Positive Numbers: Gopher football (Last Week: -1). With Saturday's 52-10 pasting of Maryland at Das BAnk v.1.0, the superlatives continue to pour in. The team is now 8-0, the first time the program has been 8-0 since 1941. (They won the title that year.) They are 5-0 in the Big Ten, the first time the program has started 5-0 in the conference since 1961. (They reached the Rose Bowl that year.) They have a two-Game lead in the B1G West. And the U. has reached 13th in the Associated Press poll, the first time they've reached that lofty ranking since October 3, 2004.
It is true that Minnesota has rolled up this record against less than stellar competition. But two things stand out. First, and I've said this before, previous Golden Gopher squads have had a cupcake line-up lined up like this and have not gone through it undefeated. And second, notice the margins of victory over the foes, especially in the last four wins, all against conference opponents: 23 over Illinois, 27 over Nebraska, 35 over Rutgers, and 42 over Maryland. A hallmark of a good team is that beat the shit out of shitty teams, no mercy. That, plus all the other "first time since"'s, puts this club on the top of the WMNSS.
And now comes the big test. After a second bye, they face Penn St. November 9 at home. If the records stay immaculate, Minnesota will be part of yet another superlative: It'll be the first time in the history of top-flight college football that two Games on the same day feature teams that are at least 8-0 (the other Game: Alabama vs. LSU is that afternoon). It's been a hell of a run, and dare I say already a successful season. Two weeks from now, though, we'll see how good of a team the Minnesota Golden Gophers really are.
#0: Timberwolves (Re-Entry!). I really, really have no expectations for this squad. I should; these Woofie Dogs have been perennial underachievers since the turn of the millennium. But there is nothing -- no impact rookie nor big free agent signing -- that makes any fan believe that, yes, this team will finally turn the corner. And that means another lottery season after getting squeezed out of a still-rough and tumble Western Conference.
And yet I'll be goddamned: The Minnesota Timberwolves are currently 3-0! It really was supposed to blow up in the season opener in Brooklyn. Kyrie Irving dropped 50 and, in Overtime, had the ball and shot it for the win. He actually fell, hit the deck, got up, spun around Robert Covington and got the shot off in time. If that would've went in, I was prepared to say the Wolves were already toast. But it didn't.
The Wolves followed that up with a resounding road victory over Charlotte, who is worse than I initially thought. Sunday they opened up their home schedule against yet another East team, Miami. My friend got tickets to the Game, and I got two for me and my other friend. I was not particularly intrigued by the Wolves, who, so far, have started off gangbusters in the First Quarter only to tail off in the Second and Third. Versus the Heat, the squandered a 13-Point 1Q lead to trail by a basket at Halftime and then by seven after three. But somehow they battled back ... not just with the help of Karl-Anthony Towns, who captured the NBA's first Western Conference Player Of The Week award of the season, but primarily with the play of one Andrew Wiggins. Big Wig scored what became the Game-winner over the Nets, and he ripped off 11 straight Points late in the Fourth to help Minnesota overtake the Heat in the 116-109 win. I don't know if Wiggins can keep up his aggression or scoring touch, and obviously I don't know if the Wolves can keep winning like this. But for now, the Minnesota Timberwolves are undefeated, and that should give them a 0.
Very interesting; the Timberwolves will still not face a Western Conference team after this week. They are back on the road for contests against Philadelphia and Washington. They then come home to face off against Milwaukee.
#-1: Vikings (Last Week: 0). Thursday's win over Washington illustrates Vikings fans' unceasing unease with this club. A team on the rise who have gotten their shit together hosting a team that is between falling apart and mailing it in. This should be a rout, right?
Nope. The score was 19-9. The victory never seemed in doubt, but it was a bore to just sit through. The only moment of intrigue came when Kirk Cousins's sneak on fourth-and-short on the Vikes' half of the field failed, giving Washington a short field and a chance to tie the Game. Case Keenum was removed because of "concussion protocol," so Dewayne Haskins stepped in, and I feel the PTSD of many Twins Games where a rookie nobody completely fools the Twinks' lineup. At least that didn't happen here; in a couple plays Haskins threw a pass that went through the hands of a leaping Terry McLaurin and into the waiting arms of a Minnesota defender. What I saw after that did not make me feel as though the club can compete with New England or San Francisco (both of whom have become the toast of the NFL this season), but I felt I knew what the result would be nonetheless, and I was right.
