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Posted September 12, 2006
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Big Ten May
Expand Football Schedule
This
Saturday Big Ten Conference football teams, for a third consecutive
weekend, will play only non-conference games. Opponents include
Division I-AA schools Southern Illinois and Youngstown State, plus
Eastern Michigan, Ball State and Temple, arguably the worst Division I-A
football school in the nation.
A Big
Ten coach’s agent, worried about his client’s job security, finds
comfort in opponents like that. For many fans and media, the slate of
foes is far less appealing.
Major
college football schools have increasingly been adding patsies to the
schedules in recent years but the trend accelerated in 2006 with the
addition of a 12th game. Driven by a need to increase
athletic department revenues, the 12th game has sent schedule
makers scurrying for opponents, including I-AA foes.
Not
everyone is supportive of scheduling weak opponents and waiting until
conference games to stir up excitement and test your team. The Pac Ten
Conference has added a ninth conference game. Michigan coach Lloyd
Carr said recently high expectations at his school likely would
preclude ever playing a I-AA team.
Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi said Sunday that Big Ten
Conference athletic directors have discussed adding a
ninth or 10th conference game to the
schedule. Playing 10 conference games will create a round robin
schedule with each team playing five home and five away games, and will
determine a champion who played all conference opponents.
Maturi said Michigan athletic director Bill Martin has been a
leader on the issue and Maturi expects discussion of expanding the Big
Ten schedule to continue. The process involves talks among the
conference athletic directors and possibly one day taking a
recommendation to the football coaches. “I think we are all (the
athletic directors) willing to talk about it,” Maturi said. “We want to
do what’s best for the Big Ten and college football. I think it will be
discussed more and more.”
While
it’s unlikely, Maturi said a change could be proposed as early as next
May. He “leans toward doing something” to increase the number of
conference games.
With
a 10 game conference schedule, the Big Ten could more dramatically
market its product on TV and at the gate while still preserving two
games for national flavoring. That would protect historic rivalries
like Notre Dame and Purdue, and also minimize the no-name opponents such
as Division I-AA New Hampshire (a surprise winner against Northwestern
last week before an announced crowd of less than 21,000 in Evanston,
Illinois).
The
Gophers might fill their two non-conference games by choosing from the
following menu: Tulane, Rice, SMU, Houston, Baylor, New Mexico, New
Mexico State, Utah State, UNLV, Nevada, Idaho, Wake Forest, Duke,
Syracuse, Iowa State, Missouri, Colorado State, Wyoming, Oregon State,
California, Stanford, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Army, Navy, Air Force,
Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt. Reviving a traditional
non-conference game such as with Pittsburgh would be appealing and could
be scheduled every few years.
Student-athletes are inspired by playing quality non-conference foes.
Before the Gophers’ game against California last week quarterback
Bryan Cupito told the Star Tribune, “I love games like this. …I’ve
marked this on the calendar since we first got our schedule.”
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Joel Maturi
Bryan Cupito |
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Move Over Mormon Tabernacle Choir
WCCO
Radio’s Sports Huddle program celebrated 25 years of
Sid Hartman
and Dave Mona as hosts last Sunday before a live audience at the
University of Minnesota’s Sports Pavilion. Celebrity guests included
Tom Kelly, Bud Grant, Jerry Burns, Paul Molitor,
Tony Oliva, Lou Nanne, Glen Mason and Joel
Maturi. Hartman told the audience it was a mistake not to have
included female representation.
Mona
said on Monday the event attendance was 600 to 700. Most Sundays the
Sports Huddle is two hours in duration and Mona recalled that years ago
the show was about 30 minutes long and had to leave the air because of a
station commitment to air the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
In an
interview Sunday, Grant praised Hartman for his integrity. “If you
tell Sid something he will never print it or repeat it unless you give
him permission to do so,” Grant said.
Grant
and Hartman have been close friends since the late 1940s when Grant was
excelling in three sports at the University of Minnesota. When Grant
was asked why he chose Hartman, a sportswriter, to introduce him when he
was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame he said, “Because
probably if he (Hartman) listed his close personal friends I think I
would be No. 1.” Later in a conversation Grant added, “I didn’t even
think about it. Sid was the guy.”
