David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Must-Win for Football Gophers Tonight

Posted on October 26, 2018October 26, 2018 by David Shama

KFXN Radio’s Dan Barreiro asked for suggestions on air this week for a trophy to be awarded to the winner of the Minnesota-Indiana football game. How about the Splintered Crutch Trophy?

A fight broke out in Bloomington, Indiana near the end of the 1968 Gophers-Hoosiers game. Minnesota fullback Jim Carter took his helmet off and was swinging it as a weapon in the fight. “(It) kept people away from me,” Carter said yesterday.

Carter was doing okay until an injured Indiana lineman in street clothes came out on the field to get in on the action. The Hoosier swung a crutch at Carter, just missing his head and landing on a shoulder pad. The crutch splintered on impact and Carter speculated he could have been in “serious trouble” if the blow had been to his head.

Creation of the Splintered Crutch Trophy could put a little excitement into two programs that historically have struggled to win games. The last time the Hoosiers and Gophers won a Big Ten championship was 1967 when the two programs shared the title along with Purdue. Indiana hasn’t been to the Rose Bowl since 1968. Minnesota last earned its way to Pasadena in 1962.

This fall the two teams find themselves in familiar positions in their Big Ten divisions. Indiana, 1-4 in conference games, is in next to last place in the East Division, while the Gophers, 0-4, are at the bottom of the West Division standings.

The Hoosiers are on a three-game losing streak, Minnesota has a four-game going. No surprise that a former Big Ten coach predicted this about tonight’s game, “It will be close.”

This is a matchup P.J. Fleck and his coaching staff badly need to win. The remaining schedule has Indiana, Purdue and Northwestern at home, with road games at Illinois and Wisconsin. The best opportunities for wins will be tonight and against hapless Illinois. If the Gophers can earn victories against IU and the Illini, and upset either Northwestern or Purdue, they will finish the season with an overall record of 6-6 and qualify for a bowl game.

There will be drama and judgment surrounding what Fleck and the Gophers accomplish between now and the last game of the season on November 24 against Wisconsin. The second-year coach won only two conference games last season but the scenario above delivers an improved 3-6 league record in 2018. The team’s overall record with three more wins will be 6-6, and a step forward from last year’s 5-7.

The Gophers need to restore confidence in themselves and their followers in the last five games of the season starting tonight at TCF Bank Stadium. Fleck’s image with fans and media will improve with a couple more wins, and provide more interest in the program going into 2019.

This is test time for the coaches and players. They need to rally after having the misfortune of losing some of their best players to injuries. Minnesota also has to recover from poor performances on defense when the unit has often looked under coached, confused and even disinterested.

The Gophers will have to pretty much inspire themselves tonight. The crowd will be small and while some loyalists will cheer for the Gophers like it’s a Big Ten championship game, there will be thousands and thousands of empty seats.

Ticket sales for 2018 remaining home games, and for next season, are part of what’s on the line for Fleck and the program tonight and in the weeks ahead. Attendance for 2018 home games could be the lowest at TCF since the stadium opened in 2009.

For Fleck this is an important time and an opportunity for momentum leading into 2019, when in his third year expectations will rightfully be greater than they have been.

Worth Noting

Kirk Cousins has been drawing notice for his pregame remarks to Vikings teammates but a lot of people have been following his verbal leadership skills since a famous speech he made in 2011. Representing the Big Ten Conference football players, Cousins made a speech at the league’s kickoff luncheon in Chicago that has become a YouTube favorite.

Cousins ranks fourth in the NFL with 2,162 passing yards and also fourth with a 70.0 completion percentage. He and Atlanta’s Matt Ryan are the only quarterbacks with at least 2,000 passing yards and a 70+ completion percentage this season.

When the national TV ratings come out for the week of October 28, it’s likely the Vikings-Saints game this Sunday night will be No. 1 for all programming.

The field reporter for the NBC televised game from U.S. Bank Stadium will be Edina’s Michele Tafoya.

Local NBA fans will see two of the league’s most intriguing players at Target Center before October ends. Tonight the Wolves play the Bucks with “Greek Freak” Giannis Antetokounmpo. LeBron James, considered the best player on the planet, is in town with the Lakers on Monday night.

Then on Wednesday popular former Wolves point guard Ricky Rubio and the Jazz play at Target Center.

The Minnesota-North Dakota U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame game Saturday night from Las Vegas will be streamed on NCHA.tv, and seen on cable companies Charter, Comcast (999), Mediacom (MC22) and Midco.

Tickets have sold out for Lindsay Whalen’s debut game November 9 as the Gopher women’s head basketball coach. The Gophers haven’t announced a crowd of over 10,000 since January of 2007. Discounted single game tickets and the excitement about Whalen resulted in the sellout for the nonconference matchup against New Hampshire.

