Author: David Shama

It’ uncommon for the Gophers football roster to have a player who earned a four-star rating from Rivals.com while in high school.  Brendan Beal, was a four-star linebacker in 2008 as a prep in Pennsylvania.  Earlier this year he transferred from Florida to Minnesota where after sitting out this fall he will have two seasons of eligibility.

Gophers coach Tim Brewster told Sports Headliners Beal, who is interested in business, was attracted to the Carlson School of Management at Minnesota and also wanted to play in the Big Ten.  Beal, whose progress at Florida was slowed by injuries, also knew the Gophers had a need for talent at linebacker.

“The little bit I’ve been around him, he’s shown that he’s got excellent ability,” Brewster said.  “He’s an extremely smart player.  Big, physical kid (about 6-3, 250).  I anticipate him being a really good football player for us.”

Brewster said Beal wasn’t asked by the Gators to leave Florida.  “Absolutely no,” Brewster said. 

Bob Hughes and other Goal Line Club members deserve praise for hosting a memorable luncheon last Friday to honor the 1960 Gophers national championship team.  Coach Murray Warmath’s health didn’t allow him to attend but many former players did including nose guard Tom Brown (the 1960 Big Ten Most Valuable Player) and tackle Bobby Bell who was a two-time All-American in 1961-62.  Gopher historian Doug Addison, a close friend of Bell and other players, devoted a lot of time to helping with 1960 reunion activities last week including a breakfast gathering on Thursday at the Minneapolis Club.

Bell will have his jersey No. 78 retired at the Gophers-Northwestern game on Saturday, October 2.

Former Kansas coach Mark Mangino, a friend of Brewster, attended the luncheon.  Mangino is living in Naples, Florida and will consider coaching again with the “right” opportunity.  Otherwise?  “I might become a game show host,” he quipped.

USC used all its allotment of 3,000 visiting team tickets for Saturday’s game at TCF Bank Stadium and would have welcomed more if available, according to Marc Ryan of the Gophers athletic department.  He also said USC will be paid $400,000.00 for playing here and Minnesota will receive the same for next year’s game in Los Angeles.

The Trojans have been penalized by the NCAA with reduced scholarships and a bowl ban but USC’s new athletic director Pat Haden isn’t using “turn around” in his vocabulary.  Haden told Sports Headliners he expects success in the immediate seasons ahead including possibly eight, nine, 10 win seasons.  The Trojans are 3-0  after defeating the Gophers on Saturday.

Al Nuness, the former Gophers basketball player, is retired from his executive position with Jostens and is consulting for the company.  His son Jared was recently hired as director of video and operations at Baylor, a fast rising basketball program.

The University of Minnesota is searching for a new president to succeed Bob Bruininks who will leave the position next year.  The guess here is that administrators on campus would be thrilled if former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were interested in the job.  Rice is a professor at Stanford and in the past there’s been speculation that because of her football interest she might one day be NFL commissioner.  (There’s no word that Rice is interested or a candidate to succeed Bruininks.)

Joe Mauer injured his left knee in yesterday’s loss to Oakland and his return is day-to-day, according to the Twins.

The USC football program has won 11 national championships and 31 bowl games but the 2010 team has dazzled only the most Pollyanna of its supporters so far.

The 2-0 Trojans have wins over Hawaii (49-36) and Virginia (17-14).  Neither Hawaii nor Virginia is deserving of more than a mediocre label at best.

USC ranks 37^th in the country in rushing offense per game (185.6 yards) and 47^th in passing (240 yards).  The Trojans are 107^th in total defense giving up 464 yards per game and No. 73 in scoring defense at 25 points a game.

Tomorrow first year coach Lane Kiffin, a Bloomington Jefferson alum, brings USC to play coach Tim Brewster’s Gophers at TCF Bank Stadium.  Kiffin’s profile is pretty glitzy, a handsome 35-year-old with a platinum reputation as a recruiter and coaching stops already with the Oakland Raiders, Tennessee Volunteers and USC Trojans.  And, oh, yes, he might have the best looking coach’s wife in the country.

But the other day on ESPN Radio Colin Cowherd and Bob Davie said that Kiffin prefers to emphasize running the football, perhaps to the detriment of his own success so far with the Trojans.  Translation: Kiffin might be glitzy in some ways, but his football approach can be old school smash them and smash some more.

“They’re a team that needs to throw the football down the field,” said Davie, the former Notre Dame coach.  “I watched the game the other night against Virginia.  They’re lucky they hung on and won that game.”

The Gophers are about a two touchdown underdog tomorrow and if they play pass defense like they did against South Dakota the Trojans will score a lot of points.  USC sophomore quarterback Matt Barkley has thrown seven touchdown passes and is No. 12 in the nation with a passing efficiency of 171.82.  The Gophers rank 97^th in the country in pass defense, giving up almost 300 yards per game.

But tomorrow’s game won’t be determined by the stats of past weeks and if the Gophers play with fury this game could be close, or an upset.  It should be an angry group of Gophers who take the field tomorrow after last Saturday’s surprise loss to South Dakota.

The Gophers have played USC here in three previous games, winning 25-19 in 1955, and losing 29-20 in 1968 and 24-7 in 1980.  The 1955 and 1968 games were particularly memorable.  The Trojans were ranked No. 10 in the country in 1955 but the Californians couldn’t deal with an early season Minneapolis snowstorm, and lost.

In 1968 USC was a glamour team, ranked No. 2 in the country and featuring the now infamous O.J. Simpson.  Minnesota coach Murray Warmath instructed the groundskeeper at Memorial Stadium to let the grass grow long prior to the season opening game, hoping to slow down Simpson, the USC tailback who later that year would win the Heisman Trophy.  Didn’t work, though, as Simpson ran for 236 yards and four touchdowns against the No. 16 ranked Gophers.

The Wild open training camp tomorrow and the regular season begins with a pair of games on October 7 and 8 in Finland against Carolina.  Hope is that this season has a better beginning than last.

In 2009 the Wild lost six of its first eight games.  Forward Matt Cullen, the Minnesota native who signed on with the Wild in July, has played with several NHL clubs and knows that kind of start is troublesome, even with an 82 game schedule.

Cullen was with Carolina when the team went to the conference finals in the spring of 2009.  Then last season Carolina started poorly and didn’t make the playoffs.

Cullen wants to see a fast start by the Wild.  “It’s nearly impossible to make up that ground,” he told Sports Headliners. “This league is too tight.  You have to come out of the gate strong.  So that for us is going to be a primary focus from day one of camp.”

If the Twins finish with the best record in the American League it seems certain Ron Gardenhire will be voted Manager of the Year by the Baseball Writers Association of America.  Gardenhire has managed five division winners since becoming the Twins field boss but never been honored as American League Manager of the Year.

Former Twins great Tony Oliva told Sports Headliners pitcher Francisco Liriano, who is having his best season since 2006, might have even greater arm strength next season and a better year.

Local author Dave Wright has a book signing tomorrow starting at 2 p.m. at Valley Bookseller in Stillwater.  Wright’s book, 162-0: The Greatest Wins, is about memorable Twins games.