So the Vikings have ripped off four in a row and now stand at 6-2. Like the Gopher footballers, the competition has been less than stout. So, yes, better to be 6-2 than 2-6. But Sunday's contest vs. The Bastard Dallas Texans should provide a stiffer test, though maybe not a clearer picture as to how good this team is. Patrick Mahomes may or may not be back for this one. Moreover, Kansas City, who has lost their last three Games at home, has an incredibly leaky Defense ... which is horrible timing for them as they face an offense that's doing work on the ground and flying through the air.
#-2: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -3). Road warriors beat Michigan in five and Michigan St. in four. But will they shit their pants in the tourney? Host Ohio St. Wednesday, then visit Purdue Sunday afternoon.
#-3: Wild (Last Week: -5). Sandwiched an awful 4-0 shellacking in Nashville with decisive wins over Edmonton and Los Angeles. The key was that both victories came at the X. So, it's possible that the Mild won't be the dumpster fire I was afraid they would be because at least they can hold their piss at home -- which would make them just a .500 at best, which is a far cry from the playoff team we hope they would always be.
Well, they have back-to-back road Games tonight and tomorrow night (that's Tuesday and Wednesday night) against The Team That Was Stolen From Us and St. Louis, then the club comes back home to face said Blues. So, if the pattern holds, the Wild should get out of this screening week at 1-2?
#-4: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -2). Uh-oh. The Gophers actually lost a Game. Sure, it was on the road, and to Ohio St. Friday, and by a score of 4-3, and the Buckeyes have an all-Golden Gopher coaching staff, which isn't a bad tree from which to branch from. But still, it's Minnesota. Yeah, they came back the next night to defeat the Bucks, 4-2. But while they remain at #2, Wisconsin is now the clear-cut #1 team in the country, and I'm scared that that will be wire to wire.
And wouldn't you look at that ... the Badgers come to town for a two-Game series this Saturday and Sunday afternoon.
#-5: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -4). With a home-and-home shellacking at the hands of Minnesota-Duluth over the weekend by a combined score of 7-2, it is clear that the satellite campus of the University of Minnesota system is now the big brother to the main campus when it comes to men's hockey. Wouldn't it be such, then, that the in-state blue-chippers would now migrate to the Bulldogs, who obviously have the better program and pipeline to the NHL, than the Goofers?
This weekend commences league play; the U. host Notre Dame Friday and Saturday.
#-Infinity: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -6). Didn't know before last week's survey, and I still don't quite believe it, but with Thursday's 1-0 win at Northwestern, they were still, somehow, technically still alive to reach the B1G Tournament. Well that crashed down to earth after the side got shellacked 4-1 in Illinois Sunday to end their season at 3-4-12 overall and 2-2-7 in the league.
According to the blog Equal Time Soccer, the U. soccer program a few years ago decided to make a concerted effort to tough their non-conference schedule. They couldn't do it overnight, however; they could only schedule a few years out with opponents of a higher caliber. Well, of their eight non-con foes for 2019, four of them were from a BcS conference. A fifth is Marquette, from the quasi-power conference the Big East. Add in Cal-Santa Barbara and Cal State Fullerton, two schools from the soccer hotbed of California, and you can see the beginnings of a formidable sked.
On the downside, the U. won only one Game and tied two others, so maybe the roster as it was shaped just couldn't compete with the competition. But then again, the only mid-major school you could image being on the schedule when the U. was not beefing it up, South Dakota St., ending in a 1-0, so maybe the problem really was the players. And that thought is beefed up when you look at the non-conference schedules from 2018 and 2017. A lot of big-name schools, and there is a sprinkle of ranked teams, too.