“Behind the Game,” the Twin Cities cable TV show co-hosted by Patrick Klinger and Bill Robertson, regularly schedules sports newsmakers, with the latest guest former MLB umpire Tim Tschida. Tom Chorske, who played 11 seasons in the NHL and now is a hockey commentator on local TV, will be an upcoming guest. The Tschida program can also be viewed on YouTube.

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How P.J. Fleck Ranks with Big 10 Peers

Posted on October 24, 2018October 24, 2018 by David Shama

This space has provided power rankings of Big Ten football teams in the past, but today I offer my listing of the league’s 14 head coaches. Most readers will immediately wonder where Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck ranks. He checks in at No. 11 and here’s my capsule on the 37-year-old “Row the Boat” specialist:

About halfway through Fleck’s second year at Minnesota his record in conference games is 2-11. His only two wins came last season against two underwhelming teams, Illinois and Nebraska. In nonconference games his record is 6-0, with those victories earned mostly against inferior opposition. Give Fleck, his assistant coaches and players credit for impressive performances in wins over Nebraska and Oregon State in 2017, and this season’s victory against Fresno State.

Team defense is now in alarm status. The Gophers were outscored 70-0 in their last two Big Ten games in 2017. In their four conference games this year they are giving up 43.5 points per game including a 53-28 loss to Nebraska last Saturday.

Fleck has gone overboard in emphasizing how young his roster is but the starters on defense are primarily juniors and seniors. Despite their experience, Minnesota defenders are often out of position or nowhere to be seen, as they allow opposing offenses to break off long gains. Defensive coordinator Robb Smith, who according to a college football insider was forced out at Arkansas before being hired by Fleck, should be under scrutiny.

Fleck and staff have improved the offense, including by bringing in young talent such as true freshmen quarterback Zack Annexstad and wide receiver Rashod Bateman. Fleck has done well in national recruiting rankings and been tireless in talking about his vision to make the Minnesota program “elite.”

But the Gophers have to stop giving up easy scores and start winning conference games. The program was 5-4 in Big Ten games the season prior to Fleck’s arrival in January 2017. Minnesota had winning records in the Big Ten in two of the three seasons prior to Fleck being hired.

The conference totals on wins and losses say the program is going backward. It’s up to Fleck and his staff to soon change that.

In ranking all 14 Big Ten coaches (below) multiple factors were considered including not only wins and losses, and championships, but also the difficulty of their assignments. It’s not an even “playing field” when comparing resources at each of the Big Ten programs. Far from it. Among the most difficult jobs are Illinois, Minnesota, Northwestern and Rutgers. Places of privilege include Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State.

1. Mark Dantonio, Michigan State. He is a taskmaster’s taskmater whose defenses have allowed the Spartans to overachieve and win for many years.

2. Urban Meyer, Ohio State. He won’t lead any popularity polls nationally, or in Big Ten country, but he’s won every place he has coached and is 77-9 in seven seasons with the Buckeyes.

3. Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern. Historically not a program with great resources but Fitzgerald is a superb leader and coach who gets the most out of the Wildcats.

4. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa. There is a reason Ferentz has been at Iowa for 20 seasons. He and his staff are masters at identifying under the radar player talent and developing it.

5. Jim Harbaugh, Michigan. Harbaugh failed in three previous seasons to find a quality quarterback but the fiery coach has one now in Shea Patterson and the Wolverines’ coach could be on his way to a first Big Ten title.

6. Jeff Brohm, Purdue. Beating No. 2 ranked Ohio State last Saturday was no fluke. The second-year coach immediately improved a dreadful Purdue program in 2017 and is the real deal.

7. Scott Frost, Nebraska. He is 1-6 in his first season at Nebraska but he was 13-0 at Central Florida last season, and just as importantly comes from a gold-plated coaching tree that includes Tom Osborne and Bill Walsh.

8. Paul Chryst, Wisconsin. Chryst was given the keys to a national top program and in four seasons is 38-10 overall and 25-5 in league games, but the Badgers have occasionally stumbled including a surprise loss to BYU and poor performance against Michigan this year. Maybe he is more of a maintainer than a builder.

9. James Franklin, Penn State. Impressive recruiter who has helped restore the Penn State program but he couldn’t close out big home games this fall against Ohio State and Michigan State.

10. DJ Durkin/Matt Canada, Maryland. Canada is the interim coach with Durkin on administrative leave while the school investigates his program. What is certain is the Terps have recruited successfully the last few years.

11. P.J. Fleck, Minnesota. See comments at the top.

12. Tom Allen, Indiana. A coin flip in ranking Allen behind Fleck. The second-year IU coach is 3-11 in Big Ten games.

13. Chris Ash, Rutgers. He was smart enough to hire Jerry Kill as offensive coordinator for one season in 2017 but Rutgers is one difficult place to coach. In Ash’s third season he has yet to show a lot and is likely to go winless in the Big Ten.

