Positive Numbers: Gopher football (Re-Entry!). Man, I never thought I would ever see this:
I am still trying to contextualize the importance of this victory, 31-26 Saturday afternoon over then-fifth-ranked and undefeated Penn St., in the annals of recent Twin Cities sports history. Because I'm not sure if there has been one quite like it.
I'll try and narrow it down, because of course there have been many notable victories over very good teams in the past. But this is different than, say, the Minneapolis Miracle, or (to deploy a maybe not-so-good example) the Gopher basketball team defeating #1 Indiana back in 2013. I'd be lying to myself if the heft of this win doesn't stem from the fact that the Minnesota football program has vacillated between mediocre and irrelevant for the past half-century. Hardcore fans have not been waiting but hoping that this squad would rise from the dead, and casual fans note that other schools have had whopping success and wish that would happen in Dinktyown. That final realization of, "Holy shit! They actually did it!" forged a bond between those types of fans, and that was the force that pulled all of them on to the TCF Bank Stadium field.
But there's more to it than that, and you have to give credit to the team on the field and, yes, Head Coach P. J. Fleck. Despite fears from local fans who've seen their teams break their hearts in mind-boggling ways, the Nittany Lions defense was pushed around by the Golden Gopher Offense from the get-go. Meanwhile, on the other side of the ball, the Defense ... well, actually Antoine Winfield, Jr. had two Interceptions that short-circuited Penn St.'s early attack and pushed the Lions on their heels. Now, PSU is a good team, and by the end of the Fourth Quarter the U. was holding on for dear life. But that's when Jordan Howden sealed this program-defining victory:
And I think that play encapsulates what's so special about this win. Upsets happen all the time, even in these parts. But a common way to infer an upset win is to believe that the winner is deficient on talent, at least on paper. The University of Minnesota played nobody up until Saturday, but I will go out on a limb and say that this team has a bunch of talent. They are a damn good team. And on Saturday, they went into the Game with a decent chance to win ... and by God, they did. They met the challenge against a foe that was great, but proved they were equally formidable.
This win is not a fluke. They didn't need a rookie taking the wrong angle on a flying tackle. They didn't need the home crowd to influence the refs on the court into giving them foul after foul. Fleck and the team practiced, had a game plan, executed that game plan, made their own luck, and earned a stunning victory that propels them to 9-0 for the first time since 1904 and into the Top 10 (at #7, to be specific) for the first time since 1962. And while this could be viewed through maroon-and-gold-colored glasses, this team looks as though they are just getting started. They keep this up and the Rose Bowl, The Promised Land for Tim Brewster, could be the worst-case scenario. And, my goodness, this program could be set up for success at a level not seen in three generations.
Viewed through those narrowing filters, maybe the Timberwolves' MV3 run in 2004, in particular their seven-Game Western Conference Semifinal win over Sacramento, is the closest and most recent analogue of this type of win, the one where we finally could reasonably shake off our inferiority complex and think, "Dammit, our team is good, and I genuinely think we'll beat you." Now, again, I don't think many of us predicted a win over Penn St. But, again, this isn't a "Sun has to shine on a dog's ass at some point" type of anomaly. This proves that this team is the real fucking deal. And so us fearful sports fans now believe the Gophers have a more-than-decent shot to march into Iowa next Saturday and win. That is how important Saturday's Game was.
#0: Vikings (Last Week: -4). This may have been the best weekend in Minnesota football history. No, the Vikes' win over Dallas in Dallas for Sunday Night Football doesn't register to what the U. did the day before. But I was more down on the Vikings than I was on the Gophers. I really didn't think they would have a chance to beat the Cowboys. And I wrote them off once I heard that Defensive Tackle Linval Joseph was out for the Game. That meant that Ezekiel Elliott would run right around, over and through the Vikes.
