Western Illinois Has a Football Team

Crazy right?

If you're going to WIU, the closest cities near you are Davenport, Iowa and Peoria, Illinois.  You're damned close to Missouri too.  Did you know there's a Mexico, Missouri?  That's weird.

Situated in Macomb, IL, WIU has a total enrollment of 13,600.  The university was founded in 1899 as the Western Illinois State Normal School.  They had to identify it as a normal school to separate it from the loony bins.  Fact.  According to Forbes, they are the 413th best university. US News and World Report has them 49th in the region.

Their athletic teams are called the FIGHTING LEATHERNECKS, but their mascot and logo is a bulldog, which is pretty goddamn confusing.  Even more confusing is that the female sports teams were known as the Westerwinds until 2009.  The bulldog mascot has to do with WIU's connection to the Marines.  WIU is the only non-military institution with permission to use the USMC official seal.  The bulldog is named Colonel Rock or Rocky. 

Oh snap, also, they received their land for the university from the Illinois freemasons.  So there's probably a secret handshake at WIU. 

Famous Western Illinois Alumni include:

Bryan Cox - former NFL All-Pro linebacker
Rodney Harrison - former NFL All-Pro safety
Frank Winters - former NFL center for the dirty Packers
Joe Decker - Guinness record holder for world's "fittest" man
Gene Lamont - former MLBer and current Tigers bench coach
Mary Matalin - Republican strategist and James Carville's wife
Rick and Paul Reuschel - former MLB pitchers
Robert Nardelli - former Chrysler and Home Depot CEO, one of CNBCs' worst CEOs of all time

Kind of a wacky and wild list there.  So, the university is in the middle of nowhere, has freemason connections, has mascot confusion and a bunch of interesting alumni.  What about their football team?

The Fighting Leatherneck Bulldogs are 2-0 with wins over Hampton and a dude named Quincy.  They handled both of those teams easily, with a total of 76 points for and just 15 against.

Nikko Watson and J.C. Baker are the main threats in the running game with a combined 353 yards on the year.  Redshirt freshman QB Trenton Norville has 362 yards passing with Hi-C Scott and Fredson Salomon getting the bulk of the action at WR.

Their defense has intercepted the ball 7 times already, with 6 different players having at least one.  Defensive back Johnathan Rollins has 2 INTs.

Their kicking game seems to be a work in progress.  Nathan Knuffman is both their placekicker and punter and while he seems to be ok at punting, he's 0-3 on the year for FGs.  2 of the attempts have been blocked.  Possibly by Nathan kicking the ball into his line.

None of this really matters as the Gophers should be able to exert their will over the Leathernecks.  Hopefully this game is a nice confidence booster for Nelson and we can get him out of there relatively early and get Mitch Leidner some work as well.  Coming out of the game healthy would also be nice as we've lost key players in both games with Boddy-Cahoun ripping about 42 knee ligaments against NMSU.  Sucks.  Donnell Kirkwood will reportedly suit up, but remains doubtful to play.  Freshman Berkley Edwards may be available the following week as well.

Projected outcome: 

Gophers 48, Bulldognecks 13


WIU All-Namers:

Hi-C Scott, WR
Fredson Salomon, WR
Sterling Mack, LB

Pretty weak group of names.

What They're Saying on Twitter:

Oh yeah #Mayweather #Canelo at my apt tomorrow! $5 BYOB DM me for details #WIU
— Don Jon Ditka (@ChicagoMadeSean) September 13, 2013

C'mon Don Jon, get a keg bro.

I cant stand #WIU man ho do you expect me to make something of myself if yall not giving me a chance. #fuckit
— August 31st, 1991 (@BlazAsainBro) September 13, 2013

The Masons will be banging on this dude's door in 3, 2, 1...

2Chainz is coming to #WIU ?! #Homecoming2013 pic.twitter.com/diTdSiVOA7
— Heather (@Fletchhh7) September 13, 2013

2 CHAIIIIIIIIIINZ...let's hope he stays there.

Classy drinking picture 💗 haha #imanidiot #wiu pic.twitter.com/pYgbKJh7SK
— Grace Cleair (@GraceCleair) September 13, 2013

Yeah, there isn't much football chatter.  What are you gonna do?

S/O to my team on the way to Minnesota to play the gophers turn up time to shock the world #WIU #D1 #LEATHERNECKS #2-0
— Devon Sanders (@Vonn_Wiuboy) September 13, 2013

Oh, here's one.  Let's go no world shocking for now.

On the Sidelines: #WIU football sets out on Gopher hunt -- http://t.co/J9xKGMRvkO
— Ben Marth (@Ben_WGEM) September 13, 2013

Gopher hunting!!! Do they eat gopher in bumfuck Illinois?  Sounds like coach Neilson and the boys have the right attitude coming in at least.

#Ritz #Thursday #mirror #selfie #army leggings #me #senior #wiu #awesome http://t.co/6hkzqpx5Ub
— Neeeeeeeeeena (@BelloDesastre89) September 13, 2013

WIU Volleyballers

Big Ten Football Week in Review

The Season Has Landed

When you're jettisoned from your usual tailgating lot and forced to wander the desert to find @FrothyGopher's secret internet nerd friends in order to find a place to stand and drink before Gopher football, your season is off to a pretty bad start.

The great Minnesota grease together forced a number of us who park in the spacious St. Paul tailgating lots to find alternative means to imbibe liquor before the game.  Initially, we had decided that maybe we'd actually go to the Fair and then head over to our useless Washington Avenue ramp parking spot before heading into the game.  Then we looked at the forecast and decided we'd succumb to the heat.  We nearly died anyway though; mainly because we're dumb.  After having several lunch beers at Cowboy Jack's in Woodbury, we bought beer and a couple of those styrofoam coolers to load up with ice/beer goodness.

On paper this plan was solid.  Frothy tells me the ramp is just a couple of blocks from the lot where his friends are.  We park, then simply carry the styrocoolers to the lot.  We're big strapping guys, and 12 pounders each plus a 8.8lb bag of ice isn't that much to carry.  With Frothy as my sherpa, we headed out into the heat.  After going down six flights of stairs with a cooler we both look like we had just finished a marathon.  So, you know, off to a bad start.  Then this happened:

The dashed line was pretty much a straight path through to the tailgate lot.  Instead of doing that we wandered the earth like a very sweaty Caine from Kung Fu.  As new freshmen were entering the Students' Cooperative they were able to witness two full grown men making a terrible, terrible mistake that involved alcohol, but not in the way one might think.  One girl gave us a funny look before she jumped in her car and sped away.  Sorry, Ashleigh. 

So, that happened and in the future I would just go to Stub and Herbs like a normal person and drink delicious Surly beers. 

As for the game, my fears on the passing front were realized as Nelson only went 10-22 for 99 yards.  Not all of the onus is on Nelson for the poor percentage, but I feel like most of it is.  He missed some throws pretty badly.  He also had a couple of balls that could have been caught and the o-line wasn't doing him any favors at times.  What he can do though is run like the dickens.  On his 48 yard run, I timed him from the 50 yard line to the goal line and I came up with 6.2 seconds.  Now granted, he had a step or two start from behind the 50, but he also slowed up in the last 10 yards or so and wasn't running in a straight line.  That comes out to a 4.96 40 time with quick goat math.  He ended up with 12 carries for 82 yards and 2 TDs on the ground.

