The Big 10 is looking a lot different this year. For one, it is not so formidable on the football landscape. Penn State and Wisconsin may vie for some BCS action but at this point, with 3 wins between Michigan and Ohio State, it is quite a switch from years gone by.
Oh, by the way, the Gophers have a clean record and should keep it that way after this weekend. It is a real pleasant beginning to the season after coming off the worst steaming pile in Gopher history. However, this positivity has a creeping feeling of yesteryear…somehow Masonish. Because as soon as this weekend is over, the Big Ten schedule looms and it appears that the Gophers might eek out two more wins to be bowl eligible.
This really is not that far fetched. They play Indiana at home as well as Northwestern. Not to mention Michigan is looking so bad that the Gophs might be able to trip them up as well when they come to town.
Around the rest of VikingLand, the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) has a great start going 13-2 in non league play after two weekends. Competition should be fairly healthy this year in the DIII league and the usual suspects, Bethel & St. John’s, may take a back seat to a surging Augsburg or St. Olaf. Check out our games for the weekend:
GAME OF INTEREST
University of Minnesota "Golden Gophers" (3-0) vs. Florida Atlantic “Owls” (1-2) – 11:00am HHH Metrodome – Minneapolis, MN
Radio: WCCO – 830AM
TV: Big Ten Network
The Gophers have been creating a ton of turnovers this year and are sitting at plus eight. They took the ball away from Bowling Green five times via fumbles and once through the air. The lowly-ranked pass defense went out and picked off Montana State three times last Saturday. A big part of that equation is that the Gophers have not thrown an interception through the first three games.
And it is not like they have scaled back on throwing the ball; Eric Decker already has 25 catches on the year. He is on pace to pull down 100 balls. He already owns the team record for single-season receptions and it looks like he may shatter it.
The Gophers sent out Deleon Eskridge to put in a lot of work last Saturday in order to replace the “out for the season” Duane Bennett. They need to establish a durable back in order to keep the offense in balance, but they are down to true freshmen.
St. Olaf College "Oles” (2-0) vs. University of St. Thomas “Tommies” (1-0) – 1:00pm Manitou Field – Northfield, MN
New St. Olaf coach, Jerry Olszewski, took over a very fine squad from the now Redskins staffer Chris Meidt. This new guy takes his new team against another new coach, Glenn Caruso, who replaced Don Roney. Glenn Caruso’s commute changed very little as he has come over from a neighborhood college rival, Macalester. The battle of new coaches should prove interesting as I believe the winner of this game could go on a tear.
Results from 9/13
Gophers 35
Montana State 23
USC 35
Ohio State 3
Wheaton 10
Bethel 7
Eric Fowler is in his fifth season as a freelance writer for vikings.com. He graduated from St. John’s University in 1998. He currently lives in St. Paul with his wife and 2 children and he works in Bloomington where he holds a position in personal finance. Eric was born and raised in Holdingford, MN. He can be reached via efowler57@hotmail.com