2005 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team The 2005 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represented the University of Minnesota during the 2005 NCAA Division I - A football season . The team ' s head coach was Glen Mason . Minnesota played its home games at the Metrodome in Minneapolis , Minnesota . The most notable win of the season came as Minnesota defeated Michigan to win the Little Brown Jug for the first time since 1986 . Previous season . 2004 was the eighth season under head coach Glen Mason . He led the team to an 7 – 5 record and an appearance in the Music City Bowl . The Gophers won their first five games before falling in five of their final seven contests . Polls . The 2005 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team was not ranked in either the final Coaches ' Poll or AP Poll . Game notes . Tulsa . " All - time record against Tulsa : 2 – 0 – 0 " The Gophers open the 2005 season in dominating fashion . Laurence Maroney rushed for 203 yards and 2 touchdowns . Bryan Cupito added 235 yards passing and 1 touchdown . Gary Russell had only six carries but two touchdowns , both coming in the fourth quarter . Colorado State . " All - time record against Colorado State : 2 – 0 – 0 " The Gophers continued their high scoring ways to open the season , romping over Colorado State . Laurence Maroney had another big day , rushing for 133 yards and 2 touchdowns . Gary Russell had 2 touchdowns on seven carries . The Golden Gophers had fantastic average field position , starting at their own 40 yard line , but Tulsa averaged their starting at their own 21 yard line . Florida Atlantic . " All - time record against Florida Atlantic : 1 – 0 – 0 " The Golden Gophers won the third game of the season , defeating the Florida Atlantic Owls . Bryan Cupito passed 10 for 17 and 230 yards , with 2 touchdowns . Laurence Maroney and Gary Russell each scored two touchdowns on the day . The Minnesota rushing attack accumulated 349 yards on the ground . The Gophers once again had better field position then their opponents , as the Gophers were 16 yards better than the Owls , starting at the 37 yard line . Purdue . " All - time record against Purdue : 31 – 28 – 3 ( as of 2005 ) " The Golden Gophers won their fourth game of the season , winning in double overtime of Purdue . Laurence Maroney had another big day for the Golden Gophers , rushing for 217 yards . Bryan Cupito passed for 271 yards and three touchdowns . He also rushed for a two point conversion in the waning time of the fourth quarter , giving a tying score that would eventually force overtime . Logan Payne caught a touchdown in the first overtime , and Gary Russell scored the go - ahead touchdown in the second overtime , giving Minnesota the victory . Penn State . " All - time record against Penn State : 4 – 5 – 0 ( as of 2005 ) " Penn State raced out to a 20 - point lead on the way to a 30 point victory over the Golden Gophers . Minnesota ' s normally potent passing attack was held to 113 yards on the day rushing . Bryan Cupito passed for 174 yards on the day . The Golden Gophers turned the ball over twice , compared to no turnovers for the Nittany Lions . The Nittany Lions regained the Governor ' s Victory Bell for the first time since 1998 . Michigan . " All - time record against Michigan : 24 – 67 – 3 ( as of 2005 ) " The Minnesota Golden Gophers won the Little Brown Jug for the first time since 1986 . Laurence Maroney rushed for 129 yards on the day . Gary Russell ran for 128 yards on the day , nearly half the yards coming from one rush with under two minutes left in the game . That rush set up a final field goal by Jason Giannini . It was the first win for the Golden Gophers under Glen Mason . It was Michigan ' s was third loss on the season . Wisconsin . " All - time record against Wisconsin : 59 – 48 – 8 ( as of 2005 ) " Coming off one of the biggest wins in recent memory , the Golden Gophers faced off against border rival , Wisconsin . The two teams traded the lead through the first half . With 3 : 27 left in the game , the Golden Gophers stretched the lead to 34 – 24 . The Badgers then scored a touchdown , bringing the lead back down to a three point gap . With 30 seconds left , the Badgers blocked a punt and recovered it for a touchdown . The Badgers kept Paul Bunyan ' s Axe for the third straight year . Ohio State . " All - time record against Ohio State : 7 – 38 – 0 ( as of 2005 ) " Minnesota dropped the game to Ohio State , despite a solid performance from the Golden Gophers offense . Bryan Cupito had 26 completions on 35 attempts , and had 395 yards passing . Laurence Maroney rushed for 125 yards . The Golden Gophers out gained the Buckeyes by 130 yards on offense , but had two several drives stall . Twice the ball was turned over on down , once on a missed field goal , and the Gophers had one fumble . Indiana . " All - time record against Indiana : 35 – 25 – 3 ( as of 2005 ) " Minnesota ' s Gary Russell rushed for 188 yards and three touchdowns on the way to the first Gopher victory in Indiana since 1985 . The Golden Gophers had 200 more yards of offensive production on the day . The Golden Gophers broke the game open , scoring four touchdowns . Gary Russell had three touchdowns on the day . Minnesota had no turnovers on the day . The Gophers were successful on seven of the twelve third - down attempts . The win made the Golden Gophers bowl eligible . Michigan State . " All - time record against Michigan State : 15 – 25 – 0 ( as of 2005 ) " Amir Pinnix rushed for 206 yards as the Golden Gophers won , 41 – 18 . Bryan Cupito only passed 13 times , but connected on eight of those passes , and two touchdowns . The Golden Gophers had only two drives on the game that didn ' t result in a score . In addition , the Gophers dominated the time of possession , having offensive control for 36 minutes in the game . The Spartans missed two field goal attempts on the game . Iowa . " All - time record against Iowa : 58 – 39 – 2 ( as of 2005 ) " In the 99th addition of the Minnesota - Iowa rivalry , the Golden Gophers dropped their fifth straight game to the Hawkeyes . Bryan Cupito passed for 315 yards , but had two interceptions and barely more than a 50 percent passing completion . Defensively , the Golden Gophers gave up 615 yards of offense . Two different Hawkeye running backs eclipsed 100 yards rushing , and Iowa ' s Drew Tate threw for 351 yards passing and four touchdowns . Iowa continued to retain the Floyd of Rosedale trophy . Virginia . " All - time record against Virginia : 0 – 1 – 0 " In the Golden Gophers ' third appearance in the Music City Bowl , the Gophers dropped a close game against Virginia . Bryan Cupito passed for 263 yards and 4 touchdowns on the day . Running back Laurence Maroney rushed for 109 yards . The Gophers lost the lead for the first time with 1 : 08 remaining as they gave up a 39 yard field goal try . The loss was the Gophers ' first loss in a bowl game since 2000 . References . Eric Thrall ' s Gopher History