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A weekly look at small college football
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This is the week.
The University of Minnesota-Morris football team will put a full game together. The other guys from Minnesota Duluth, who weigh more, who have more athletic scholarships and lower admission standards, who are No. 20 in the national NCAA Division II poll, they'll make mistakes.
It's the Cougars' turn. They believe that, or say they do.
This is the Saturday.
The scoreboard at their windswept little stadium on the prairie will read "00:00" and the number under "COUGARS" will be bigger than the one under "GUEST." That hasn't happened for four years.
This is the game.
After 35 losses in a row - five short of breaking the Division II record - they'll douse coach Ken Crandall with the remains from their water cooler. They will tear down the goalposts with the help of a handful of loyal fans. They'll fantasize about turning to apathetic classmates on Monday to say: "We told you so!"
The Streak will end.
"I get goose bumps just thinking about it," said center Matt Johnson, who, along with 10 others, has spent the past four years at Morris and never won a game . . . 0-for-college.
"Until we win, it's a hard concept for people to grasp," Johnson said. "You can tell each other we're going to score eight touchdowns and win. But until it happens, it's just a thought in your head."
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Getting here
The theory is this: If Morris truly wants to be America's best public liberal arts college, it shouldn't be the worst at anything, not even football.
That's why Sam Schuman feels the Cougars' pain. The chancellor of this intellectual oasis three hours west of the Twin Cities, Schuman has had his hands full trying to rescue his football team, which hasn't won a game since Nov. 14, 1998.
Not only has Schuman had to address why football (and other Cougars teams) consistently lose; he has had to tackle the emotional effects of, he said, a "defeatist, depressing, pretty cynical and somewhat embarrassed" attitude toward football on campus.
It's no mystery how Morris got here or why it languishes so: 8- 84 in football the last decade, down to 48 players on...