#0: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: 0). A quite week. Purdue is a good team, but college volleyball is such that even matchups between ranked teams can turn into blowouts. Such was the case at Maturi Wednesday, where the Golden Gophers swept the then-16th-ranked Boilermakers, 17-21-23. Minnesota, currently ranked sixth, will have a relatively loud week coming up. They host Iowa Sunday, visit Ohio St. Wednesday, then host Wisconsin Saturday night.
#-1: Vikings (Last Week: -4). So far this season they have alternated wins and losses, and that pattern started even in the preseason. It was a struggle, and the ViQueens made Mitch Trubisky look like a competent Quarterback. But a Harrison Smith Interception late in the game and deep in Chicago Bears territory led to the game-winning Field Goal (and not the go-ahead Touchdown because, again, the offense kind of sucks) and a 20-17 victory, only the third win the Vikes have come away with from Soldier Field in the past 17 seasons. The bad news is that the offense was utterly inert due to Sam Bradford, who, try as he might, had legs and knees so bad that he had to be lifted late in the Second Half for Case Keenum, who was the sparkplug in the club's win. As of now, Bradford's torso is not much better than Teddy Bridgewater's.
For the W-L pattern to continue, the Vikings must lose today (Sunday). They host Green Bay. They in all likelihood will lose.
#-2: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -6). The club swept Bemidji St. in Bemidji, yet I am not convinced everything is alright with this team. Because Saturday's 4-3 win had to go to Overtime. The powerful Gopher squads of yore would have buried the Beavers well before the final horn. A sturdier test of how good the U. is (or is not) might come next weekend, when the team visits Minnesota-Duluth for a pair of games.
#-3: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -1). I was at the Purdue match Sunday. While the Boilers kept it close in the First Half, the U. broke through with a pair of Goals, both scored by the top two scorers in the side, Sydney Squires (her 13th) and Julianna Gernes (her 7th). That further bolstered this club's resume, but their five-game winning (and six-game undefeated) streak went poof Thursday, 2-0 at Northwestern. It appears as though that great stretch of games has propelled them past the bubble, according to indispensable women's soccer blog All White Kit, but all but three squads in the Big Ten are under NCAA Tournament consideration, so who knows? This week: At Illinois this (Sunday) afternoon, then the final home game of the season versus Ohio St. Friday. I intend to be there and buy a scarf.
#-4: Wild (Last Week: -7). Finally broke through with their first win of the year Thursday, and it was at Chicago by a score of 5-2. Unfortunately, three Forwards with the Mild left that contest due to injury, the worst of which is Charlie Coyle, who will be out for 6-8 weeks. I don't know how much those absences contributed to the Mild choking on a two-Goal lead and losing their home opener last (Saturday) night in Overtime to the Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-4, but you shouldn't be losing to Columbus in any situation, let alone with a 4-2 lead.
Once again the club has the first half of the screening week off. It has two matches, but they're on the road, in Canada, and back-to-back: Winnipeg Friday, Calgary Saturday.
#-5: Gopher football (Last Week: -5). P.J. Fleck's rookie season at the helm of the U. continues to plummet. I really thought that they had a chance to upset Michigan St. last (Saturday) night because the Spartans upset Michigan last week. But they were in control of their match the whole time; the 30-27 result does not reflect how uncompetitve this game truly was. And so Minnesota remains winless in conference play. Next week comes probably their best chance at winning a game the rest of the year -- home to Illinois, which is also the Homecoming game.
#-6: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -2). P.J. Fleck has the luxury of saying this is his first year at the U. Don Lucia is in the bench for the U. for the 19th season, and yet it feels kind of embarrassing that the seventh-ranked Golden Goofers lost to the upstart (but 11th-ranked) Penn St. Nittany Lions 3-1 Friday in the B1G opener -- and at Mariucci Arena, no less. It is a long season, yet it feels that this vaunted program is going to underachieve yet again. They finish up their two-game series vs. Penn St. this (Sunday) afternoon, then travel to North Dakota for a pair of matches next weekend against the Fighting Hawks.
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