The Minnesota Gophers lost a football game 28 to 21 against the New Mexico State Aggies at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota today.
The Aggies controlled the game, and led for the majority of the game.
The Gophers entered the game has huge favorites, but played down to the level of their competition in getting upset by the Aggies. It was the first time that New Mexico State had beaten a BCS conference team since 1999.
What happened in the first 59 minutes and 40 seconds of the game suddenly became meaningless when Gophers head coach Jerry Kill fell to the ground and began having an apparent seizure on the Gophers sideline.
The Gophers were driving down the field in an attempt to tie the game. When after a third and ten play, Kill went down and had to be tended to by medical staff to control the apparent ongoing seizure.
This wasn’t the first time in Kill’s coaching career that this sort of thing happened.
Back in 2005, Kill had his second seizure in four years while on the sidelines. This time when he was coaching Southern Illinois.
Kill apparently takes medication daily, and battling his seizures is a daily task.
As of 6:15 p.m. team doctor Pat Smith said that Kill was in stable condition.
To hear that Kill is in stable condition is extremely fantastic news. During the apparent seizure, the crowd was quiet and seemed overwhelmed with uncertainty as to what was taking place on the Gophers sideline.
The Big Ten Network camera panned the audience and fearful looks appeared everywhere. Along with the frantic checking of Twitter, ESPN, The Sporting News, or any other website where information on what was taking place could be found.
Players from both teams knelt on the sidelines, with the faces of disbelief at the scene taking place in front of their eyes.
What started as a football game between 20-somethings, ended with many in shock at what transpired with just 20 seconds left on the scoreboard clock.
Luckily for Kill and his family, medical staff were able to attend to Kill in just seconds. Allowing for a quick handling of the situation, followed by a quick exit of the stadium to a nearby hospital.
Kudos to the Gopher medical staff with their handling of this scary situation.
The Gophers will host Miami (OH) next Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
Let’s all wish Jerry Kill a healthy and speedy recovery from his apparent seizure.
-Brett Cloutier
Brett is a contributor to The Sports Bank. He covers all things Minnesota sports. You can follow him on Twitter @brettcloutier