Minnesota's 2019 Team Rings Including A Big Ten West Trophy They Didn't Really Win Is Bizarre

To catch you up to speed/remind you of how last season ended, Minnesota and Wisconsin played each other on the last week of the regular season for the chance to go to Indianapolis and play Ohio State. Wisconsin took down Minnesota and ended their season 7-2 in the Big Ten, technically tied at the top with the team they just beat. Almost immediately after the game, PJ Fleck told his team that they are Co-Big Ten West champions:

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It was a sad moment in his press conference. Yes, technically speaking, Minnesota is the Co-Big Ten West champion in 2019. However, whoever came up with the rule that head-to-head doesn't determine the champion in the record books is a big buffoon. The team that goes to the Big Ten Championship is the team that won the Big Ten West. An incredibly simple concept. 

Minnesota getting a ring that has their record and Outback Bowl Champions makes sense. There is nothing wrong with that. Adding the Big Ten West Trophy that you didn't win? That's just ridiculous. 

I also don't know how to feel about the College GameDay and Governor's Victory Bell on the ring as well. Having GameDay come to your campus is cool and all, but putting it on a ring seems a lot like something a D3 school would do. The Governor's Victory Bell? Minnesota and Penn State aren't rivals. They play a game once every three years. They are 800 miles away. It's just another forced rivalry by the Big Ten (there are a lot of these). You think while Penn State players are training this offseason they are thinking about beating Minnesota? No, one because they don't care about them, and two, they don't play this year. 

Minnesota fans will most likely dislike me for this blog, but I just can't get over how ridiculous that ring design is. It deserves to be called out.