The Gopher football team’s offense is unproductive and if the status quo continues, losses in the last three games of the season are likely.  On Saturday the offense had an 80-yard touchdown drive and a 76-yard drive that produced a field goal in a Big Ten Conference loss to Northwestern.  The Gophers, 7-2 overall and 3-2 in the league, have just two scoring drives of over 50 yards in each of their last four conference games.

A turnover-causing Gopher defense has been helping the offense. Last Saturday, for example, cornerback Traye Simmons’ interception and 23-yard run produced Minnesota’s second touchdown of the game in a 24-17 loss.  But the Gophers can’t predict that every Saturday the defense will come up with a touchdown or even give the offense the ball near the goal line.

What’s the problem?  Simple answer.  Beyond quarterback Adam Weber and wide receiver Eric Decker, two of the Big Ten’s best at their positions, the offense lacks playmakers.  By conference standards, the offensive line is average at best.  Too many times in recent games the line has committed untimely holding and false start penalties.  Even more often Weber is scrambling to avoid being sacked, or there’s no hole for Gopher runners.

No doubt the running game would look better if the Gophers had explosive or powerful runners.  Where have you gone, Marion Barber, Laurence Maroney and Gary Russell?  Duane Bennett isn’t as good as those former Gophers but he’s a quality runner who is injured and out for the season. Playmaking speedsters are a missing element at receiver, too, where the Gophers are almost one-dimensional with only Decker.

The offense might find some life against Michigan on Saturday.  The Wolverines have given up 129 points in their last three games and are on a four-game losing streak.  But Wisconsin and Iowa, the last two teams on the regular season schedule, are much better defensively.

It’s evident that in the off-season coach Tim Brewster and his staff will need to upgrade the talent on offense with perhaps a combination of improvement by underclassmen, and the addition of junior college and freshmen playmakers.

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Tubby Smith’s name may be mentioned in the months ahead as a successor to Lute Olsonwho resigned as Arizona’s basketball coach last week.  The Arizona job is one of college basketball’s best but Smith likes Minnesota and is only in his second season here.  Smith, 57, is already one of the better paid coaches in the country and probably faces less pressure here than at Arizona.  He is likely to end his coaching career at Minnesota.

Timberwolves coach Randy Wittman said last week he “hasn’t been associated with a better group” than his 2008-09 team.  “Well, I mean everything,” Wittman said. “Good people off the floor as well as on the floor. Hard workers.  Eager. …”

That attitude can transfer over to self-discipline and correcting one another.  “If I have to wait for a timeout to get it done, it might be too late,” Wittman said.  “So that’s where you always, from a leadership standpoint, want somebody, a group of guys that can police each other on the floor and off the floor. …”

The Wolves’ Corey Brewer made a dismal 37 percent of his field goal attempts as a rookie last season.  He worked to improve his shooting during the summer.  He told Sports Headliners last week that he was thinking too much last season.  “This year go out there and play free,” he said. “Don’t be scared to make a mistake. …”   In two games this season he’s shooting 40 percent.

Brewer, 22, met Timberwolves teammate Mike Miller, 28, when Brewer was in high school and was on a recruiting visit to Florida.  Miller had played at Florida and Brewer decided to attend school there, too.

The Wolves play San Antonio at home on Wednesday night.  In a recent nba.com article Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was ranked the NBA’s best coach, best at in-game adjustments and best in the last two minutes of a game, according to a survey of league general managers.

Local pro basketball writer Steve Aschburner told Sports Headliners he’s picking the Lakers to beat the Cavs in the NBA finals.  The Wolves’ Al Jefferson, who played three seasons in Boston and still has friends on the roster, predicts the Celtics will defeat the Lakers in the finals for a second consecutive season.

A source who analyzes local prep football, rates Washburn tight end Rasheed Hageman the best high school senior in the state.  He thinks Hageman will be a Gopher and possibly start next season.

Bryce McNeal, the Breck wide receiver, hasn’t been a dominant player this fall and Michigan may have lost interest, according to the source.  McNeal may attend Minnesota.  He has outstanding speed and hands.

The source also said Notre Dame transfer Matt Carufel will start on the Gophers offensive line when he becomes eligible next year and will be outstanding.  He expects Kim Royston, the transfer from Wisconsin, to start in the Gopher secondary in 2010. Both are former Cretin-Derham Hall players.

The Gopher athletic department is encouraging fans to dress in gold “from head to toe” for Saturday’s football game with Michigan that begins at 11 a.m. at the Metrodome.  The Little Brown Jug game is the first of three season closing trophy games including at Wisconsin (Paul Bunyan’s Axe) and home against Iowa (Floyd of Rosedale).

Vikings’ kicker Ryan Longwell makes his off-season in a golf and residence community called Isleworth Country Club in suburban Orlando.  The gated community is also home to Tiger Woods, Shaquille O’Neal and Vince Carter.

