The Best Football Week in Minnesota History?

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Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of year, especially for football. High school state champions are crowned around the country, the college football regular season comes to a close and the NFL playoff picture starts to take shape. This could also be the best string of football Minnesota has seen in a while and it all starts Saturday! Here’s what’s on tap.

  • Saturday 11/19: Iowa Hawkeyes @ Minnesota Golden Gophers
  • Sunday 11/20: Dallas Cowboys @ Minnesota Vikings
  • Thursday 11/24: New England Patriots @ Minnesota Vikings
  • Friday & Saturday 11/25-26: MSHSL State Championship Games
  • Saturday 11/26: Minnesota Golden Gophers @ Wisconsin Badgers

Bring Home the Bacon!

What’s on the line? Floyd. The 98-pound bronze pig. It’s pretty simple, the Gophers need to beat Iowa to keep their hopes alive. Something they haven’t done in almost 8 years, which would make it all the sweeter. Bring home the bacon and start this week off right! A Michigan win over Illinois on this same day would help the Gopher’s chances at winning the Big Ten West division and a trip to Indianapolis.

Vikings Return Home

After two straight road games, the Vikings return home to face the Dallas Cowboys. With a win the Vikings would be 9-1 for the first time since 2009 and only the second time since 1998. A Vikings win would drive them down the path of having a truly special season. With both the Cowboys and Vikings playing on Thanksgiving some players may not be completely focused on the game at task, but I’d say one team is looking ahead more than the other…

A Treat on Thanksgiving Night

4 days after their matchup with Dallas, the Vikings get a rare home Thanksgiving game against the Patriots. This could potentially be the Viking’s NINTH straight win sending them into December on the cusp of an NFC North title.

Keep That Axe Where It Belongs!

At this point in the plan the Gophers have Floyd, the Vikings are on a war path to the playoffs and the state of Minnesota can top it off by keeping the best trophy of all, THE AXE.

BONUS: With the Gophers winning out they would be 9-3 and still would have a shot at winning the Big Ten West division with another Illinois AND Purdue loss. At this point, the Gophers would likely only need an Indiana win over Purdue

What A Week!

If all goes to plan, that would bring us a total of four football wins for the state of Minnesota in a span of seven days! Not to mention 7 more high school teams that will be crowned as state champions in the two days following Thanksgiving. This next week is the true definition of a FEAST!