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Dave Mona
Bud Grant |
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U Basketball: Apply Here
The
Gopher basketball team begins practice next month without a player who
was a regular starter in Big Ten Conference games. The Gophers have no
seniors on the roster and will be without Vince Grier who led the team in scoring for
two seasons after coming here from a junior college.
Last
year’s team wasn’t successful, finishing 10th in the Big Ten
Conference and had an overall record of 16-15. Minnesota is hoping for
results similar to two seasons ago when the Gophers surprised just about
everyone by finishing fourth in the conference and advancing to the NCAA
tournament (24-12 overall record). Team defense was impressive, players
shared the basketball on offense and the Gophers became a team that
liked and trusted one another.
Assistant coach Jim Molinari, who says defense is his “passion,”
received considerable credit for the 2004-2005 success. He said the
Gophers now are similar to the team of two years ago in that the
starting players are yet to be determined. The roster make up is six juniors, six sophomores, and two freshmen. Eight of the
players have never played a game minute for the Gophers.
Despite the lack of game experience, Molinari said the coaches are
expecting to produce a winning team. “I think we have to go in there
with the idea we want to be champions this year,” he said. “And,
really, basketball is different from other sports because chemistry
really ups your overall product. … a lack of chemistry really takes
down your product. Last year was everyone’s fault.”
Molinari likes the team’s depth and expects strong competition for
starting positions. He is concerned about who is going to pick up the
scoring left by Grier who averaged almost 17 points per game over two
seasons. He is also concerned about perimeter defense and rebounding.
Transfer guard Lawrence
McKenzie, who played two seasons for Oklahoma averaging 8.2 and 9.5
points, may be the most likely player to provide scoring but freshman
guard Lawrence Westbrook, who led the nation in scoring as a high
school junior at 41 points per game while playing in Arizona, is
intriguing.
Junior big men Dan Coleman and Spencer Tollackson, both
6-9, started many games last year and will be counted on to rebound
along with junior college transfer Engen Nurumbi, 6-7, 230.“I
think Dan and Spencer have to be consistent rebounders for this team,”
Molinari said.
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Jim Molinari
Lawrence McKenzie
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Extra Innings
Former Viking Daunte Culpepper is the only quarterback in NFL
history to have four seasons of 3,000 passing yards and 400 rushing
yards. He can add a fifth season to that record with Miami this year.
The
Vikings have the fourth easiest schedule this season, according to
strength of schedule information from the NFL. The Vikings’ 2006
opponents had a won-loss percentage of .457 last season. Only seven of
the teams on the schedule played at .500 or above, and only six made the
playoffs. Seattle, Green Bay and Chicago have easier schedules.
Former Vikings coach Bud Grant said he has 18 grandchildren
living within 20 miles of his house in Bloomington.
Tom Wistrcill, responsible for Gopher marketing, predicts attendance
of 45,000 to 50,000 for Saturday’s home game against Temple. He said on
Sunday that 2,000 tickets at $10 each had been sold as part of the
special $10 promotion the University is offering for the Temple game to
draw “new fans.” The $10 promotion is still available and will be
offered at the Metrodome on Saturday, too. Wistrcill also said over
5,000 new public season tickets have been sold, but about 2,000 public
season tickets weren’t renewed. Student season ticket sales are again
expected to exceed 10,000.
Eden
Prairie High School football coach Mike Grant said his team is
one of four or five schools that could win the big school state
championship. “We have enough talent to go all the way,” he said. “We
feel we could have been state champions the last 10 years. We have had
enough talent. You gotta be lucky; the ball has to bounce your way.”
KARE
TV’s Randy Shaver reports that his fund-raising earlier this year
generated $405,000 for Minnesota cancer patient aid and research.
Fund-raising came from the Moneygram International Randy Shaver
Celebrity Golf Classic at Rush Creek in Maple Grove and at the Myth
Nightclub in Maplewood where REO Speedwagon entertained. Shaver’s event
dates back to 1994 and he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease in 1998
but has been considered "cured" since December of 2003.
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Daunte Culpepper
"We have enough talent to go all the way."
Mike Grant, Eden Prairie football coach
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