Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 10.7.24
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The Twins cut ties with GM Thad Levine shortly after Friday’s Takeout. Derek Falvey remains.
First-round pick Rob Dillingham scored 21 points in the Wolves’ exhibition win over the Lakers in Palm Springs on Friday. They host Philadelphia on Friday.
Wild season-opener is Thursday against Columbus. If only they could play Chicago 82 games.
Vikings Hold on in London
If the Vikings put 60 minutes of football together, watch out.
Minnesota raced out to another big first half lead - this one 17-0 - and held on for a 23-17 win over Aaron Rodgers and the Jets at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. The Vikings are 5-0 heading into their bye week.
Sam Darnold was human, but the Vikings battered Rodgers in the first half. He threw two INT’s in the first quarter for the first time in his career and three interceptions overall, including Andrew Van Ginkel’s 63-yard INT return for a touchdown. Veteran Stephen Gilmore intercepted Rodgers again near the end zone in the final minute with the Jets marching for a potential game-winning score.
Isn’t it nice to have a field goal kicker who doesn’t make you nervous? Will Reichel booted home field goals of 53 and 54 yards and hasn’t missed this season.
The Vikings were pretty awful in the third quarter. Part of that was because Aaron Jones had left with an injury. Ty Chandler is fine, but he doesn’t give you what Jones does.
Jones gets an extra week to recover before the Vikings host the Lions on Oct. 20. That starts a stretch of two games in five days, with cross country travel to play the Rams.
The Chiefs host New Orleans tonight trying to match the Vikings 5-0 start.
Sun Rallies to Force Game 5 against Lynx
The Lynx will need to defeat Connecticut in a loser-goes-home Game 5 on Tuesday at Target Center to advance to their first WNBA Final since 2017. Minnesota couldn’t hold a seven-point lead in Game 4 yesterday, as a 29-point effort by Napheesa Collier went for naught in a 92-82 loss. Minnesota scored just 32 points in the second half.
The winner will face the New York Liberty, the top team in the league all season, in the best-of-five WNBA Final beginning Thursday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Should the Lynx win Tuesday, Games 3 and 4 would be at Target Center October 16 and October 18.
Fans Storm Field as Gophers Upset USC
I’m generally not a fan of storming the field, but the Gopher faithful deserved this one.
A week after a call went against them trying to upset Michigan on the road, the Gophers prevailed 24-17 in a tight game over No. 11 USC. The Gophers fans left the goalposts alone - we’ll leave that for Vanderbilt - but it was a well earned sigh of relief.
Most Gopher fans were screaming when P.J. Fleck decided to go for it on fourth and goal from the one with less than a minute left in a tie game. They were screaming louder when it was ruled Max Brosmer was stopped short, instead of what would have been a go-ahead field goal. But replays proved - mostly? - that the goal crossed the goal line. You couldn’t necessarily see the ball but most of Brosmer’s upper body was in the end zone.
Even so, the Gophers had to sweat it out, thanks in part to a personal foul for pretending to “brandish a weapon” after an incomplete pass. But Koi Perich sealed the game with an interception in the end zone.
The Gophers were the better team, save for a long third quarter that saw the Trojans score just one touchdown but assert themselves big time. Brosmer threw just four incompletions in 19 attempts, but Darius Taylor was just awesome. Twenty-five runs for 144 yards, getting the best of Woody Marks (20 carries for 134 yards) in a great RB matchup.
The Gophers are at UCLA this Saturday, and the Bruins have to be thrilled. They’ve lost four straight games to teams in the top 18, including losses to No. 3 Oregon and No. 4 Penn State the last two weeks.
Loons Win to Leapfrog Vancouver with One Game Left
For two months it has seemed like the Loons were destined for the one-game play-in game, but with Saturday’s 1-0 win in Vancouver, they passed the Whitecaps for seventh.
Now, Vancouver has a game in hand, but the Loons play a bad Kansas City team this Saturday at home. Minnesota could technically place anywhere from fifth to eighth. A best-of-three against a top four seed awaits if they can avoid the eighth spot.
The best-of-three would run sometime between October 25 and November 10, with the Loons guaranteed at least one home game.
GWH Sweeps B.U.; Plays at National Champion OSU This Weekend
The Gopher women snuck by Boston University 1-0 on Friday night with a late power play goal by Abbey Murphy, before beating the Terriers 5-2 in the series finale on Sunday. Murphy also had a goal in that game.
The Gophers get their first big test of the season this Friday and Saturday, facing defending national champion Ohio State. The Buckeyes, coached by former two-time Gopher All-American Nadine Muzzerall, have won two of the last three NCAA titles. But they were swept by UMD last month.
The Gopher men beat St. Cloud 5-1 in their exhibition game. They play at The Orleans in Las Vegas this weekend against Air Force and either UMass or Omaha.
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