On defense, there were a number of great plays, but there was also a scheme that allowed shitty UNLV to move the ball quite easily at times.  UNLV's first drive was well executed as they softened up the linebackers and secondary with quick passes before handing off to Cornett for a long run right up the gut.  You have to credit the UNLV offense and Nick Sherry for executing as well as they did early too.

Momentum may have started to turn just before the half when the Gophers put a quick 39 yard drive together ending with a Maxx Williams TD reception after getting a good 3 and out stop.  The second half of course is when the dorrs got blown off this mutha starting with a Marcus Jones 98 yard kickoff return for a TD (unofficial TRE time 11.5 seconds) and then a Martezz Shabazz TD return off an awesome field goal block by Ra'Shede Hageman. 

Going into the 4th quarter, Boddy-Calhoun's 89 yard interception for a score pretty much sealed it for the Gophers.  Later on, Kill was really rotating in players and we saw some 3rd teamers even get time.  Some solid experience was gained.  This was a solid win to build on and hopefully a road win at New Mexico State is coming on Saturday.  People will say "but, but, but they only did well because of big plays."  Consider those 3 extra touchdowns means 3 more kickoffs (more time on D) and maybe, just maybe, this is a team that can create some of these types of plays.  Hageman being a force on the field goal block and Boddy-Calhoun's great jump on that pass weren't necessarily flukes. 

Cop considers storming the field.

Around the Big Ten

I titled this the week in review, and then I went on and on about the Gophers, so here are some quick hitters from the rest of the conference:

Indiana 73, Indiana St 35 --  Larry Bird weeps as the Hoosiers wipe the floor with his alma mater.  35 points allowed though?  The defense did stop the Sycamores 9 straight times and two of the TDs were special teams/defensive.  (recap) They get Navy this week. Navy's triple option offense can cause issues for teams.

Michigan State 26, W. Michigan 13 -- The Spartans had to fight against almighty God (no, not Notre Dame) as the weather pounded them into a delay.  Needless to say they expected a bigger margin against Western Michigan and the natives are getting restless in Lansing according to Joe Rexrode.  They face USF in week 2.

Illinois 42, Southern Illinois 34 -- Scheelhaase threw for 416 yards, but the Illini still nearly shit the bed against an FCS team.  The Salukis had a shot to tie it up with less than a minute to play but turned it over on downs on the 3 yard line.  So, if you had any lingering bad feelings about the Gophers performance against UNLV, you can rest easy knowing we're not Illinois.  Dave Wischnowsky says even the wins don't feel good at Illinois.  We've been there.

Ohio State 40, Buffalo 20 -- The #2 Buckeyes didn't blow the doors off of Buffalo, but easily cruised to victory nonetheless thanks to 23-0 first quarter.  Urban Meyer wasn't pleased with the mistakes that were being made, indicating, "in a tight game, you're going to lose."  Bradley Roby returns for week 2 against San Diego St.

Wisconsin 45, UMass 0 --  This game pissed me off more than any other as I had the Badgers -45 and in the waning seconds they were on the goal line.  Now I was in a bar, so I couldn't tell for sure, but I thought they might have got in on the very last play.  The sportsbook disagrees though.  Tennessee Tech comes in to town this week.  And apparently they have this brand new defensive strategy called forcing turnovers.

Purdue 7, Cincinnati 42 -- *sadtuba*  Two fumbles lost and two interceptions does not a good game make.  Worst of all the opposing quarterback was named Munchie.  Purdue gets Indiana State next week.

Michigan 59, Central Michigan 9 -- Michigan's tune-up before facing Notre Dame this week went extremely well.  Drake Johnson's ACL tear will press 240lb freshman Derrick Green into action behind Fitz Two Saints.  Green was apparently one of, if not the top high school tailback in the nation. 

Penn State 23, Syracuse 17 -- Penn State held on for the victory in a tight contest.  Penn State freshman QB Christian Hackenburg threw for 278 yards and two 50+ yard TDs.  Time for some MACtion this week agaisnt Eastern Michigan.

Nebraska 37, Wyoming 34 -- Disaster for Nebraska was barely averted as Wyoming was in the fight all game long.  Nebraska had two 100 yard rushers in the game and Wyoming QB Brett Smith threw for 383 yards and 4 TDs.  The Cowboys had a chance for an onside kick to go for the tie or a win, but couldn't recover the ball.  They did get one last shot from their 6 with one minute left, but alas could not perform the necessary magic.  Nebraska's defense has a lot of 'splaining to do this week as they can't let Southern Miss hang another 600 yards on them.

Northwestern 44, Cal 30 -- Cal was also able to do some serious moving of the football with freshman QB Jared Goff going for 445 yards, second in school history, but also throwing three interceptions.  Two of those resulted in Wildcats touchdowns.  With Venric Mark hurt, Treyvon Green was relied upon for 129 yards and 2 TDs.  Northwestern gets Syracuse next week.

Iowa 27, Northern Iowa 30 --  HA HA!


For the complainers from last week:

Minnesota Gophers Football: QB 2013 Preview

Strev-Mitch-PhillyDawg

In 2012, the Gophers started the season in a somewhat comfortable position.  With senior QB MarQueis Gray back at quarterback there was hope that he would live up to high expectations and have a big final season with the Gophers.  Of course, it all went to hell and we ended up with true freshman Philip Nelson picking up the pieces and starting in his first bowl game; a very close loss to Texas Tech.

Injuries forced Jerry Kill to adjust and thanks to a solid defense and some early wins, the Gophers ended up 6-7.  In the end Philip Nelson got 7 games under his under his belt and gained valuable experience. This is especially important since the Red Romper Max Shortell decided to transfer to Jacksonville State when he saw that he wasn't Chandler Harnish-y enough.

2012 Passing
Player	GP	ATT	COMP	PAC%	PAYD	PAYA	INT	PATD
Peter Mortell	2	1	1	100.0	5	5.0	0	0
MarQueis Gray	11	59	34	57.6	472	8.0	2	5
Max Shortell	7	116	65	56.0	853	7.4	5	6
Philip Nelson	7	152	75	49.3	873	5.7	8	8
KJ Maye	11	1	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0

Nelson led the Gophers in passing yardage, TDs and INTs despite completing just 49.3% of his passes.  Nelson also ran for 252 yards (184 net) which is an important piece of Matt Limegrover's offense.  Last year we saw him Leroy Hoard his head into the line repeatedly like a fullback. 

His consistency obviously needs to improve in order for the Gophers to reach new heights in 2013.  At times his touch was immaculate and he was able to put the ball right in the receivers hands.  Check out the touch on these long passes against Purdue last season:

Ah glory day - man they were great that game.  By all accounts Nelson has been a leader in the off-season and continues to improve in practices.  Kill mentioned that with Nelson getting some experience last year and Mitch Leidner and Chris Streveler behind him, "[W]e feel good about our quarterback situation and we feel like that's going to be a strength down the road here."  Nelson was on point in the Gopher spring game, completing 10-10 passes in the first half and 13-17 for the game (thanks to some awful drops).  His 179 yards passing exceeded each of his last 4 starts in 2012.  He also ran for 31 yards int he spring game. 

