#-1: Gopher football (Last Week: -2). A lot of exceptions I'm making to main criteria for usually ranking my WMNSS, admittedly. That main criteria is record during the Week, but I am taking a close look at my secondary criteria, playoff prospects/how far along in the season is the team, very much into account.
With that being said, I am glad that I have a clear-cut team for the top spot this screening Week. It is a football team, so it's just one Game per Week, but the U. gridironers did something you would expect a decent team to be able to do, which is beat a ranked team (25th-ranked Nebraska in this case) at home. And they handled the Cornhuskers in front of a big crowd and a national Friday night audience, by the tune of 24-6. The statistic that stands out to me is that the Gopher Defense, which really hasn't stood out beside Koi Perich, got a school record nine Sacks on Nebraska Quarterback and creep doing a Jennifer Jason Leigh in Single White Female stalker thing on Patrick Mahomes, Dylan Raiola. They do not reach 0, however, because the fans stormed the field. I know you're starved for success, but for God's sake, you only beat the 25th-ranked team in the country, plus the school has had success. Sure, that success was when their grandfathers were getting drunk and trying to fuck women on campus, but still, that means the University of Minnesota does not get to storm the field after these good but not-historic Wins. Let's have some self-respect. Besides, they have to go to Iowa Saturday afternoon. I don't have high hopes of this club in Iowa City.
#-2: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -4). A lot of teams this Week went 1-1, and in this case, I am giving the Gopher male icers the nod above the others for managing to gain a split against eight-ranked (and hated rival with whom they no longer play on a regular basis, to everyone's disappointment) North Dakota in Grand Forks over the weekend. They got their doors blown off Friday, 5-2, but they bounced back to bounce the Fighting Hawks the next evening, 5-1.
This weekend comes another hated rival with whom they no longer play on a regular basis. Minnesota-Duluth comes to town for Games Friday and Saturday.
#-3: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -1). By contrast to the male icers, the female icers, while also going 1-1, played Ohio St. at Ridder. I would say the results (a 4-1 Loss Saturday afternoon followed by a 6-3 doubling up Sunday afternoon) are similar to the Gopher men's hockey squad, but this split occurred at home, where a home sweep feels a tad more possible. Also, even though I am happy the U. demonstrated they can beat the high-powered Buckeye program once, I have a nagging feeling Ohio St. let them win Sunday afternoon. Again, like I have said for a decade now, there really is no true evaluating this club and program until they face either these Buckeyes or Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament. And even though Minnesota-Duluth is ranked either fourth or fifth, the Golden Gophers, who are ranked third, should beat them this weekend, even if both Games are in Duluth.
#-4: Wild (Last Week: -5). Can't lie -- this squad is coming out of the gate stumblin'. Got routed in Washington Friday, 5-1, then lost in Overtime in Philadelphia, 2-1. They rebounded to be The New York Rangers in Madison Square Garden Monday night, 3-1. But the Defense, beyond Zeev Buium and in particular Brock Faber, have been pedestrian at best. And on Offense, Kirill Kaprizov's and Matt Boldy's inevitable cooldowns have continued to expose their anemic 5-on-5 O. (Their Power Play, meanwhile, has remained great, which has caused a mirror image of the Wild's historic identity, where they've been good Even Strength but has sucked with the man advantage.)
Thank goodness the season still is young. And after playing at The Bastard Colorado Rockies tonight/Wednesday night, they have a six-Game homestand. Half of those come this Week: The Bastard Winnipeg Jets-cum-Arizona Coyotes Saturday, San Jose Sunday, Bastard Atlanta Thrashers Tuesday.
#-5: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -6). A four-Set Loss at Oregon Friday, followed by a four-Set Win at Washington Saturday. (I wonder how the volleyball team likes going two time zones west to play Matches in cities over 200 miles apart on back-to-back nights. College football alignment, baby!) Both schools are unranked, so the U. losing to an unranked Ducks club, and in four Sets, should be a killer on the resume. But ESPN.com bracketologist Charlie Creme, who is now going to prognosticate for women's college volleyball (and I like that, good for him), said that before these two Games, Minnesota was a 3-Seed. A 3-Seed?? They might lose in the First Round of the tournament! (Granted, Creme wrote this before last Week's Games.)
Years prior, visiting the Indiana schools would be a respite, quasi practice for the Gophers. But Indiana is currently ranked 23rd and Purdue eleventh. This weekend could be a real, real bad one for the team. That is part of the reason why I rank them this low.
#-6: Vikings (Re-Entry!). This was a winnable Game. But beyond the Defense regularly getting torn apart for explosive plays (counterpoint: The Vikes were making explosive plays on Philadelphia, too), one statistics stands out in their 28-22 Loss to the Eagles: They made six Red Zone trips and got into the promised land once while making five Field Goals. Make that 5-of-6 and that means 16 more Points and, presumably, a ten-Point margin of victory. I think a lot of this is on Carson Wentz. There were times where you just scratch your head and wonder what he was thinking. Most egregious, I think, is a play where he had CJ Ham open on the flat. Wentz was scrambling toward him. He throws it to Ham, Vikings get a First Down deeper into Eagles territory. Instead, Wentz holds onto the ball, he's about to get sacked, and he throws it to no one and draws an Intentional Grounding Penalty. That led to one of the five FGs Will Reichard, who was the true start of Sunday's Loss for the vikes, made. I wonder if anyone has called him Carson Wince.
Still, Kevin O'Connell is sticking with him as Minnesota has to go over the breach and play the Thursday Game at The Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers seemed to have their act together, but they're scuffling now, just like the Vikes. This seems like an eliminator, and thus a must-Win for the Vikings.
#-7: United FC (Re-Entry!). Turns out their chances of winning the West were a mirage. But facing a very beatable Los Angeles Galaxy wondering just how they followed up their championship season with a next-to-last finish in the Western Conference, the Looooooons lost, 2-1. A Win and they would've finished third, in front of LAFC. Instead, they finish fourth and (cue screaming, 'tis the season) face longtime oppressors The Seattle Sounders in the First Round of The MLS Cup Playoffs.
There are a few things going for this club as they go into this fraught best-of-three series. It looks as though Dayne St. Clair will be named Goalkeeper Of The Year and feature in the MLS Best XI. Stalwart Defender Michael Boxall has enjoyed a renaissance of a season and might get into the Best XI as well. And MNUFC finally was able to get a Point (it was a Win actually) in Seattle for the first time in their history back on June 1, so the spell was finally broken. But can they win twice? We'll see ... and then wait a long time, because if this series goes the distance, we won't know the victor until November 7. Game 1 is Monday at Allianz Field, and that is super inconvenient because 1) I might need to be there for Mother and 2) early forecasts call for a steady rain Monday evening. Oh, and the Match is scheduled for 8 p.m. I either come home from work and make a second trip to the St. Paul side of the area Monday night, or I stay out after work for a few hours. Both bad choices.
#-8: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -3). Lost 3-2 in Washington, who won the Big Ten regular season title, Thursday night, then played Oregon to a scoreless Draw in Eugene Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, that was enough to kill off any chance for these Goofers to play in the conference tournament, and that most likely ends their chances of playing in the NCAA Tournament as well.
Host Purdue for the final Match of their season Sunday afternoon.
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