Add that the 2018 squad needed to run the table in the Big Ten Tournament in order to reach the NCAA Tournament, and you can see that it's now been two years since Minnesota fielded a good side. Maybe, possibly, this program is drifting, and that the ambitions being spoken aren't successfully being backed up in deed. Hey, my conclusion.
It is true that Minnesota has rolled up this record against less than stellar competition. But two things stand out. First, and I've said this before, previous Golden Gopher squads have had a cupcake line-up lined up like this and have not gone through it undefeated. And second, notice the margins of victory over the foes, especially in the last four wins, all against conference opponents: 23 over Illinois, 27 over Nebraska, 35 over Rutgers, and 42 over Maryland. A hallmark of a good team is that beat the shit out of shitty teams, no mercy. That, plus all the other "first time since"'s, puts this club on the top of the WMNSS.
And now comes the big test. After a second bye, they face Penn St. November 9 at home. If the records stay immaculate, Minnesota will be part of yet another superlative: It'll be the first time in the history of top-flight college football that two Games on the same day feature teams that are at least 8-0 (the other Game: Alabama vs. LSU is that afternoon). It's been a hell of a run, and dare I say already a successful season. Two weeks from now, though, we'll see how good of a team the Minnesota Golden Gophers really are.
#0: Timberwolves (Re-Entry!). I really, really have no expectations for this squad. I should; these Woofie Dogs have been perennial underachievers since the turn of the millennium. But there is nothing -- no impact rookie nor big free agent signing -- that makes any fan believe that, yes, this team will finally turn the corner. And that means another lottery season after getting squeezed out of a still-rough and tumble Western Conference.
And yet I'll be goddamned: The Minnesota Timberwolves are currently 3-0! It really was supposed to blow up in the season opener in Brooklyn. Kyrie Irving dropped 50 and, in Overtime, had the ball and shot it for the win. He actually fell, hit the deck, got up, spun around Robert Covington and got the shot off in time. If that would've went in, I was prepared to say the Wolves were already toast. But it didn't.
The Wolves followed that up with a resounding road victory over Charlotte, who is worse than I initially thought. Sunday they opened up their home schedule against yet another East team, Miami. My friend got tickets to the Game, and I got two for me and my other friend. I was not particularly intrigued by the Wolves, who, so far, have started off gangbusters in the First Quarter only to tail off in the Second and Third. Versus the Heat, the squandered a 13-Point 1Q lead to trail by a basket at Halftime and then by seven after three. But somehow they battled back ... not just with the help of Karl-Anthony Towns, who captured the NBA's first Western Conference Player Of The Week award of the season, but primarily with the play of one Andrew Wiggins. Big Wig scored what became the Game-winner over the Nets, and he ripped off 11 straight Points late in the Fourth to help Minnesota overtake the Heat in the 116-109 win. I don't know if Wiggins can keep up his aggression or scoring touch, and obviously I don't know if the Wolves can keep winning like this. But for now, the Minnesota Timberwolves are undefeated, and that should give them a 0.
Very interesting; the Timberwolves will still not face a Western Conference team after this week. They are back on the road for contests against Philadelphia and Washington. They then come home to face off against Milwaukee.
#-1: Vikings (Last Week: 0). Thursday's win over Washington illustrates Vikings fans' unceasing unease with this club. A team on the rise who have gotten their shit together hosting a team that is between falling apart and mailing it in. This should be a rout, right?
Nope. The score was 19-9. The victory never seemed in doubt, but it was a bore to just sit through. The only moment of intrigue came when Kirk Cousins's sneak on fourth-and-short on the Vikes' half of the field failed, giving Washington a short field and a chance to tie the Game. Case Keenum was removed because of "concussion protocol," so Dewayne Haskins stepped in, and I feel the PTSD of many Twins Games where a rookie nobody completely fools the Twinks' lineup. At least that didn't happen here; in a couple plays Haskins threw a pass that went through the hands of a leaping Terry McLaurin and into the waiting arms of a Minnesota defender. What I saw after that did not make me feel as though the club can compete with New England or San Francisco (both of whom have become the toast of the NFL this season), but I felt I knew what the result would be nonetheless, and I was right.