Red-shirt freshman Mitch Leidner is the back-up to Nelson.  He's listed at 6'4" and a beastly 233 pounds out of Lakeville, MN.  Leidner is a guy that gets a ton of credit from coaches for his work ethic and ability in practice. 

Matt Limegrover describes Leidner's improvement in the running game (source):  "But he's a great example of a guy who, if you just looked at the stopwatch, you would not think he's a very good runner," Limegrover said. "Mitch is that rare case when he puts the pads on he maintains if not gets a little (faster). I can't explain it. He knew to be able to run our offense he had to be able to run and be more athletic. I give him credit because he really worked on it."

Recently the coaching staff has given more and more indications they want to use Leidner from time to time in games.  "You don't want your starter getting hit all the time," coach Jerry Kill said at his pre-camp news conference Tuesday. "If there's a deal where you can sprinkle somebody in there, then that helps you later on down the road." Henceforth, we shall call Mitch "The Sprinkle".  

It gets a little murky after the top two.  Freshmen Chris Streveler and Donovahn Jones are possibilities, but they are also going to be tried at WR.  This scares me for our WR group considering we have several with experience that are seemingly brushed aside.  Streveler is a 6'2", 209 lb dual threat type QB out of Marian Central Catholic in Illinois.  As a senior he combined for 48 total TDs with just 4 INTs.  He had 1200+ rushing and nearly 2700 passing yards.  At this point he's more of a runner than QB, but he's a freshman.

Streveler at the Spring Game

Donovahn Jones is a 6'3" 190lb quarterback out of Stockbridge, GA.  Jones is also a 3 star guy according to Rivals and a dual threat QB.  He had 1600 passing and 600 rushing as a senior.  He also caught a few passes, so maybe he has some receiving skills that can be honed.  Ideally, neither of the freshman QBs are relied upon so they can be red-shirted this season.  If both Nelson and Leidner go down, we're screwed, people.

Ra'Shede Hageman Should Be Rated 99 on NCAA 14

Hageman's Helmet

Minnesota Gophers senior defensive tackle Ra'Shede Hageman is a force on the football field.  The converted tight end is 6'6" and 311 pounds and dominates on the interior for the Gophers.  In May, Bruce Feldman of CBS Sports listed Hageman #2 on his list of freak athletes behind Jadeveon Clowney.  Feldman refers to Shede's 36" vertical leap and ability to still do a 360 dunk.  He also lists Shede's 465 pound bench press and 1.57 10 second sprint.

Last year, Hageman had 35 tackles, 7 for loss.  He recorded 6 sacks, broke up two passes and forced a fumble.  He's back for 2013 to continue to polish his NFL resume and help lead a defense that was 33rd in the nation a year ago.

Dustin Hockensmith listed him as the #10 opposing player Penn State will have to face this season.   He refers to Feldman's piece as well as the multiple pre-season All B1G selections from various publications.  He's also on the Rotary Lombardi Award watch list and a whole bunch of other awards lists. 

Everyone understands how awesome Optimus Prime is except EA Sports.  They only give him an 88 rating in this year's NCAA 14.  Now, I don't know what the formula is but we need to take a look at some individual ratings here.

Let's start with strength.  Hageman might be the stongest man alive, let alone the strongest in college football.  An 87 for strength is an insult.  If he wasn't such a nice guy, Hageman would literally decapitate QBs.  Awareness of 79?  HE SEES EVERYTHING.  Acceleration of 72?  1.57 second 10 yard sprint down?  Breaking tackles of 46?  Why in the world would you try and tackle Ra'Shede Hageman?  Are kidding?

EA: If you're going to use Ra'Shede Hageman's likeness at least give him the respect he deserves and rate him a 99.  You don't want to make him angry.

Stuff From TRE

Since burning myself out on the NBA preview, I've been kind of absent.  Here's some stuff that's going on:

Gophers End Season 6-6, Look Towards a Bowl

Don't die, buddy.

 
Regular Season #2 of the Jerry Kill regime has come to a bit of a tumultuous ending, but all in all I would say it is a success as they finish with a 6-6 record.  At the beginning of the season I had the Gophers at a floor of 4 wins and a ceiling of 6, so in that respect they finished on the high end.  Of course, most recognize the only in conference wins were against Purdue at home and at Illinois.  Not exactly signature wins.  A win over Iowa, Northwestern or Michigan State would have put a nice cherry on top of this season, but not only did they not come out on top, they pretty much got smoked in each of them. 

That being said, Kill has doubled his wins in his second year, even though his QB went to crap early and he's been juggling them ever since.  His team is still very young, and he definitely has a plan for recruiting a certain type of player to fit his system.  Stealing a bowl win is highly doubtful in my opinion, but Kill has surprised before in his career.  Both of ESPN’s dudes have Minnesota in the Meineke Car Care Bowl against either TCU or West Virginia.  Both have matchups look supremely unpleasant for our Fightin’ Goldies.
Sadly, there are other questions beyond just improving the program for Kill.  AJ Barker engaged the kill switch (see what I did there?) and left the program.  After reading through his novella about why he left it appears he doesn't like to ice injuries nor have people yell at him.  He does like scholarships and acupuncture though.  It would have been a tough call to give Barker a scholarship this year based on just his performance at UNLV.  Listen, if Kill lorded the scholarship over Barker and said a lot of mean things to him, that sucks and all, but I can't help but think this is a dick move on Barker's part to take this kind of shot and potentially damage a program's reputation.  I assume if this really is a massive issue we'll see a whole bunch of players step forward, right?  Otherwise I tend to chalk it up to a kid that couldn't take the heat and sort of thinks of himself as an amateur yogi.  I'm looking forward to visiting his holistic healing shop after he graduates.

The other thing is this seizure stuff.  Before the season, Kill portrayed that they had it all under control with medication and diet and what-not but not only did he conk out for the whole second half of the MSU game last week he also suffered one in October after the Northwestern shellacking.  This ongoing situation is worse than the Barker stuff to me as potential recruits are bound to hear about this and it has to factor into your decision.  It seems to happen more (only?) at our home games which makes me wonder if the second biggest scoreboard in the nation is having an effect.  Kind of like those warnings that come with video games.  Can we get the guy some mega-transition lenses or something?  We need a healthy Kill and you know; we want him to live and stuff too.

Timberwolves Scraping

No glove, no Love?

 
Our Timberwolves have had some great news with the return of Kevin Love.  He was a beast in his first game back and it was great to see him get so much love from the crowd.  Unfortunately, the hand still bothers him; or rather the “shooting glove” that he’s wearing.  The Wolves have dropped three straight (I warned you it would get rough for a bit) and are sitting at a 5-7 record. He's supposed to glove up until January, but it sounds like he's toying with taking it off. 

Our guy Brandon Roy just had another knee surgery.  I was super hopeful that top secret overseas surgeries had improved his condition, but it appears that the writing is on the wall.  We’ll have to wait four weeks to see if the latest surgery helps at all.  He had some “loose bodies” removed, so there was actually crap in there and that gives a glimmer of hope.  However, the level III degenerative arthritis is the main issue.  Just watching him get around on the court before the injury makes me think the dream is over.  Chase Budinger also fell victim to the knee monster and had major surgery on his left meniscus.  He’s hoping to return in March.  

