#-1: Gopher volleyball (Re-Entry!). It's almost like it was divined from a Creator: With the passing of the Lynx's season, the University of Minnesota football and volleyball seasons start the very next week, meaning the Twins are never going to be alone in a WMNSS. In fact, at least for this week, the Twinks are pushed down to the bottom of the list, overthrown because both programs went undefeated for the week. Since the volleyballers won three games to the gridiron team's one, I give the girls the top slot.
Their wins were much more impressive, too -- three complete 3-0 whitewashes of the three guests in their Golden Gopher Invite at the Sports Pavilion last weekend, Denver, Stony Brook and, presumably the marquee visitor of the tournament, Marquette. So far they are living up to their billing as one of the most loaded young teams in the sport, led by player of the year (and Minnesota native) Ashley Wittman. Wittman grabbed Big Ten Freshman Of The Week plaudits for her work over the weekend. Meanwhile, Tabi (it's not Tabitha anymore?) Love was Big Ten Player Of The Week (overall, presumably) in the weekend sweep.
The Gophs will have to fight through adversity, however, since Final Four All-Tournament Team Member Hailey Cowles tore her left ACL a couple weeks ago and is out for the year. With the way the team was rolling last weekend, they may be able to cope without her. The eighth-ranked team (which dropped from sixth in the preseason poll the week before for some odd damn reason) host their second straight tourney at the Pav, the much more well-known (and well-sponsored) Diet Coke Classic, where they play, tonight and tomorrow, three very good teams: Baylor, Northern Iowa, and Dayton. Only Baylor isn't ranked in the AVCA Top 25, and the Lady Bears are close.
#-2: Gopher football (Re-Entry!). It was tough, but no one say it wouldn't be: Middle Tennessee St. was favored before the Blue Raiders' starting QB was suspended for this game for borrowing $1,500 from some old dude living at the VA for poker. And they still almost beat the Gophs; however, a touchdown by Fullback Jon Hoese and a fumble recovery on the ensuing kickoff sealed a gritty 24-17 win.
Fans might be embarrassed that the score was so close; I say that this is the Gophers, and therefore any close win shouldn't be disregarded as a sign the program blows. MTSU did go 10-3, even against shitty opponents; Minnesota finished 6-7. They could have -- maybe should have -- lost this game.
The gridders should be able to avoid the cellar again next week: They play their annual Division I-AA patsy next week, South Dakota, to open the schedule at TCF Bank Stadium. It'll be the first of four straight home games, something I have never seen. Some momentum would be nice.
#-3: Twins (Last Week: -1). It's not as if they played bad this week -- 4-2 is pretty good. It's just that the Twinkies are the only one of the three teams tracked by the WMNSS to lose, and since wins and losses are pretty much the criteria for ranking, they wind up at the bottom for this week.
It does help that both losses were by just a run, including Thursday (last) night's 10-9, 13-inning agony-fest to Detroit. It's also interesting to not that all three games in their series with the Tigers were all decided by a run. However, winning two of three from Detroit basically ends their season. (They also won their series against Seattle over the past weekend.)
I flit from problem to problem, and this week I'm convinced that the Twins' fielding will be their undoing. It could be something else -- such as the bullpen, what with the way Randy Flores and Matt Guerrier gave away the lead -- next week. Stay tuned.
They finish up their homestand this week with a weekend series with the Bastard Washington Senators v.2.0 then a trio with Kansas City.
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