14. Lovie Smith, Illinois. The Illinois job is deeper in resources than Rutgers but you wouldn’t know it looking at the mess Smith has contributed to in three seasons. The former Bears Super Bowl coach has a league record of 3-18.

Comments Welcome

Zimmer Predicts ‘Chip on Shoulder’ Saints

Posted on October 22, 2018October 24, 2018 by David Shama

Enjoy a Monday notes column that includes the Vikings, Gophers and Timberwolves.

There is plenty of advance intrigue surrounding next Sunday’s Vikings-Saints game at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Saints return here no doubt seeking some redemption on last January’s “Minneapolis Miracle” that bumped them out of the playoffs. Then during the offseason Tom Pelissero from NFL Network reported in a March story the Vikings inquired about legendary Saints QB Drew Brees before eventually signing Kirk Cousins. Count on comparisons being made Sunday between the two.

Then, too, and most importantly, the game Sunday is an opportunity to judge two teams that could meet again in the playoffs. The Saints, 5-1, have the second best record in the NFC behind the 7-0 Rams. The 4-2-1 Vikings are trying to stay ahead of the 3-2-1 Packers in the NFC North.

The Saints are known as a gritty team under the direction of head coach Sean Payton. “I think the Saints will come in with a chip on their shoulder because that’s who they are,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said this afternoon at his news conference heard on KFXN Radio. “They are very aggressive on defense. They’re aggressive offensively. They’ve got a good football team.”

Asked about the 39-year-old Brees, Zimmer said, “This guy is amazing. When you talk about Hall of Fame quarterbacks, obviously, he’s going to be one. But he’s very cerebral, accurate. He’s moving well in the pocket. …”

The Gophers, 53-28 losers to Nebraska on Saturday, are giving up an average of 43.3 points per game against Big Ten opponents. Meanwhile, former Gopher coach Tracy Claeys is in his first season at Washington State as defensive coordinator and deserves a lot of credit for helping the nationally ranked Cougars to a 6-1 start.

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor was asked Friday night by Sports Headliners if he was embarrassed for young fans after Jimmy Butler’s profanity-laced practice earlier this month. “Let’s just say I wish some of those things were handled a little bit better,” he said.

Butler, one of the NBA’s best two-way players, wants to be traded but Taylor said he is not handling inquiries from other teams. He is deferring to general manager Scott Layden. “At this point that’s his job,” Taylor said. “He’s out there doing it.”

Taylor wouldn’t say if he expects his club to move Butler elsewhere before the February 7 NBA trade deadline. He acknowledged disappointment that Butler—the most important player in leading his franchise to the playoffs last spring for the first time since 2004—doesn’t want to continue beyond one season in Minneapolis.

“It’s a shame because I was looking forward to this season because I had the highest goals for it,” Taylor said. “I just thought we would be a really good thing.

“And I think we still can but we just somehow got to make sure that a couple of things (happen). We’ll have to do a good trade, and a number of members of our team will have to step up. We still could have a really good year.”

For that to happen the Wolves, with a 1-2 record so far this season, need to fix a leaky defense. Counting their final exhibition matchup before the regular season started last week, the Wolves have given up 143, 112, 123 and 140 points in their last four games.

Despite Butler’s nasty preseason behavior, the Wolves announced a sellout attendance of 18,978 at their home opener Friday night. Ticket King was promoting $27 tickets for the game last week.

During pregame player introductions Butler received an earful of boos from the home opener crowd. Tom Thibodeau, the coach and president of basketball operations, might have been targeted with even louder jeers.

The crowd warmed to Butler, though, as he led the team to a win over the Cavs. Almost as usual, he was the Wolves’ best player at both ends of the court.

The Sports Illustrated NBA preview issue, out last week, quotes a rival scout as being skeptical of the Wolves making the playoffs—and not just because of the trade drama involving Butler. “Their floor could be pretty low because their roster isn’t balanced well positionally and has a lot of holes,” the scout said in S.I.

The issue included a ranking of the NBA’s 30 teams according to “entertainment value.” Criteria included “projected success, style of play, firepower, age, injuries, coaching and personality.” The Wolves landed at No. 22 (“…Butler circus left them dead on arrival.”) The NBA champion Warriors got the No. 1 spot, just ahead of the new LeBron James-led Lakers.

Paige Bueckers, the junior point guard at Hopkins, excelled last season for the Royals and in AAU competition during the summer. Among girls, she might be the best young teenage point guard in the world. Legendary Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma is all-in on recruiting her.

Remember “The Crusher?” The former professional wrestler was hugely popular in Minneapolis and other places in the Midwest decades ago. Now a memorial bronze statue is going up in his hometown of South Milwaukee. How about a statue of Minnesota wrestling legend Verne Gagne?

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