Christmas comes late for Gopher grid fans
The Christmas gifts are all unwrapped and being worn, the Herald Angels have all harked and sung, and we’re ready for hockey will carry us into the New Year – because there was absolutely no chance that our state’s two primary football teams had a chance to even be respectable.
It is under those circumstances that the University of Minnesota pulled off the most colossal upset of the year – 17-12 over Washington State in the Holiday Bowl game in San Diego.
What were the chances? The team had been torn apart by sexual assault charges that belatedly took 10 players off the roster for a September 2nd incident near campus, in a case that will undoubtedly still end up in court, after university officials pursued the case after police failed to file charges. Coach Tracy Claeys came out and said he was proud of his players for boycotting the Holiday Bowl and all the preparations, then the players reversed themselves and said they would play, after all.
Now, here’s a Golden Gophers football team that had finished 5-4 in the Big Ten while being able to avoid scheduling either Michigan or Ohio State, the two best teams in the conference. At 8-4, they were facing Washington Statem which had fallen just short, by way of a loss to arch-rival Washington, from winning the northern half of the Pac 12 at 7-2. Minnesota had the eminently unpredictable Mitch Leidner at quarterback, who had thrown 7 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions this season, while Washington State had Luke Falk, who had thrown 37 touchdown passes, including at least one in 56 consecutive games.
Incredibly, the Gophers stopped the Cougars with a field goal, then tied it 3-3 before giving up another field goal, which, of course, meant WSU was halted short of a touchdown. The Gophers continued to play exceptional football, and Washington State was unable to put anything together.
In the third quarter, trailing 6-3, the Gophers got one of those breaks we all claim never come the way of any Minnesota sports team. A Washington State punt was bouncing around, and incomprehensibly a Gopher was too close to it and clearly nudged the ball with his foot, and the Cougars recovered on about the Minnesota 35. The officials declared it Minnesota ball, having missed the obvious touch, which the ESPN announcers spotted. They reviewed it at length, and we all – and those in the stadium – saw the contact between the Gopher foot and the ball. Yet still, the refs said the call on the field was confirmed! Leidner capitalized, and took the Gophers in for a touchdown, and a 10-6 lead.
In the fourth quarter, the Gophers continued to foul up everything Washington State attempted. With less than 4 minutes to go, trailing 10-6 still, Falk went back to pass on fourth and 6. The Gophers had a weird single-file defensive alignment, and they didn’t rush, as Falk dropped back and looked for receivers for what seemed like a minute. Finally he passed to his right, where four Gophers had surrounded the receiver, and the pass was intercepted by Adekunle Ayinde. From there, the Gophers moved in for a Rodney Smith touchdown run, and it was 17-6. Falk finally got the Cougars their touchdown pass with 19 seconds remaining.
Leidner wound up 11-20 for 129 yards, while Luke Falk was 30-51 for 264 yards. But the Gophers, underdogs by more than a touchdown before losing their 10 suspended players, figured to get blown out by Falk and his pass-happy gang. Instead, the Golden Gopher brought it all back together for one final performance, and it was a virtuoso job.
Word was, the case, the suspensions, the boycott, the overturned boycott, the uncertainty...all went together to tie this previously disjointed outfit together for the first time all season. If that’s the recipe for success under pressure, perhaps Tracy Claeys can organize some sort of ugly scenario and nationwide scandal to disgrace the Gophers before every big game.
Vikings Down The Drain
We knew, for example, the Gophers couldn’t possibly succeed because the Minnesota Vikings have become our template for late-season football success. The Vikings were uncompetitive at Green Bay.
The Vikings got behind 28-13 at halftime, and, after a scoreless third quarter, the Packers cruised to 10 more points and a 38-13 cushion. Sam Bradford, always giving it everything, came through with a pair of touchdown passes in the last 4:20, but all it did was obscure the difference between the two teams when it ended 38-25.
There was one amazing statistic, however. Aaron Rodgers was great, finding receiver Jordy Nelson 9 times for 154 yards and two touchdowns. By comparison, however, in a losing cause, Sam Bradford passed 12 times to Adam Thielen for 202 yards and two touchdowns. Nelson made 7 of his 9 receptions in the first half, when there was some incredible mix-ups of explanations for coverage.
Vikings coach Mike Zimmer runs the defense, and instead of playing an automatic cornerbacks-stay-wide zone-type system, he chose to change it and have Xavier Rhodes cover Jordy Nelson 1-on-1 all over the field. Rhodes and fellow-cornerback Terence Newman said they decided to go back to the normal stay-wide coverage in the first half, which was when Nelson torched the Vikings. A day later, coach Zimmer and the players all agreed that it hadn’t been a mutiny or a takeover against the coach’s wishes.
We can’t be sure, at this point. But it will be interesting to see if Rhodes plays his usual role this weekend against the Chicago Bears in what is now a meaningless final game. Or will he wind up getting traded, if Zimmer starts to feel he can’t trust him.
At any rate, the once-5-0 Vikings are finishing the season in free-fall at 5-8 after a 2-8 skid. It’s one of those signs that we should start paying closer attention to hockey. Like, you can watch some great high school hockey tournament action at Mars Lakeview Arena or Heritage Center this week. Or you could watch the Vikings and Bears.