This means a whole lot of Alexsey Shved and Malcolm Lee at the shooting guard.  Also, the Wolves made a nice FA pickup by grabbing small forward Josh Howard.  Howard is busting his ass out there when he gets to play, especially on defense, plus he has a headband.  Shved is going to have to grow up fast.  He’s already produced more than expected early on, but he hasn’t been consistent. This feels like one of those seasons where everyone is going hurt all year, but we're looking at Love getting right and Rubio returning and I still feel the excitement of a playoff appearance.

Twins Talking to Literally Everyone

So far, we got this guy.  Don't worry, you don't really need to know who he is.

"Anybody who is a starting pitcher that we've identified as having some ability, you can assume we've touched base with them."

I'm loving the quotes we're hearing from Terry Ryan so far as free agency talks heat up.  The Twins are in dire need of pitching and it appears they'll leave no stone unturned in the search.  Popular thought is that they'll have about $25MM to spend this off-season, putting them at about where they were last year.  As I've stated before they can't be afraid to go over a bit as there are a few pitchers worthy of some cash and there's no guarantee next year's market will be as good.  Names that have been associated with the Twins have been Brett Myers, Greinke, Anibal Sanchez, Edwin Jackson, Brandon McCarthy, Joe Saunders, Ryan Dempster Joe Blanton and even Brandon Webb.

We've also heard some trade rumors surrounding Denard Span for pitching with Atlanta and Tampa Bay as interested parties. 

The Arizona Fall League has ended.  For a list of Twins farm system players that were in it, check out this post by Eric Pleiss at Knuckleballsblog.  Nate Roberts and Kyle Gibson were named to the all AFL team this year.  Roberts, a 23 year old outfielder, led all players in every triple slash category, posting a 446/565/662.  He reached base in each of his 19 games.  I think he's expected to be at High A Fort Myers after a year in Low A where he hit 299/433/427.  Gibson had 6 starts and a 5.40 ERA in 23 and 1/3 innings.  He stuck out 28 and went 3-2. 


The Walking Dead/Boardwalk Empire

I'm a big fan of both the Walking Dead and Boardwalk Empire but as the BE season ends and the first half of TWD's split season also comes to a close it's clear the HBO has much better writing and acting.  For me, The Walking Dead has essentially become like most bad horror movies with terrific plot holes, but also gore and zombies (of course).   So now I have to laugh at the stupidity and the cut corners and cheer for the zombies to eat people.  I guess I shouldn't be overly surprised since the whole story is straight from a comic book series of graphic novels and they apparently are following pretty closely to the script. (not exact, but close enough)  I'm sure the actor that plays Carl is a good kid, but he's not believable at all as a bright eyed kid that's been hardened by the apocalypse.  And get rid of the stupid sheriff hat already!

Oops, bent rifle.

On the other hand, this season of Boardwalk Empire has been a masterwork of interweaving stories that is coming to an explosive ending.  Anyone could die here except probably Nucky Buscemi (and obviously historical guys like Capone) and I wouldn't be surprised.  Other internet nerd contemporaries argue that the Gyp Rosetti character is a bit over the top and a caricature of your typical gangster.  I would argue that guys like Gyp existed, but not likely for very long, in the gangster business. While building up Gyp's rise to prominence they've also advanced the story of Van Alden, Eli Thompson, Chalky White, Richard Harrow and many others.  Pretty pumped for this, you guys.

Capone going for the fork submission.

 

After these two are over, it's going to be pretty bleak in the TV department.  I'll take show recommendations in the comments section.  TIA  Game of Thrones sounds like it's coming in late March/April.  

What to do with Derrick Williams? MiniGophers-Illinois Preview

 Standings - Northwest Division

Teams	W	L	Pct	GB	L10	Stk
MIN	3	1	.750	-	3-1	W2
OKC	2	2	.500	1.0	2-2	W1
POR	2	2	.500	1.0	2-2	L1
DEN	2	3	.400	1.5	2-3	W2
UTA	2	3	.400	1.5	2-3	W1

Shved's new haircut = speed.

Our Wolves are winning early in the year with a combination of solid defense, timely runs and the benefit of playing mostly crappy teams.  While Orlando, Brooklyn, Toronto and Sacramento isn't a murderers row, there are 8 new Timberwolves playing significant minutes that were not on the team last year.  This is a testament to how well Rick Adelman can coach.  I've seen a dozen different lineups, often with 5 non-starters in together;  and yet they still play solid basketball.  The one thing that has gotten out of hand at times is the turnovers.  For some, like Shved, I'll chalk it up to nerves and for others I'll chalk it up to growing pains as they learn the offense and each other.  Shved can play, by the way.  Another nice scoop up for our guy KAHN.

Some tough games are on the horizon:  Friday vs Indiana, Saturday @Chicago and Monday @Dallas.  They could easily drop all three of those games against 3 likely playoff-bound squads. In fact, over the next 15 games only 5 look like cupcakes.  My hope was and remains that we are no worse than a few games under .500 by the time Love returns and the smashing begins.

So the real point of this blog is what do we do with Derrick Williams.  Williams was a much-hyped #2 overall pick that is now entering his second year after a lackluster rookie season.  As I speculated in my old blog he doesn't have the quickness/athleticism/whatever to play a lot of minutes at the 3.  (I wanted Enes Kanter, the jury is still out there as well)  He's more suited to be a bit of a stretch four that is scrappy under the basket.  Andrei Kirilenko was clearly brought in because Williams didn't cut it in his first season and now he has an uphill battle for big minutes.  The Kevin Love rawr knuckle-pushups! injury has opened about a month of games where he can get minutes and show that he deserves some serious rotation time with this team.  So far what has happened is he's had one good game (his last one) and a bunch of duds.  In fact, toolsy everyman Dante Cunningham has played more down the stretch and has looked the smarter (for sure) and better player.

Williams is clearly pressing and forcing the issue now, which is bad.  He knows he has to make an impression and he has the pee pants because of it.  As I've mentioned before, Kahn seems unafraid to have a quick hook for player that don't contribute even if they were a Kahn draft pick.  Is there a team that would want Williams for much at this point?  He's still just 21 years old.  Or is it better, to sit on him and wait.  The unthinkable could happen and Love could bolt...and Kirilenko has just a two year deal and is no spring chicken.  And I don't expect Dante Cunningham to continue to be Scottie Pippen. 

Poor Chekov

Let's say he's meh for the month Love is out.  Then Adelman is likely to go with "the hot hand" between D-Will and Dante Pippen for spare forward minutes.  I also think it's likely Kahn starts working the phone and putting alien insects in Chekov's ear canal.  In my opinion, the best they could do at this point is maybe a borderline lottery pick and maybe a solid veteran to a rebuilding squad.  You might be yelling at me that he was the #2 pick and that he's worth more, but so far he hasn't shown it.  And it's certainly possible to play the wait and see game with D-Will, but the longer we wait the bigger chance that were stuck with him/nothing. 