But by Buddha, they didn't allow that to happen! Elliott was stuffed for only 47 Yards rushing. That forced Cowboys Quarterback Dak Prescott to throw the ball and ... well, to be honest, he had incredible success doing that. But somehow, late in the Game where they had the ball deep in Minnesota territory and were driving for the go-ahead Touchdown, Dallas dialed up back-to-back running plays to Elliott that resulted in a no-gain and a three-Yard loss. Faced with Fourth Down, a pass in the flat from Prescott to Elliott was broken up by a diving Eric Kendricks, and the Vikings got the ball back. (They weren't able to run out the clock, but Dallas was forced to heave a Hail Mary for the final play of the Game, and it was intercepted by Jayron Kearse in the end zone for the lone Turnover of the night.) Cowboys Twitter wanted the head of Head Coach Jason Garrett for those running plays.
Meanwhile, Minnesota kept right on humming on Offense. The O-Line was opening up massive holes frequently for Dalvin Cook (who had 186 total Yards from scrimmage) to bust through, and that set up play-action where Kirk Cousins remained very effective. Kyle Rudolph scored the squad's first two TDs (the first was a Beckham-esque triumph; it's still possible Cousins was trying to throw the ball away), and in an important call, Head Coach Mike Zimmer told the team to go for it on 4th & Goal from the 2 with two Seconds left in the Third Quarter ... and Cook was able to run around the right side of the line and get into the end zone for the Game-winning score.
If they would have lost I would have said this was par for the course for this franchise. In retrospect, I can say that they needed this win. They are now 7-3 and only a single Game behind Green Bay in the NFC North with ailing Denver coming to town Sunday. And I can believe, somewhat, that this is a damn good team, too.
#-1: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -1). Swept both Maryland and Ohio St. on the road, won eight in a row, get to the Final Four and I'll give more of a shit. They're home for four starting with league leaders Wisconsin Thursday night and Michigan Saturday night.
#-2: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -2). An encouraging sign: The #PrideOnIce took five of a possible six Points in Michigan over the weekend. Technically they tied the Wolverines on Friday, but they play anyway because they reward another/winner (?) Point to the team that finally wins the Game. And the U. broke a 2-all draw in Double Overtime courtesy of, you guessed it, Sammy Walker. No similar dramatics needed Saturday afternoon as the Gophers won, 3-1. Not sure if they've turned things around; will need to add to the small sample size with a home two-fer versus Penn St. (I have a ticket to the Friday tilt, which I bought at the State Fair.)
#-3: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -5). I have to admit that this team's place in the survey pecking order is a matter of timing. They should have had their season-opening loss over Missouri St. included in this week's survey. But I didn't get last week's WMNSS out until the evening, by which point they had already lost to the Bears. So the only match taken into consideration for this screening week is their 32-Point curb-stomping of Vermont at Williams Sunday afternoon.
Unlike their male counterparts, the female b-ballers don't have an impressive non-con. Their toughest, or at least most notable, opponent in this part of their sked is against Arizona St., they play them at The Barn Sunday. They also host Wisconsin-Milwaukee Thursday at high noon.
#-4: Wild (Last Week: -6). This past screening week calcified a pattern that can viewed as either quirky or troubling: This squad gets out to shitty starts. They started down 2-0 at Anaheim, down 4-0 in San Jose, and 2-0 in Phoenix. And yet the Wild were able to come back in all three contests. And they came back to beat the Ducks and the Coyotes! (And, well, made it a hell of a game vs. the Sharks before finally falling, 6-5.) One can look at this and see the makings of a sorry group of players who wake up to late to make things interesting and will see their recent good fortune regress to the mean. One can also look at this and believe that this group has some necessary grit in them. In which side does that debate fall? We'll have to wait and see.
They finish up their western swing tonight/Tuesday night in Los Angeles. They then come home to host The Bastard Winnipeg Jets and The Bastard Hartford Whalers.
