Can Jerry Kill walk on water?

The first test comes near the Pacific Ocean on Saturday when his lowly regarded Gophers play nationally ranked Southern California.  The Trojans are among the legendary programs in college football history but are perhaps vulnerable to an upset because they are on NCAA probation, banned from post-season play and operating with a reduced number of scholarships.

The common view is the Gophers, 3-9 last year and expected to be among the Big Ten’s worst teams, will lose the game by three touchdowns or more.  But ESPN.com’s Pat Forde is an admirer of Kill and he predicts the Gophers will upset Southern California.

Another ESPN college football authority, Ivan Maisel, was on 1500 ESPN Sunday talking about the Gophers and Kill.  Maisel doesn’t expect much of a season in 2011 but is optimistic about the years to come under Kill who starts his first season as Gophers coach on Saturday after turning around other college programs.

Kill has many admirers locally and nationally.  He’s reportedly often mentioned by other coaches as a superior head coach, and if there’s been a negative word spoken about him by Minnesota fans and media since his arrival last December, we missed it.

The Gophers-USC game looks like a personnel mismatch on paper.  The Gophers have so many ifs in talent and depth that it quickly leads to that conclusion.  The Gophers, for example, start a new quarterback, MarQueis Gray.  The Trojans have returning regular Matt Barkley, a junior, and a player Kill sees playing in the NFL some day.

“First round draft pick,” Kill said.  “He’s got nice receivers to get it to.  He gets the ball out quick.  Smart, well coached.  They do a good job with him.”

The Gophers have a roster with lots of inexperienced players, including in the all important offensive line where six redshirt freshmen and true freshmen, and two sophomores dominate the depth chart.  “I think two or three years down the road (they) should be a special group,” Kill said.

Right now, though, it’s not 2013 or 2014.  Saturday reality is USC, ranked No. 25 in the country by Associated Press, and not Kill’s first choice for an opening assignment.  He would prefer a non-BCS opponent and a cozy game at TCF Bank Stadium.

Some day the Kill fandom expect him to walk on water, maybe the Mississippi.  None would mind if he starts with an ocean on Saturday.

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Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi told Sports Headliners about 1,100 Minnesota fans are expected at a pre-game pep rally on Saturday before the USC game, perhaps the largest such road turnout in decades for Minnesota.  Fan planes from Minnesota are headed to Los Angeles, plus the southern California area is home to a large number of University of Minnesota alums.

When Gray was in high school in Indianapolis USC encouraged him to attend one of the Trojans’ quarterback camps but he didn’t do so.  The Trojans didn’t offer him a scholarship.

The Minnesota-USC game starts at 2:30 p.m. Minneapolis time and will be televised by ABC.  Tomorrow night beginning at 7 p.m. central daylight time UNLV plays at Wisconsin on the Big Ten Network.

Vikings marketing executive Steve LaCroix said via email on Monday the club has tickets remaining for all home games “starting @ $39 per ticket.”  He also reported “limited availability” for the Green Bay game at Mall of America Field on October 23.     That ticket inventory is “via a 2-game package” that includes the Detroit game on September 25, according to LaCroix.

The Vikings, 1-2, finish their preseason schedule tomorrow night at Mall of America Field against Houston.  Only twice in franchise history has the team gone winless in preseason, 1961 and 1979.  The Vikings went on to have losing records in the regular seasons of both years.

The August 29 issue of Sporting News Magazine has the Vikings finishing last in the NFC North with a 5-11 record.

Quarterback Joe Webb ran for 46 yards and one touchdown on two carries against Dallas last week.  During the preseason he has 90 yards rushing on nine attempts while completing 12 of 23 passes (one interception) for 170 yards.  His extraordinary running and impromptu scrambling ability must have head coach Leslie Frazier and offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave intrigued about using Webb occasionally in the Wildcat formation as the featured runner-passer.

The Vikings played for the first time on the new Mall of America Field last Saturday against Dallas.  Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission executive director Bill Lester described the look of the new $476,000 turf as “stunning.”  Marching bands tamped on the turf earlier this summer to break it in and Lester said he’s not aware of any player complaints about the new field.

Former Vikings quarterback Tarvaris Jackson is struggling with his new team, with one touchdown pass, one interception and being sacked seven times in three games.   A bad season by Jackson and Seattle could position the Seahawks with the No. 1 pick in next year’s NFL draft.  That choice will almost certainly be Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck.  If Luck isn’t available when Seattle drafts, Carroll might choose his former USC quarterback, Matt Barkley.

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