Teams/Deals that might be of interest:

Atlanta Hawks - Josh Smith could be out the door after this season, so the Hawks might look to add someone to fill that gap.  The Wolves likely wouldn't get Smith in a deal as he'll be a max guy and is unlikely to sign with MN.  However, they could be a partner in a 3 team deal and possibly get back a protected first round pick and one of Atlanta's 3 point chuckers:  Kyle Korver, Anthony Morrow or John Jenkins.  I like Jenkins a lot, but he was their #23 pick, so it may be a tough row to hoe...unless perhaps a guy like Barea or Ridnour goes to ATL as well.  Hey, they have some value, right?  Maybe?

Indiana Pacers - Similarly, the Pacers are on the last year of a deal with David West, who is making $10MM.  Although he's pretty good, he's older and not worth a huge new contract, imo.  They do have Hansbrough and rookie Miles Plumlee though, so perhaps they wouldn't be interested.  Lance Stephenson is a physical 2 that I like...so I'd try for him and a first round pick.

Oklahoma City Thunder - Just kidding, there's no room there.  How crazy is it that they have Jeremy Lamb and Perry Jones III waiting in the wings?  I still don't like losing Harden, but they sure can reload.

Orlando Magic - The Magic have a ton of picks following the D12 deal.  How about one of the picks and JJ Redick who expires after this year.  Keep the white-out going?  Glen Davis looks solid there, but D-Will would definitely get a chance at serious minutes.

Philly 76ers - Are they ready to give up on Evan Turner?  Do we even want Evan Turner?  I like Thad Young too, but not for 9MM over the next 4 years.  I'd take Dorell Wright and a pick too I think.

That's about all I got.  It's not pretty.  I don't see a lot of teams with room to take the gamble on giving Williams a lot of minutes, including the Wolves.  We may be stuck with him, so let's hope he has a huge month!  *sealbarks*

Your reward for making it to the end.

Mini-Preview of Gophers/Illininininini

Illinois is terrible.  Like a diaper dumpster fire terrible.  They have no wins in conference play, but the Gophers have just the lone Purdue ass-stomping.  All of our white speed receivers are out for the game it sounds like. (Engel, Barker)  Gray is still gimpy too.  So it might be B-Green, Rabe, Lncln Plsk and who knows who else? 

That being said, they still should win.  Illinois can't stop anyone and Phil-dawg is damn near a veteran footballer at this point.  He'll probably run it 150 times and the Gophers will win 12-7. 

Gophers vs. Northwestern Wildcats Preview

Season Record 4-1

How great are pull tabs?  Did you know the rest of the nation basically has no idea what they are?  The beauty of the pull tab is in the long run, like most gambling endeavors, you lose.  However, since you're likely getting pissed at the bar, you don't notice another $20 here or there.  But the wins...oh the sweet, sweet wins.  You remember the wins.  You take cell phone pics of the winning pull tabs (or at least I do). You send them to your friends exalting yourself as the greatest gambler the world has ever known.  You do shots in celebration and end up taking a cab home that probably costs more than your net winnings.  It's wonderful.

MarQueis Gray is not on the injury report!  Tommy Olson is not on the injury report!  In fact, the team pretty much took full advantage of the off week to get healthy.  Genius move, really, and boy do we need these guys all back because Iowa was a disaster.  I've blacked most of it out by now, but I have a fuzzy memory of a lot of giant Tecmo Bowl type scoring plays for the bad guys.  The defense especially needs to be on point for this one as they were exposed last week and NW can put up some points.

Hate you, nerds.

It's homecoming against the hated B1G geniuses, Northwestern.  Also, a battle of the only two one-loss teams in the Legends division.  The Wildcats have in a bunch of shootouts this year, dropping their first game of the year last week to Penn State.  This is a big test for the rush defense as NW is 16th in the nation at 231.8 yards per game.  They've gone to sophomore Trevor Siemian at QB and moved Kain Colter to WR, wildcat guy.  Between Junior Venric Mark and Colter they have over 1000 rushing yards and 13 TDs.  Woah. 

As far as I can tell, the only worthwhile products from Northwestern are Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Charlton Heston and Stephen Colbert.  Everything else they do is terrible and diseased. Rod Blagojevich, Mike Greenberg and Warren Beatty lead the list of evil. 

NW Grad

Blog Mockery

It's possible that NW has football blogs out there for me to take silly comments and mock them, but I didn't bother to look.  Instead, I give you this:

How long did you make it?  If you lasted more than 2 minutes, go ahead and punch yourself in the face and never return here again.  We can't lose to these guys, can we? 

Prediction:

It's homecoming and the last home game featured an atmosphere that finally approached big-time-college-football-home-field-advantage-type-shit. So, I expect our students to be there and be loud once again.  The Gophers will need all the help they can get because Northwestern is the real deal.  Honestly, Northwestern probably wins this game.  However, just like the beloved pull tab, the Gophers can lose and I'll forget and look forward to the next big win.  On the other hand, this could be that win.  If they do win, I'll send you a picture of the scoreboard and I'll probably need a cab to take me home.  Northwestern 34, Gophers 24

Other Notes:

-The Tao of Shede for this week: "Spandex pants are not for everyone, thank you."

-Bonus Tao since we missed last week: "You wanna quit, that's fine. More food for me. Feast without you and then brag about my success."

-Favorite names on Northwestern's roster: Pierre Youngblood-Ary - WR, Chi Chi Ariguzo - LB (he's actually pretty good)

-Rapper Twista needs a ghost writer.  He puts out so much bad stuff, but he raps so fast!  I think I could do this.  Hit me up, Twista.

-Protect the dusky gopher frog: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/02/4873109/gopher-frog-habitat-designation.html

Gophers Week 5 Preview at Iowa Hawkeyes

Wins: 4
Losses: 0

:confetti:

Holy crap.  The Gophers cruised through their non-conference schedule to a 4-0 record.  They're a mere 2 wins from being bowl eligible and it isn't even October.  The Gopher defense appears to be legit as they stifle another throwing quarterback. The d-line was in Nassib's face and hit him so many times that he now likely has nightmares that cause him to diarrhea the bed.  You can't get that out of the sheets, either.

This Saturday, the Gophers head to Iowa in a game that I tabbed in my pre-season preview as "winnable" for the Gophers.  I could be sucking down the Kool-Aid with extra sugar, but now all B1G games appear to be winnable, this one [still] included.  It's true, everyone sucks.

Vegas still inexplicably has the Stinkeyes a 7 point favorite at Kinnick.  This is odd because Sagarin and the like have it Iowa -2 or thereabouts. Think about this for 4 seconds; Iowa is 93rd in the country in passing (202), 72nd in rushing (155) and 107th (20.5) in points for and they've played Northern Illinois, Iowa State, Northern Iowa and Central Michigan!  They're 38th in points against (18.5), but again, look at who they've played.  Plus, that 9-6 barnburner against ISU helps a bit.  They're coming off a 32-31 loss to Central Michigan.  FYI, Central Michigan was projected by most outlets to be a MAC bottom feeder.

In other words, Iowa played a non-conference schedule similar to the Gophers, but with much more disastrous results.  The Gophers are getting no respect here, so it's up to them to go Shede on Iowa here.

Going Big Shede

As a Junior, Iowa quarterback James Vandenberg had a pretty good year.  He threw for 3000+ yards and 25 TDs with only 7 interceptions.  So far this year he has just 808 yards passing and 1 TD against 2 interceptions. Keenan Ivory Davis and Kevonte Martin-Manley are the two big targets at WR with CJ Fiedorowicz as the 6'7" light pole in the middle.