#-5: Timberwolves (Last Week: -3). Got blown out in Memphis. Survived The Smoldering Carcass That Was The Golden State Warriors in Overtime at Target. Got nipped on a buzzer-beater by Denver superstar Nikola Jokic, also in OT. Finally, outlasted the Pistons in Detroit. Maybe we're seeing a pattern with this club as well: Not as bad as we thought they would be, but still too young to believe they have a sure spot in the postseason. The early buzz surrounds Andrew Wiggins, who has been the team's leading scorer in eight of the last nine Games including a 40-Point masterpiece to take out The Bastard Philadelphia Warriors Friday. Maybe he has overcome his insouciance and decided he wants to earn a paycheck in the NBA. On the downside, Ryan Saunders's edict that the Timberwolves will join The Analytics Age and rain threes has not come to fruition; the main reason they lost to the Nuggets Sunday afternoon is that they shot 6-of-45. Ick!
Another busy screening week, but three of their four Games are at home: San Antonio tomorrow/Wednesday night followed by a back-to-back of Washington and Houston. They then strike out on the road Monday to begin a home-and-home with The Bastard New Orleans Jazz.
#-6: Gopher men's basketball (Re-Entry!). I feel really bad about sticking these young men down at the bottom of the WMNSS, especially in their first screening week of their new season. I vacillated between them and the Timberwolves. Ultimately, the Wolves' wins were more impressive than the U.'s season-opening victory over visiting Cleveland St. by 35 Tuesday. What hurts is the nine-Point loss to Oklahoma Saturday in, of all, places, Sioux Falls, S.D.
What to make of this team? They've lost seven players from last year's experienced club that made it to the real second round of the NCAA Tournament. And while that makes it Richard Pitino's most successful year at Minnesota, the players they lose include cornerstones Amir Coffey and Jordan Murphy. The new additions should re-fortify their frontcourt, but prognosticators say that there is just too much turnover to expect a return to The Big Dance. (As of right now, Joe Lunardi has the Gophers out of the bracket.)
The team plays Butler tonight/Tuesday night as part of the B1G/Big East Gavitt Tip-Off series. They then visit Utah Friday. Whoa, this is a very beefy non-conference schedule, I'll give them that!
I am still trying to contextualize the importance of this victory, 31-26 Saturday afternoon over then-fifth-ranked and undefeated Penn St., in the annals of recent Twin Cities sports history. Because I'm not sure if there has been one quite like it.
I'll try and narrow it down, because of course there have been many notable victories over very good teams in the past. But this is different than, say, the Minneapolis Miracle, or (to deploy a maybe not-so-good example) the Gopher basketball team defeating #1 Indiana back in 2013. I'd be lying to myself if the heft of this win doesn't stem from the fact that the Minnesota football program has vacillated between mediocre and irrelevant for the past half-century. Hardcore fans have not been waiting but hoping that this squad would rise from the dead, and casual fans note that other schools have had whopping success and wish that would happen in Dinktyown. That final realization of, "Holy shit! They actually did it!" forged a bond between those types of fans, and that was the force that pulled all of them on to the TCF Bank Stadium field.
But there's more to it than that, and you have to give credit to the team on the field and, yes, Head Coach P. J. Fleck. Despite fears from local fans who've seen their teams break their hearts in mind-boggling ways, the Nittany Lions defense was pushed around by the Golden Gopher Offense from the get-go. Meanwhile, on the other side of the ball, the Defense ... well, actually Antoine Winfield, Jr. had two Interceptions that short-circuited Penn St.'s early attack and pushed the Lions on their heels. Now, PSU is a good team, and by the end of the Fourth Quarter the U. was holding on for dear life. But that's when Jordan Howden sealed this program-defining victory:
— Videos by: FTB (@FTBVids1) November 9, 2019
And I think that play encapsulates what's so special about this win. Upsets happen all the time, even in these parts. But a common way to infer an upset win is to believe that the winner is deficient on talent, at least on paper. The University of Minnesota played nobody up until Saturday, but I will go out on a limb and say that this team has a bunch of talent. They are a damn good team. And on Saturday, they went into the Game with a decent chance to win ... and by God, they did. They met the challenge against a foe that was great, but proved they were equally formidable.