Quarterback Gus Frerotte’s sons, ages 11 and nine, were in the locker room after the Vikings’ game yesterday collecting autographs including from running back Adrian Peterson.

Safety Madieu Williams started his first regular season game as a Viking yesterday, had a second half interception and gave the ball to a fan in the end zone.  Williams also had eight tackles.

Mardy Fish, a world-class professional tennis player from Edina, sounded the gjallarhorn before the game.

Hamline University professor David Schultz, who will be providing election night analysis on KARE 11 tomorrow night, told an audience at the law firm of Mansfield, Tanick & Cohen P.A. on Friday that Barack Obama may win the presidential election over John McCain in a “blowout.”   Schultz also said Virginia is a key state to watch in the returns on Tuesday night.  “If Obama wins Virginia, turn off your TV sets,” he said. “It’s all over.

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After 20 career starts, sophomore quarterback Adam Weber has produced a sharp resume.  If he remains healthy and Minnesota keeps winning, Weber may secure a place by 2010 as the Gophers’ greatest quarterback ever.

Weber’s to-do list every week is this: pass, run, lead and understand the offense.  He has demonstrated a proficiency with all of that unequalled by any Gopher sophomore quarterback in memory.  He’s second in the Big Ten Conference in passing average per game at 228 yards.  He ranks third in total offense at 241.4.  He’s thrown only three interceptions this season and has 10 touchdown passes.  With more than two seasons yet to play, he already ranks fifth all-time on the Gopher list in career pass completions, tied for fourth in passing touchdowns, sixth in total offense and seventh in career passing yards.

Weber has run for eight touchdowns in 20 games for the Gophers.  His 39-yard fourth quarter run against Purdue last Saturday to set up the Gophers’ last touchdown in a 17-6 win was part athleticism and part moxie.  He saw opportunity in the Purdue defense and took off down the field to help the Gophers win for the seventh time in eight games and move to No. 17 in the BCS rankings.

The former Mounds View High School player said earlier this week he’s never missed a game because of injuries as a prep or collegian.  The subject came up because Weber isn’t from the slide first school of running, instead choosing to lay a blow into a tackler.  He likes his chances of minimizing injury by being an aggressive ball carrier.

Weber’s courage is forming his image as a courageous player and leader.  The day after the Indiana game on October 4, he had arthroscopic right knee surgery but six days later was on the field at Illinois to help the Gophers upset the Illini, 27-20.

Weber has command of the Gopher huddle.  His poise is exemplary and was a factor when in the closing minutes of the opening game he led the Gophers on a winning touchdown drive to beat Northern Illinois 31-27 and end a 10 game losing streak going back to last season.

Gopher coach Tim Brewster told Sports Headliners last week that his quarterback has “maturity beyond his years” and it’s an obvious key to leadership.  “He has tremendous confidence in his ability to execute our offense because of his preparation,” Brewster said.

While Weber started every game as a freshman, it was no day at the beach for the then 20-year-old, not with struggling to learn the new and complicated spread offense and going through a winless season in the Big Ten Conference.

“Obviously last year we took our lumps somewhat watching him learn, watching him grow, watching him make mistakes,” Brewster said.  “You know…it was all part of the process. …Last season was an uncomfortable, challenging experience for us all, but… we knew we had to take two steps back to take that one big step forward.”

Brewster admires his quarterback’s work ethic. “He’s going to put himself into position to be one of the top players in college football, in my opinion,” Brewster said.  “The thing about it is that he’s not bashful about working.  Adam Weber is a worker and that’s what is going to allow him to become what I feel like is a really good player.”

In the Gophers’ spread system the quarterback is a target to be hit by the defense on most plays.  Pass rushers want to sack him; defenders are ready to deliver a blow on his runs.  The Gophers’ system limits his rushing attempts per game and Weber’s fearless mentality may help keep him in one piece.  His next endurance test comes in tomorrow’s Homecoming game against Northwestern, a team that’s 6-2 on the season and leads the Big Ten Conference in sacks.

If Weber stays healthy, the odds of the Gophers continuing to win go way up.  And Brewster reminds that successful quarterbacks are judged and remembered as much for their wins as personal statistics.  The Gophers haven’t had an All-American quarterback since Sandy Stephens in 1961.  They haven’t been to a New Year’s Day bowl game since 1962.  Opportunity waits.

Not that Weber doesn’t need to keep improving.  “There’s throws he’s made this season that we’ll take a look at in the off-season and really study, and learn from some mistakes he’s made,” Brewster said.  “There’s a ton of the little things, the little nuances that great quarterbacks do that he still has some work yet.”

One day Weber could play in the NFL but he doesn’t have any intention of leaving school early to try the pros.  Brewster doesn’t want to talk NFL and Weber.  “I think he’s got excellent ability to play in the National Football League at some point, and that’s not worth talking about,” Brewster said.  “The most important thing for us to discuss is how good a player he can be for the Gophers, not how good a player he can be for the NFL.”

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