The running game was featuring sophomore Damion Bullock, but he'll miss a second consecutive game due to a head injury.  Freshman Greg Garmon has been dealing with an elbow injury as well.  The last two games for Iowa have featured sophomore walk-on fullback Mark Weisman.  Weisman has rumbled for 330 yards and 6 TDs in the last two games.

Weisman mid-rumble.

The Iowa defense is one of the great mysteries in this game.  Historically, Iowa has produced some very good defenders.   As mentioned their overall defensive numbers look good, but 32 points to Central Michigan? Junior LB James Morris has 40 combined tackles through 4 games. Senior CB Micha Hyde also racks up the tackles and has 7 career interceptions for Iowa.

Prediction

So, everyone isn't on the bandwagon yet.  There are some who are though.  Tom Deinhart and Brent Yarina at BTN are both predicting Gophers wins (as are 65% of voters on the poll there).  Brian Bennett and Adam Rittenberg of ESPN also picked the Maroon and Gold this week.  Note: Over lunch I read that Randball via the Strib called out these expert picks as well.  FML for thinking I'm making an original point.

The Gopher pass defense has proven themselves to be strong, but this week the onus will likely be on the run defense.  Weisman needs to be held in check in addition keeping Vandenberg under duress.   My new hero Adam Rittenberg says that alongside Purdue and Michigan State the Gophers have one of the three best defenses in the conference.  I predict Weisman has trouble running against the Minnesota front four.  In fact, I expect Ra'Shede Hageman to once again impose his will on the offensive line and make it a very long day them.

Shortell will get his second consecutive start after being serviceable last week against Syracuse.  After cutting off Ryan Nassib's head post-game, he has absorbed even more passing excellence.  There can be only one.  This will help him to find a couple of throwing scores in a relatively tight contest.  Gophers 20, Iowa 16

Absurd Hawkeye Fan Comments of the Week:

Ed Crawford (on BTN.com) on 9/26/2012 @ 9:33pm EDT Said: "Unfortunately, Our Iowa Hawkeyes have fallen to the bottom based on what happened last week. Weisman is impressive and we needed him to start the season and punch holes to the end-zone from the first whistle. It will take a big improvement from the rest of the team to win the Big Ten like they should have in 08,09,10"

TRE says:  So you're saying there's a chance????

83Hawk (on Iowa's Rivals board) : "Not predicting the score, but Kirk is one of the best coaches in the country.  He will have a masterful gameplan and the team will be ready to play. "

TRE says: Central Michigan masterful or Iowa State masterful?

Whinny (Iowa Rivals Board):  "Earth to Glen Mason:  Iowa has not lost one game in conference play.  So how that translates to being out of the Legends race boggles the mind."

TRE says: I think it MIGHT BE because you guys have laid down and vomit volcanoed on yourselves twice already.

Other Notes:

- The Tao of @BIG_shede:  "She really is CRAZY!!! She even said so herself"

- Bryce Harper is the 2nd teenager ever to reach 20 homers in a season.

- The Twins are still not in contention.

- I've watched 3 episodes of that show with that dude from Friends where he's a sports radio personality that lost his wife. (Go On?)  He looks creepy; like he had a bunch of plastic surgery and wears a ton of makeup.  Let's call it the Jerry Jones Face.  Anyway, there's a crazy beardy guy on the show that rules.

Gophers Week 4 Preview vs. Syracuse Orangemen



Otto is down!


The Gophers are 3-0 now after a somewhat convincing win over Western Michigan.  Hey, they covered as TREstradamous predicted.  There's still plenty of room on the bandwagon though as we head into week 4.  This is due to a number of questions surrounding our heroes.  I'll answer those questions by making some stuff and take a look at Syracuse through the eyes of a Syracuse football message board.

The Cuse are 1-2 after blowing a week one lead at home against Northwestern in the first week, getting semi-drubbed by USC in week 2 and coming back in the second half against Stony Brook for a win in week 3. Behind the arm of 6'2" senior quarterback Ryan Nassib, the Orangemen are #3 in the nation in passing at 379 yards per game.  Nassib has 9 TDs against 3 interceptions.  He's thrown for over 300 yards in each game and threw for a whopping 482 yards against Northwestern.  Too bad they blew that game at the end.


Nassib is down!


Besides Nassib, other key players on offense include senior WR Marcus Sales, who has caught 25 of Nassib's 97 completions.  Junior RB Jerome Smith has 44 carries and a 4.0 ypc average.  Junior Prince-Tyson Gulley is kind of the scat back companion to Smith.  He's just 5'9", 180lbs, but has a 5.0 ypc and has 14 receptions and 3 total TDs. Gulley, who also returns kicks is the runner up for coolest name on the team behind frosh WR Quinta Funderburke.  Apologies to Siriki Diabate and Shamarko Thomas.  The offensive line is pretty solid; a senior RT and the starting LG and C are all back.  Last year's all Big East LT is out though with issues in his surgically repaired left shoulder. Syracuse is another team that runs one of these high-paced, no huddle-ish type of offenses.  Everybody's doing it!

Syracuse has a defense in theory, but they have given up nearly 34 points a game in their first 3 and one of those teams was Stony Brook.  That's good for 97th in the FBS.  Sophomore starting CB Brandon Reddish is feeling bluish and might miss the game on Saturday with the dreaded "lower body injury".  That leaves Keon Lyn and Ri'Shard Anderson who will be backed up by a couple of freshmen.  The aforementioned Shamarko Thomas is the starting strong safety and a good tackler.  Dyshawn Davis started at WLB as a freshman and has 17 total tackles this year.  Junior Marquis Spruill starts in the middle and is the team's leading tackler with 21 total tackles.  For the most part they run a 4-3 defense.  The D-line has experience, but is not loaded with playmakers.


Bring out the gimp.

So, we all know last week's story by now, except perhaps for DWG since he left at the half.  Queis goes down and the Auburn Bomber Max Shortell comes in and lights up the scoreboard Tecmo Bowl style to put the Gophers on top of Western Michigan.  All signs point to Max playing the entire game on Saturday with whispers of Marqueis being available in a pinch.  Freshman Philip Nelson is Shortell's backup, but the last thing the Gophers want to do is us him for a part of this game and burn his redshirt.  There are apparently plans in place if Shorty has to come out for a few plays.  Everyone suspects it would be former high school QB KJ Maye, but what if it's the hulking Moses Alipate?  Man, that would be great.  Maybe give him a can of Spam and watch him eat it like Popeye to give him the go-go juice.  Wait, is Moses even Hawaiian?

The Gophers defense allowed just 162 passing yards per game through 3 games, which puts them 5th in the nation.  They are one of just three undefeated teams remaining in the Big Ten.  Certainly, they haven't played the opponents that others have, but they're getting wins and clearly improving. They are set to play their second late game of the year in front of a packed house (dare I say it?) at TCF.  Their last night game was a scary affair out in the desert and this one could be just as frightening.  With the distractions that are going on this week due to injury and hype, I'm predicting the Gophers lose this one 34-31.  I hope to the baby jesus I'm wrong and Shortell throws 112 touchdowns and I pee my cargo shorts with joy, but there it is.