This win is not a fluke. They didn't need a rookie taking the wrong angle on a flying tackle. They didn't need the home crowd to influence the refs on the court into giving them foul after foul. Fleck and the team practiced, had a game plan, executed that game plan, made their own luck, and earned a stunning victory that propels them to 9-0 for the first time since 1904 and into the Top 10 (at #7, to be specific) for the first time since 1962. And while this could be viewed through maroon-and-gold-colored glasses, this team looks as though they are just getting started. They keep this up and the Rose Bowl, The Promised Land for Tim Brewster, could be the worst-case scenario. And, my goodness, this program could be set up for success at a level not seen in three generations.
Viewed through those narrowing filters, maybe the Timberwolves' MV3 run in 2004, in particular their seven-Game Western Conference Semifinal win over Sacramento, is the closest and most recent analogue of this type of win, the one where we finally could reasonably shake off our inferiority complex and think, "Dammit, our team is good, and I genuinely think we'll beat you." Now, again, I don't think many of us predicted a win over Penn St. But, again, this isn't a "Sun has to shine on a dog's ass at some point" type of anomaly. This proves that this team is the real fucking deal. And so us fearful sports fans now believe the Gophers have a more-than-decent shot to march into Iowa next Saturday and win. That is how important Saturday's Game was.
#0: Vikings (Last Week: -4). This may have been the best weekend in Minnesota football history. No, the Vikes' win over Dallas in Dallas for Sunday Night Football doesn't register to what the U. did the day before. But I was more down on the Vikings than I was on the Gophers. I really didn't think they would have a chance to beat the Cowboys. And I wrote them off once I heard that Defensive Tackle Linval Joseph was out for the Game. That meant that Ezekiel Elliott would run right around, over and through the Vikes.
But by Buddha, they didn't allow that to happen! Elliott was stuffed for only 47 Yards rushing. That forced Cowboys Quarterback Dak Prescott to throw the ball and ... well, to be honest, he had incredible success doing that. But somehow, late in the Game where they had the ball deep in Minnesota territory and were driving for the go-ahead Touchdown, Dallas dialed up back-to-back running plays to Elliott that resulted in a no-gain and a three-Yard loss. Faced with Fourth Down, a pass in the flat from Prescott to Elliott was broken up by a diving Eric Kendricks, and the Vikings got the ball back. (They weren't able to run out the clock, but Dallas was forced to heave a Hail Mary for the final play of the Game, and it was intercepted by Jayron Kearse in the end zone for the lone Turnover of the night.) Cowboys Twitter wanted the head of Head Coach Jason Garrett for those running plays.
Meanwhile, Minnesota kept right on humming on Offense. The O-Line was opening up massive holes frequently for Dalvin Cook (who had 186 total Yards from scrimmage) to bust through, and that set up play-action where Kirk Cousins remained very effective. Kyle Rudolph scored the squad's first two TDs (the first was a Beckham-esque triumph; it's still possible Cousins was trying to throw the ball away), and in an important call, Head Coach Mike Zimmer told the team to go for it on 4th & Goal from the 2 with two Seconds left in the Third Quarter ... and Cook was able to run around the right side of the line and get into the end zone for the Game-winning score.
If they would have lost I would have said this was par for the course for this franchise. In retrospect, I can say that they needed this win. They are now 7-3 and only a single Game behind Green Bay in the NFC North with ailing Denver coming to town Sunday. And I can believe, somewhat, that this is a damn good team, too.
#-1: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -1). Swept both Maryland and Ohio St. on the road, won eight in a row, get to the Final Four and I'll give more of a shit. They're home for four starting with league leaders Wisconsin Thursday night and Michigan Saturday night.
