that settles it. It's no use to say
Play our game, and we have got to take
the result without kick. '-I1oyt
The Minnesota football team arrived
nome yesterday morning after their in
glorious defeat at Madison, none the
worse physically for their experience. but
very troubled in spirit and Iacerated in
mind They were not bitter because of
uefeat, but oazed because of their mis-
cradle performance. Every man on the
team knew that the team never PLAYED
30 Wfetchediy before in its entire his
tory They all felt that it was defeat
In which their was not one iota of nonor
Tor themselves. And not a man of them
could understand it. They all felt that
at their best they could have won, and
YET all the excuses in the world would
not change the result; from it there was
no appeal. and they knew that tie world
accepts results without inquiry as to
cause and effect. And as a matter of
fact, if any person who witnessed the
game wanted to explain it it would be
impossible. There is no explanation of
the Gophers' fall, no comprehension of it
by those who saw the game, and those
who did not see it can never have the
slightest idea of what it was like. The
men seemed doped from the first: they
couldn't get together, they seemed un-
able to move. They appeared. to be act
ing the role Of spectators rather than
players, and they stood up as if fixed on
single spot for eternity-as if they eX-
pected the Badgers to roll up against
their line and tumble back. They never
played so miserably before, not even in
their first lineup. While Wisconsin
played to its limit, Minnesota seemed to
have gone back. But the worst of it was
that they did not even try. They did
not play football. The 1000 Minnesotans
who went down Madison cannot I'M
derstand or expls> the funking of the
folx ri Mo -z-t,o in 10 Nah rqS
and Iowa games aad shown that they
could fight like eerGs, and play with
speed and spirit
When Minnesota appeared on the field
for practice, Knowlton gave an exhibition
of marvellous kicking, putting the ball
sixty and seventy yards every time, and
many a Wisconsin man had heart failure
as he thought of his team going against
such kicking proposition. If Knowlton
could have punted sixty yards at clip
an the first half and he certainly should
have done it with a strong wind in ais
favor, he could have protected his goal
until the Gophers pulled themselves to-
gether But he couldn't kick a little bit,
and ne was slower than divine wrath in
his punting. This it was that gave Wis
consin its first score. after which the
Badgers played like tiends
Team Has Gone Back.
Here is what one of the Minnesota
players said:
''We have gone back ever since the Me-
braska game When we won that we
thought we were too good for further eff
fort The rooters have been telling us
that we could lick the earth, and we
believed it and took it for granted. we
came down here expecting an easy thing;
we found all our friends as confident as
we were We thought We only had to
stand up on the field and scare the other
fellows to death. They started off at
rapid clip that surprised us, and worked
the fast back field men on the end plays,
which we were not prepared for, and
Ynich we had not encountered before. We
got ratified, and before we could get to-
Cether they had scored on us. Wiscon-
sin, hardly hoping to win. played fero-
ciously and with desperation from the
start. and when to their surprise they
found out that they could gain on us at
will they rushed In and overwhelmed US
with their speed before we could get to-
gether at all after that we were like
men in a trance, and seemed unable to-
move or to play with any system or ef-
feet. 1t cannot be doupted that Mime
sofa has tne best team she ever put on
the gridiron, and this result should never
have been. We simply did not play the
game at any time
Every one of the rooters who lost good
money on the game declared that if the
teams could meet again they would again
bet on Minnesota They really believe it,
and the players believe so, too. But
when they should have played to win they
acted like lot of helpless infants away
from nome. and scared to offend the enc
my. Post mortems are of little use and
only cause dissention, SO the less said
the better.
With all due respect to Dr.. Williams,
the play of the men certainly indicated
that he had overlooked some bets. The
Gophers' attention apparently has been
given to building up a good line defense,
and in making mass attacks on the line.
The team has not been properly drilled
In getting down the field on kicR-offs, in
breaking through the opposing formation,
in getting around the ends, and they
have absolutely no interference at all.
Something is wrong when such an ag-
ggregation of men fall down in all these
respects. and their awful slump in form
and spirit will not wholly account for
this lack.
wisconsin was undoubtedly fortunate