Silly Comments from a Syracuse Football Board

As a throwback to my old blog I went out and found some of my favorite comments from the football board at Syracusefan.com

"With there starting QB out ( 2nd leading rusher) and there starting Center out.. I like our chances in this game. There back up QB I read is more of a pocket passer and our defence is going to be licking there chops to get at him.. I see the game being a 2pk and would take 'Cuse on that.. " -OrangeFreek 

TRE says: Homophone fail.

"I'm not sure I'd call it [Gopher game] a must-win in the sense that I suppose you could lose it but still win the big east or win a bunch of BE games and the Mizzou game, etc." -billsin01

TRE says: billsin01 aka Capt. Optimism.  Win the Big East?  I know it's like winning the Sun Belt these days, but c'mon.

"Have you actually watched Minny? They are awful ... we stuck with a better USC squad this season without USC making a ton of mistakes ... if you watched the USC/Minny games you would know that USC did everything humanly possible to cough those games up ... they couldn't run the ball on Minny..."  -wfschrec

TRE says: This one just goes on and on about how bad the Gophers were IN PRIOR YEARS.  At the same time he says how good he thinks Syracuse is going to be this year when they have been soft, warm poo IN PRIOR YEARS. 

"I kinda wish we were playing Gray. He's like a lobotomized BJ Daniels." - BlackNight76

TRE says:  Ok, now that's just funny.  Gray>Daniels though.

***BREAKING UPDATE***

Screw it, after reading these Cuse boards I can feel the fear in their hearts and I am now changing my prediction to a Gopher victory.  Can you change prediction mid-blog?  I say yes.   Gophers 34, Orangeballs 31

 

Other News and Notes:

- If you don't know and love Ra'Shede Hageman, you haven't watched a minute of Gopher football this year.  Well, now he's active on twitter, so get ready to delve into the mind of a man that can throw opposing linemen through walls:  https://twitter.com/BIG_shede

The Tao of Shede says "If you want something so bad,It's not worth it. Go play football or somin."  Epic.

- Jerry Kill on who gets to wear #51 in honor of Gary Tinsley each week, "I leave that up to Keanon [Cooper], I leave that up to the linebackers."  Pretty neat.

- The Killers have a new album.  Yes, they're still terrible.  Avoid at all costs.

- I watched Revolution on DVR yesterday.  This is the new post-apocalyptic show on NBC.  Basically an EMP blows out all power, so peeps are riding horses and fighting with swords and bows and stuff.  They fast forward 15 years to a struggle between the militia and some kind of normal community.  The fast forward move is always key so you can do all kinds of flashbacks.  JJ Abrams is the executive producer and although I managed to avoid Lost, I think it was flashback central.  Anyway, the first episode was kind of predictable and there are some pretty wooden characters.  My hopes aren't high, but I'll watch a couple more episodes just in case a story develops. (hint to self: It won't)

- Darko signed a deal for the vet minimum to play a bench role with the Celtics.  I'll miss his willingness to slog around on the inside and block some shots.  I won't miss his lack of commitment to getting himself in shape and his stupid fouls.  It's all PEK everything now.

- Josh Willingham's 35th homer is the most by  Twin since 1970.  Yowser.  And to answer your question, yes they are still playing baseball.  Stay tuned for our MLB Playoffs preview blog!

Gophers Week 2 Preview vs. New Hampshire



Is it happening again?


It might be.  Although last week's game against UNLV was too close for comfort, at least they did actually win.  I was at the game and there was a pretty fantastic turn out.  It turns out Gopher fans like to gamble and drink and possibly visit the chicken ranch.  If you think Gopher fans are apathetic you should see the UNLV fans.  Attendance was reported at 16,013, approximately 5,000 of which were Gopher fans.  It SEEMED like it was half and half with Minnesota faithful being much louder.  Then again, I started the morning with a jimmy buffet and a pitcher of bloody marys and never looked back. 

There were bright spots beyond the win in the game.  Both lines played pretty well, the running game was solid, the secondary looked pretty good including Derrick Wells earning both the B1G and National defensive player of the week awards.  Some wise blogger said in his week 1 preview that this game would be too close for comfort and it isn't because the Gophers aren't more talented, because they are.  The combo of  traveling to the west coast, playing primetime and on a Thursday night certainly caused their fair share of nerves.  Many of MarQueis Gray's passes looked like me after 3 hours of tailgating.  He was often overthrowing receivers and he was lucky to only have one interception in the game.  Receivers were frequently open deep, a couple of times Gray saw them and threw a rocket ship right over their heads.  These missed passes were what allowed UNLV to hang around and make this a game.  UNLV was ready to roll over and die from the beginning, but they were allowed to hang around.

Anyway, that's over and we WON.  Northwestern and Iowa had some close scrapes too.  Michigan got Bama'd and Penn State got stomped by the Ohio Bobcats. 

Oof.

Next on the schedule is a home game against the University of New Hampshire Wildcats.  The super original Wildcats moniker features a mascot named "Wild E. Cat".  UNH has about 15,000 students.  The students are 57% female!  Famous alumni include Carlton Fisk, Chip Kelly, some hockey players and the second vetrinarian in space.  UNH is also the alma mater of George O'Leary.  It is the place where he famously "resume padded" his way to 3 letters at a school where he never played a game, thus pissing away the head coaching job at Notre Dame.  Then Mike Tice hired him as the DC for the VIkings for a couple of years before he moved on to the University of Central Florida.

New Hampshire doesn't appear to be your typical FBS cream puff.  First off, they run a fast spread offense that is a carryover from when Chip Kelly (you know, the visor guy at Oregon) was OC from 99-06.  This may affect the Gophers defense rotations as ther may not be time to rotate subs in as easily as last week. 

More bad news comes in the form of UNH's recent history against FBS opponents.  Since 2004, they've beaten Rutgers, Northwestern, Marshall, Army and Ball State.  They lost to Pittsurgh in 2010 and were stomped by Toledo in 2011.  This doesn't appear to be a team that is blinded by the bright lights and big cities of their more well known opponents.  They are #14 or so in the FCS.

The Coaching Staff

Head Coach Sean McDonald has been with the Wildcats for 14 years, the last 8 of which he's made the FBS playoffs. "Playoffs?" /mora  He also has 8 years as an assistant at New Hampshire.  He graduated from New Hampshire.  Listen, this guy really likes New Hampshire, ok?  DC John Lyons enters second season with the Wildcats, and is formerly the HC at Dartmouth.  OC Ryan Carty enters his first year as OC, but has been with the team for 6 seasons.  He's the young buck on the staff, but I bet McDonald and Lyons could both whip his ass because of their old man strength.

Sean Goldritch, CAA Rookie of the Week!

The Offense

As mentioned, UNH runs "the speed spread" which relies on a lot of receivers and a quick passing game.  The Gophers once again face a redshirt freshman trigger man in Sean Goldritch (6'3", 205).  Goldritch was 21-31 in his first career start, throwing for 193 yards.  He added a team high 71 yards rushing on 10 carries.  Sophomore WR RJ Harris appears to be the main target after going for 12-102 receiving.  He also added 57 yards on the ground.  He earned the FCS Golden Helmet, which I guess is like the player of the week.  So, Gopher defense, keep an eye on #15.  Jimmy Owens, Chris Setian, and Nico Steriti all ran for TDs last week against Holy Cross. Setian and Steriti each had 12 carries.  Something called Joey Orlando also had 100+ and 2 TDs receiving.