So the Vikings have ripped off four in a row and now stand at 6-2. Like the Gopher footballers, the competition has been less than stout. So, yes, better to be 6-2 than 2-6. But Sunday's contest vs. The Bastard Dallas Texans should provide a stiffer test, though maybe not a clearer picture as to how good this team is. Patrick Mahomes may or may not be back for this one. Moreover, Kansas City, who has lost their last three Games at home, has an incredibly leaky Defense ... which is horrible timing for them as they face an offense that's doing work on the ground and flying through the air.
#-2: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -3). Road warriors beat Michigan in five and Michigan St. in four. But will they shit their pants in the tourney? Host Ohio St. Wednesday, then visit Purdue Sunday afternoon.
#-3: Wild (Last Week: -5). Sandwiched an awful 4-0 shellacking in Nashville with decisive wins over Edmonton and Los Angeles. The key was that both victories came at the X. So, it's possible that the Mild won't be the dumpster fire I was afraid they would be because at least they can hold their piss at home -- which would make them just a .500 at best, which is a far cry from the playoff team we hope they would always be.
Well, they have back-to-back road Games tonight and tomorrow night (that's Tuesday and Wednesday night) against The Team That Was Stolen From Us and St. Louis, then the club comes back home to face said Blues. So, if the pattern holds, the Wild should get out of this screening week at 1-2?
#-4: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -2). Uh-oh. The Gophers actually lost a Game. Sure, it was on the road, and to Ohio St. Friday, and by a score of 4-3, and the Buckeyes have an all-Golden Gopher coaching staff, which isn't a bad tree from which to branch from. But still, it's Minnesota. Yeah, they came back the next night to defeat the Bucks, 4-2. But while they remain at #2, Wisconsin is now the clear-cut #1 team in the country, and I'm scared that that will be wire to wire.
And wouldn't you look at that ... the Badgers come to town for a two-Game series this Saturday and Sunday afternoon.
#-5: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -4). With a home-and-home shellacking at the hands of Minnesota-Duluth over the weekend by a combined score of 7-2, it is clear that the satellite campus of the University of Minnesota system is now the big brother to the main campus when it comes to men's hockey. Wouldn't it be such, then, that the in-state blue-chippers would now migrate to the Bulldogs, who obviously have the better program and pipeline to the NHL, than the Goofers?
This weekend commences league play; the U. host Notre Dame Friday and Saturday.
#-Infinity: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -6). Didn't know before last week's survey, and I still don't quite believe it, but with Thursday's 1-0 win at Northwestern, they were still, somehow, technically still alive to reach the B1G Tournament. Well that crashed down to earth after the side got shellacked 4-1 in Illinois Sunday to end their season at 3-4-12 overall and 2-2-7 in the league.
According to the blog Equal Time Soccer, the U. soccer program a few years ago decided to make a concerted effort to tough their non-conference schedule. They couldn't do it overnight, however; they could only schedule a few years out with opponents of a higher caliber. Well, of their eight non-con foes for 2019, four of them were from a BcS conference. A fifth is Marquette, from the quasi-power conference the Big East. Add in Cal-Santa Barbara and Cal State Fullerton, two schools from the soccer hotbed of California, and you can see the beginnings of a formidable sked.
On the downside, the U. won only one Game and tied two others, so maybe the roster as it was shaped just couldn't compete with the competition. But then again, the only mid-major school you could image being on the schedule when the U. was not beefing it up, South Dakota St., ending in a 1-0, so maybe the problem really was the players. And that thought is beefed up when you look at the non-conference schedules from 2018 and 2017. A lot of big-name schools, and there is a sprinkle of ranked teams, too.
Add that the 2018 squad needed to run the table in the Big Ten Tournament in order to reach the NCAA Tournament, and you can see that it's now been two years since Minnesota fielded a good side. Maybe, possibly, this program is drifting, and that the ambitions being spoken aren't successfully being backed up in deed. Hey, my conclusion.
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