#-2: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -2). An encouraging sign: The #PrideOnIce took five of a possible six Points in Michigan over the weekend. Technically they tied the Wolverines on Friday, but they play anyway because they reward another/winner (?) Point to the team that finally wins the Game. And the U. broke a 2-all draw in Double Overtime courtesy of, you guessed it, Sammy Walker. No similar dramatics needed Saturday afternoon as the Gophers won, 3-1. Not sure if they've turned things around; will need to add to the small sample size with a home two-fer versus Penn St. (I have a ticket to the Friday tilt, which I bought at the State Fair.)
#-3: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -5). I have to admit that this team's place in the survey pecking order is a matter of timing. They should have had their season-opening loss over Missouri St. included in this week's survey. But I didn't get last week's WMNSS out until the evening, by which point they had already lost to the Bears. So the only match taken into consideration for this screening week is their 32-Point curb-stomping of Vermont at Williams Sunday afternoon.
Unlike their male counterparts, the female b-ballers don't have an impressive non-con. Their toughest, or at least most notable, opponent in this part of their sked is against Arizona St., they play them at The Barn Sunday. They also host Wisconsin-Milwaukee Thursday at high noon.
#-4: Wild (Last Week: -6). This past screening week calcified a pattern that can viewed as either quirky or troubling: This squad gets out to shitty starts. They started down 2-0 at Anaheim, down 4-0 in San Jose, and 2-0 in Phoenix. And yet the Wild were able to come back in all three contests. And they came back to beat the Ducks and the Coyotes! (And, well, made it a hell of a game vs. the Sharks before finally falling, 6-5.) One can look at this and see the makings of a sorry group of players who wake up to late to make things interesting and will see their recent good fortune regress to the mean. One can also look at this and believe that this group has some necessary grit in them. In which side does that debate fall? We'll have to wait and see.
They finish up their western swing tonight/Tuesday night in Los Angeles. They then come home to host The Bastard Winnipeg Jets and The Bastard Hartford Whalers.
#-5: Timberwolves (Last Week: -3). Got blown out in Memphis. Survived The Smoldering Carcass That Was The Golden State Warriors in Overtime at Target. Got nipped on a buzzer-beater by Denver superstar Nikola Jokic, also in OT. Finally, outlasted the Pistons in Detroit. Maybe we're seeing a pattern with this club as well: Not as bad as we thought they would be, but still too young to believe they have a sure spot in the postseason. The early buzz surrounds Andrew Wiggins, who has been the team's leading scorer in eight of the last nine Games including a 40-Point masterpiece to take out The Bastard Philadelphia Warriors Friday. Maybe he has overcome his insouciance and decided he wants to earn a paycheck in the NBA. On the downside, Ryan Saunders's edict that the Timberwolves will join The Analytics Age and rain threes has not come to fruition; the main reason they lost to the Nuggets Sunday afternoon is that they shot 6-of-45. Ick!
Another busy screening week, but three of their four Games are at home: San Antonio tomorrow/Wednesday night followed by a back-to-back of Washington and Houston. They then strike out on the road Monday to begin a home-and-home with The Bastard New Orleans Jazz.
#-6: Gopher men's basketball (Re-Entry!). I feel really bad about sticking these young men down at the bottom of the WMNSS, especially in their first screening week of their new season. I vacillated between them and the Timberwolves. Ultimately, the Wolves' wins were more impressive than the U.'s season-opening victory over visiting Cleveland St. by 35 Tuesday. What hurts is the nine-Point loss to Oklahoma Saturday in, of all, places, Sioux Falls, S.D.
What to make of this team? They've lost seven players from last year's experienced club that made it to the real second round of the NCAA Tournament. And while that makes it Richard Pitino's most successful year at Minnesota, the players they lose include cornerstones Amir Coffey and Jordan Murphy. The new additions should re-fortify their frontcourt, but prognosticators say that there is just too much turnover to expect a return to The Big Dance. (As of right now, Joe Lunardi has the Gophers out of the bracket.)
The team plays Butler tonight/Tuesday night as part of the B1G/Big East Gavitt Tip-Off series. They then visit Utah Friday. Whoa, this is a very beefy non-conference schedule, I'll give them that!
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