The key for the Gophers on D is going to be strong tackling and pressure from the defensive line.  The spread involves a lot of quick passes. With 4 and 5 receivers out on the field, it sometimes only takes one tackler to miss for a huge gain.  Since the passes are quick, it often takes the d-line out of the picture, so they need to get their hands up and if there's any hesitation by Goldschlager they need to make him pay.  This is a great type of game for the raw, bear-like strength of Ra'Shede Hageman as collapsing the pocket can really affect these throws.  The linebackers have the unenviable task of helping out in coverage and watching for the QB run or draw play. 

Finally, a key to stopping the offense will be the fans making noise.  Some grumpy old dudes will have to put down their walkers to get up and cheer a bit.  Allegedly, New Hampshire only used 300 of it's allotted 3000 visiting tickets, so Gopher fans have the opportunity to make a big impact on how well this no huddle/sugar huddle type offense runs. 5,500 freshman were given free tickets to fill up our anemic student section, so hopefully they make some noise in between trips to the beer garden with fake IDs. (Don't get arrested, you guys.)

The Defense

The defense is led by linebacker Matt Evans who had like a billion tackles last year (see really old video above) and was the FCS defensive player of the year.  Senior CB Dontra Peters is a convert from RB and had an interception against Holy Cross; as did Junior S Manny Asam.  Peters also returns kicks.  Junior CB Chris Houston led the team in interceptinos with 6 last season.  Senior LB Alan Buzbee had about half of the tackles Evans had with 88 last season.  Junior Chris Beranger was second on the team with 142 tackles.  Senior Jared Smith is a stalwart at defensive tackle.

This is another game where the level of  execution for the Gophers is what is most important.  Sure, these guys have lots of tackles and decent stats against the Richmond Spiders and Holy Cross Crusaders, but 60 minutes of the Gophers o-line SHOULD grind them to dust.

The Prediction

The first quarter is going to be hugely important in this one.  I get the impression that Sean Goldritch won't flounder around at QB like Nick Sherry did last week.  The Gophers' running game is a key because it will give the defense much needed rest.  Again, this is a situation where the Gophers have the better players;  the bigger, stronger athletes.  This could be another big game for Derrick Wells as he'll have plenty of opportunity to make big plays, as will the other members of the secondary.  In the end, despite solid play from New Hampshrie the Gophers will have just too much:  Gophers 34 - Wildcats 24

Gophers @ UNLV Week 1 Preview

Where's Moses Scurry?

The Gophers open the 2012 season under the Thursday night lights (great show) at Sam Boyd Stadium.  Since I'm going there to watch the game and potentially Ben Sanderson myself, I'm going to have to hit you with the game preview early in the week. 

In many ways the UNLV football team is the Mountain West version of the Gopher football team.  They're young and scuffling to make it out of the bottom of their conference standings and into respectability.  Except that the Mountain West Conference seems to change each time you look at it and some of the better teams (BYU, Utah and TCU) have run off to other conferences.  Hawaii, Nevada and Fresno State join the conference for 2012 and Utah State and San Jose State will join in 2013 after Boise State and San Diego State bolt for the Big East of all places.

The Sagarin ranking for UNLV is #140, while Minnesota is slotted at #82.  Vegas books have Minnesota at a 8 or 8.5 point favorite.  So, the Gophers are bound to roll, right?  There are a lot of reasons to think that is possible or even probable, but if you're not gun-shy for this non-conference tilt you've probably drank away all memory of September 2011.  Props to you for finding a way to obliterate those memories.

Check the slacks!

Coaches

Head Coach Bobby Hauck enters his 3rd season after winning only two games each of the first two seasons.They've shuffled around the other coaches in a confusing game of musical chairs. The former DC is now assistant head coach and linebackers coach.  Former assistant coach, defensive backs coach and "pass-game coordinator" J.D. Williams is now the defensive coordinator.  The TE coach Brent Meyers is now the OC.  If you didn't understand any of that, just know that they're the same dudes, but with different titles, which ALWAYS works.

Marcus Sullivan Flails at an Errant Pass

 

Offense

Caleb Herring has been beaten by RS Freshman Nick Sherry for the starting quarterback position.  Sherry is big (6'5", 240lbs) and is more of a traditional pocket passer than Caleb.  That could prove useful since UNLV was 118th in passing with just under 110 yards per game.  *puke*  UNLV has a couple of Junior RBs that are effective with Tim Cornett and the smaller Bradley Randle.  Similar to the Gophers, there are a lot of young WRs looking to step forward, most notably Marcus Sullivan, Taylor Spencer and Marquis Thompson.  Sullivan has been off the practice field of late due to injury and if he plays Thursday will not be 100%.  The line is also very young with Boyko, Jefferson and Waterman starting as freshman last year; but at least they have experience now. 

Sidney Hodge will tackle your neck off.

Defense

The defense was 118th nationally in points allowed per game at 40.4.  They were especially stinky in pass defense.  Kellen Moore likely pleasures himself to his game tapes against UNLV.  They do return a decent defensive back in Junior Sidney Hodge, so he can try and shut down one side of the never-ending waves of Gopher receivers that will be thrown at the Rebels.  Senior John Lotulelei was the leading tackler at linebacker and has too many vowels in his name.  UNLV also has this odd thing about moving QBs to the defensive side.  A backup LB is a former QB and James Boyd, a transfer from USC is a DE.  Boyd apparently has some upside at his new position.  Tyler Gaston is a DT that is supposedly pretty good.  I know this because I looked at the "blue ribbon preview" and he's the only UNLV player listed on the All Mountain West team.

His mustache ride will end you.

Who Wins?

This game is less about the opponent and more about how much the Gophers improved in the off-season.  This is an early litmus test, but it could set the tone for the entire season.  A loss here and it's last season all over again -- a win sends them to a home opener against New Hampshire who just uses their football team as a proving ground for making the checking line on their pucks squad.  Let's not get ahead of ourselves too much, but if the Gophers have a 2-0 start maybe the student section will stay for four quarters for game three vs. Western Michigan before jell-o shotting themselves into oblivion.

Can the Gophers show composure traveling to Las Vegas and imposing their will despite some potentially tough conditions?  We've heard how much bigger and stronger the offensive line is. If this is the case, they should dominate on the ground and a more experienced MarQueis Gray should be able to use that to carve up the secondary through the air.  The defense should be in Nick Sherry's face early and often.  The veterans at linebacker and the man-beast that is Ra'Shede Hageman should control the run.  This is a Rebels team that should not be able to match up.  It's time for all of the work and preparation that the players and the staff and the media have all been talking about to show results on the field.
I expect the travel and first game jitters to make much of the first half too close for comfort for most Gopher fans.  However, eventually I think the Gophers settle into control and take over this game.  If you're joining me in Vegas I think the smart play might be a UNLV bet on the 1st half line if it's around +6 or +7 and a bet on the under 56.  If the line stays at -8.5 or better, I'd even plunk something down on the Gophers, but that might be because I have a horrible addiction.