Enjoy a Tuesday notes column.
The Vikings face their 2024 starting quarterback in Seattle on Sunday. The Seahawks’ Sam Darnold is sixth in the NFL in total passing yards with 2,785 and No.1 among starting quarterbacks at 9.4 yards per attempt.
The 4-7 Vikings, beleaguered by a quarterback merry-go-round, will have better insight into defending Darnold than other rivals because of his year in Minnesota. Darnold is one of the few NFL quarterbacks with double figure interceptions this season. His 10 are part of a career pattern of interceptions and fumbles (five this year).
If the blitz-happy Vikings defense can have one of its best days, they can make Darnold feel uncomfortable and prompt mistakes. That will be a challenge because Darnold’s play for the 8-3 Seahawks has been mostly outstanding.
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell was asked yesterday about the Vikings having an advantage in knowing so much about Darnold and also the quarterback’s advantage in knowing Minnesota’s defensive schemes and personnel. He acknowledged there will be a “little of that probably on both sides.”
He didn’t reveal any secrets about how Darnold might exploit his defense but did praise his former leader. He said Darnold can make every throw “and if we’re not airtight in our coverages, they’ll be explosive.”
Superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson has been visibly frustrated this fall. An interesting stat is in the last 14 games (11 this season) he has only two receptions for touchdowns.
The Gophers defeated Nebraska 24-6 on October 17 at Huntington Bank Stadium. It was a crisp performance and widely regarded as the best game Minnesota has played this season. Since then, they have defeated 3-8 Michigan State in overtime at home, and lost road games to Iowa, Oregon and Northwestern by a combined score of 121-51.
The fanbase has wondered why Minnesota hasn’t been able to build off that Nebraska performance. “…I thought we played tremendous against Nebraska,” head coach P.J. Fleck said Monday. “But if everybody just played their absolute best and played like that every week, everybody would be 10-11 wins. That’s not realistic.”
Fleck referred to some quality opponents since the Nebraska showcase and said injuries, inexperienced players and coaching go into the explanation of how the Gophers have performed more recently.
Minnesota lost last Saturday 38-35 to Northwestern. Trailing late in the game by three points, the Gophers had an opportunity to score the winning touchdown. Two passes that debatably could have been called pass interference didn’t draw penalties. Fleck was asked if he believes coaches in the Big Ten have a clear criterion as to what constitutes pass interference.
“…I think that’s the element of the game that will never be perfect. Just like coaching will never be perfect, and the players will never be perfect, but it’s part of the game and you’ve got to overcome. Whether you agree or disagree, whether it is or it isn’t (pass interference), you have to overcome those things, and you can’t rely on that to be the reason you win or lose.”
Malachi Coleman, the 6-5 and 200-pound wide receiver transfer from Nebraska, played sparingly early in the season but is seeing the field more now including at Northwestern where the redshirt sophomore was targeted twice and had a 52-yard reception. Fleck referred to him as a young and inexperienced talent who is a “very big receiver who can run, who can stretch the field vertically.”
Fleck, who was hired when he was 36, turns 45 next Saturday—the same day his team plays Wisconsin at Huntington Bank Stadium.
With the early signing period for high school and juco football players starting on December 3, the Gophers could be positioned to have their highest rated recruiting class of the Fleck era. Minnesota is No. 24 in the 247Sports national team composite recruiting rankings.
A recruiting insider said Triton High School tight end Pierce Petersohn, one of this state’s most coveted senior players, will sign with Virginia Tech and its new coach James Franklin. Petersohn was committed to Penn State before Franklin was fired as Nittany Lions head coach.
Quarterback Troy Huhn from San Marcos, California, who ESPN reported was interested in the Gophers, will also go to Virginia Tech, per the insider.
Good news for Minnesota snowbirds in southwest Florida who head for home by the end of February. MLB teams, including the Twins, are starting spring training games earlier than in the past. The Twins open with a February 20 exhibition against the Gophers at the Lee Health Complex and have a total of five home games in February.
Prices haven’t been announced but it’s likely a ticket will cost four-figures to watch the Twins host the Phillies on August 13 for the Field of Dreams game in Dyersville, Iowa.
The Twins ownership and management could boost their image and the club’s offense by signing free agent first baseman Luis Arraez, the former Twin and three-time batting champion. Would the 28-year-old think about a one-year deal at $18 million?
Starting pitcher Joe Ryan was a steal for the Twins last season at a reported $3 million. He will be a bargain, too, in 2026. Following arbitration, he could be awarded about $6 million for the season.
Gophers public address announcer Dick Jonckowski was told by his doctor earlier this month he is cancer free and doesn’t need to be checked again for 12 months.
When Minneota won the Class 1A state football championship last week, it was the school’s 11th title. Coach Chad Johnston has won the last eight state championships. Gary Meidt won the three earlier titles.
Owen Konrad, who led Eden Prairie in rushing this fall as a sophomore, should be one of the better running backs in the state next season.
The 5-3 St. Thomas men’s basketball team has been mostly on the road to start the season, having played only two home games at the new Lee and Penny Anderson Arena, drawing announced attendances of 5,325 (capacity crowd) for the opener and 2,658 for the second game.
Ken Patera, who was a prominent wrestler years ago in the Minneapolis-based American Wrestling Association, turned 82 earlier this month
Among the Minnesota teams and athletes doing good work in the community this week is the Wild’s celebration of Native American Heritage Day on Friday when the club hosts the Colorado Avalanche at 2:30 p.m. at Grand Casino Arena. New or gently used winter coats will be collected at Gates 1-5 from 11:30 a.m. until the game starts. The Roseville-based American Indian Family Center will distribute coats to the families they serve in Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
I’d love to know what Coach Fleck truly thinks the ceiling, or expectations are for his program. We know the University of Minnesota is well-below the helmet schools, yet obviously not as low as the bad programs. But what honestly is the end game here? Is it to go around 7-5 every season, win possibly one rivalry game, then hoist a trophy at a bad bowl game and collect another raise?
I can’t think Fleck thinks this is really the pinnacle, really what he expects here. But we never will know because of the way he always talks, his cliches, his never really getting to the bottom of a problem and “hey, we’re on to next week and we are 0-0.” For his (and our) sake I hope they take care of business against Wisconsin Saturday and end the year at least with the axe and the excitement that brings. And “maybe next year.”
But don’t look now, the Badgers have beaten two ranked teams in the past three weeks and if they beat Minnesota at Huntington will somehow go from being possibly the worst Power 4 school in the country at one point to now likely having more momentum than the Gophers heading into the offseason.