UMD sophomore Natalie St. Martin appeared to have nothing but net as she shot against Michigan Tech. Photo credit: John Gilbert

St. Martin was thwarted by Tech’s diving goalkeeper, as UMD lost 1-0 on a late Tech goal. Photo credit: John Gilbert

It sounds so trite to say that they can throw out the records, but this Sunday, they can throw out the records, when the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers meet for the first of two times at the giant ark they’ve built for the Vikings in downtown Minneapolis.
If the two teams were 8-0, or 0-8, or if one was 8-0 and the other 0-8, it would still be the same. It doesn’t hurt that both teams won rather unimpressive openers last weekend, nor does it hurt that the palatial Taj ma Zygi will be the site of its first regular-season game. That may make it more special, but it would have been special nonetheless. Always has been, always will be.
As I see it, the Vikings beat Tennessee because they came up with two huge defensive touchdowns, on an interception and a fumble return. The offense scored no points. None. I’m not saying that was because they decides to start Shaun Hill instead of the newly acquired Sam Bradford, to replace Teddy Bridgewater, who is lost for the season after ligament surgery on his left knee. I do think Bradford will think he’s in heaven once he gets in the huddle and finds himself surrounded with Adrian Peterson and a herd of receivers and linemen who give him the best chance to find the NFL pot of gold.
I also realize that the Vikings will be up against the Packers, who are always a threat to reach the Super Bowl as long as Aaron Rodgers is still out there wearing No. 12. He is as efficient as they come, and deadly accurate with his audibles and his passing. However, I think the Vikings have better defense, and the redoubtable Adrian Peterson – who, come to think of it, was doubtable last weekend.
 The Vikings and their legions of fans seem to be assuming that they won because the Tennessee Titans aren’t a very good team. Maybe not, but they are much better than they were, and Marcus Mariota pretty well dominated the Vikings until their constant battering caused him to hurry a couple throws and they got the key interception. A rookie running back also fumbled a couple of exchanges, leading to another Vikings touchdowns. There is no assurance that those mistakes would happen to change the game around.
But in this one, both sides must be at their best. They must be sharp, they must execute, the must play rock-solid defense. And even then, you could flip a coin to pick a winner. If Bradford starts, or plays significantly, it will have been a great move to hold him out of the Tennessee game. But if they struggle, then my first hunch, that they would start Bradford at Nashville, would be proven correct. One game and Bradford would be comfortably familiar in Game 2. Even if it;s against the Packers.

SAINTS OPEN ST HOME

St. Scholastica plays its first home football game Saturday at noon at Public Schools Stadium, and the Saints will be anxious for home sweet home after opening with two on the road. The sting of the loss at St. John’s by 49-7 was modulated by last Saturday’s 37-28 victory over MacMurray, which may not be in the class of St. John’s, but is in the UMAC.
At MacMurray, which is in Illinois, the Saints trailed 14-7 in the second quarter before getting untracked for a 14-all standoff at halftime. In the second half, four touchdowns and a field goal boosted St. Scholastica to a 37-14 lead, but then left the door open for coach Kurt Ramler to sound the alarm this week, by giving up two late touchdowns for the 37-28 final.

UMD VOLLEYBALL COMES HOME

Bemidji State comes to Romano Gym Saturday for a 4 p.m. volleyball match against UMD in the Bulldogs home opener after a sizzling start. The Bulldogs beat Wisconsin-Parkside and Michigan Tech at the Parkside tournament last weekend to run their season-opening winning streak to eight. The Bulldogs go to Minnesota-Crookston Thursday, before the home opener.
In soccer, the Bulldogs dropped a frustrating 1-0 match to Michigan Tech last Friday, but bounced back to beat Northern Michigan 2-1 Sunday afternoon. The Bulldogs hit the road this week for matches at St. Cloud State, Concordia of St. Paul and Minnesota State-Mankato.

CAN TWINS AVOID 100?

There’s little doubt that their starting pitching has sabotaged any chance the Minnesota Twins had of continuing on the upswing after their strong play in July. Other than the brilliant home run hitting of Brian Dozier, August was a bust for the Twins, and so is September. As of Monday, the Twins had 19 games remaining in this woeful season. The best they can do is win 10 of those final 19 games to assure themselves of finishing with fewer than 100 losses.
Meanwhile, they are just passengers or observers in the stretch drive of the regular season, where, in the National League, the Chicago Cubs are a cinch to win the Central Division, Washington just as certain to win the East, and the Los Angeles Dodgers still worrying about San Francisco in the West. In the American League, Texas is a cinch in the American League West, and Cleveland is in strong position to hold off Detroit in the Central.
That leaves only the American League East as a race, and it’s a good one. Toronto has faded recently after a sizzling July and August, and that has allowed Boston to take a slim lead over the Blue Jays, while Baltimore is a very close third and the New York Yankees have risen to fourth. All four are within three games (as of Monday), which is closer than the top two in any other Major League Division.