SiouxScore

Man that was really fun to watch Graterol pitch. Good movement on the fastball to go with the velocity. Gave up a couple hits but extremely weak contact and hit spots pretty well too.

No doubt I'll keep rowing, I'd be disappointed with anything less than 8 wins this year and expect to be in the hunt for a B1G West title.

Why? Fell in love with UND hockey going to a game with a buddy who had a cousin on the team when I was a kid. Born and raised in northwest Minnesota and support my home state in everything else. Been to both UND and Gophers football games in my life too. Gophers and UND really only play at the same level in the one sport so it is easy.

They weren't a very good team Thursday night but I fully believe they will have a very good team this season. OC was hard for prepare for and they definitely struggled with the Jackrabbits offense. Give the guy credit he called a great game. NDSU fan I talked to said he took a lot of the 3 back wrinkles from NDSU and used the misdirection and wheel routes out of that formation like they do and it caused a lot of confusion for the young Gophers LBs. Your friend didn't hit the nail on the head at all. I wasn't fond of the Row the Boat stuff when they hired Fleck but learning more about it it has definitely grown on me. It really is their culture and whether people want to think it is a gimmick or not it I guess that is up to them. It has definitely been a part in helping Fleck and the staff bring in the highest rated recruiting classes in Gopher history the last 2 years. Like I said I think they'll have a really good year and could even win the west with the schedule they have. They obviously can't play like they did Thursday but with how last year ended and the number of starters returning I'm thinking that was more of a slip up and not a indictment on how this team will play this season.

I'm a UND hockey fan and a Gopher fan in everything else. I'll watch other UND sports and hope they do well as well but just much more invested in UND hockey and other Gopher sports.

They haven't been a consistently good team but Fleck is building something there and this should be a big year. You can think the playbook thing is a joke but having seen what they run for the last 2 years and what they showed Thursday night it was easy to see they weren't showing much. What they did run they didn't execute well at all, OL really had a bad game against SDSU.

I'm happy he is making an impact for UND. It just wasn't gonna happen for him at Minnesota he was buried on the depth chart but he did have one really solid spring game.

The Gophers will be fine they basically didn't show up Thursday, executed terribly, and showed a very limited amount of playbook and still got out with a win against a good FCS team. You can't just kick guys off scholarship unless they do something wrong. I'm sure Fleck talked to the kid about you might not see a lot of playing time here so if you want to explore a transfer the staff would help you out but the kid has decided to stay. The kid was already committed to the previous staff when Fleck took over and it would've been a bad start to pull a scholarship of an instate kid a couple weeks before sigining day. Would've really upset the high school coaches around the cities that he needed to have a good relationship with for future recruiting.

UND loses guys to Minnesota as walk-ons that they offer scholarships to. I know this isn't a serious thought at all but I should remind you your top running back is a drop down from Minnesota and he never saw a snap in his time as a Gopher. You've taken two other drop downs from the Gophers recently as well. One saw just special teams time and another never saw the field as a Gopher.

I'm a man just to make that clear and have no interest in having a husband. London was a Kill/Claeys recruit that Fleck kept in his first class because he wasn't gonna let go of any Minnesota kid in the class and make a bad impression with high school coaches. It is why we have a kicker on scholarship that is entering his RS Soph year and only just now had his first action as a kickoff specialist. You can think what you want about Fleck's style and he even says himself he isn't for everyone but there is a reason he is landing the best recruiting classes Minnesota has ever had and beating out a program like Georgia for a Georgia kid.

No problem maybe you'll be lucky enough to land a couple drop downs from Fleck's squad that could get you back to the playoffs. I don't have anything against UND football watch here and there and like them to have success. Nice to see Johannesson getting a lot of carries.

Rocco waited a long time to get the bullpen going again too. Way too long for my liking but that has been a common problem all year. Especially don't get it tonight when you can expand the rosters tomorrow and bring up more pitchers.

No Fleck wouldn't trade any of his QBs for the SDSU's except maybe a walk-on. The starter Annexstad was lost on the 2nd day of camp, Morgan is a solid game manager and won some big games last year and was 13-18 for 176 on Thursday night. They also have two freshman that have a chance to be really good. Problem Thursday night was the Gophers just didn't play well at all. They lacked energy, executed terribly, the offense and defense were extremely vanilla and they stuck to it despite the game being close. Execution was very poor and a ton of returning guys that you should know the type of performance you are gonna get had awful games. SDSU had an excellent gameplan and with a new OC the Gophers didn't know quite what to expect and definitely weren't prepared for the wrinkles the new OC had. With starting LB Kamal Martin out their OC targeted the young LBs and used a ton of motions and misdirection to slow them down and confuse them. Offensively the Gophers basically ran inside zone the whole game and didn't show anything else in the run game. They could've and should've thrown more as the secondary seemed to be the Jackrabbits weakness and trying to run the ball a ton despite your OL having a terrible game shortens the game and plays into SDSU's hands. SDSU had two touchdowns taken off the board yes but both wouldn't have happened without the penalties. The guy that got held makes the tackle without being wrapped up and the guy blocked in the back makes the tackle without the infraction. SDSU's OL also got away with a ton of extremely obvious holding inside as the reffing crew really struggled with calls in the trenches including a terrible blind side block call on the Gopher's Andries that was clean. I think this was a game that got the guys attention and they will learn a lesson from, luckily it will be a lesson learned in a win rather than a loss. There is a reason why people are saying this can be a big year for Gopher football to challenge for the West and I think they'll show that next Saturday. Lot of hate for Fleck on here from a ton of guys who have no idea how authentic he is. He is the same way with the media as he is in private. He is very positive sometimes overly positive and has a ton of energy and truly has created a family culture and atmosphere at Minnesota.

He hasn't figured it out all year. Its like he waits until a pitcher is in trouble before getting somebody ready in the bullpen instead of anticipating a trouble spot. I mean it is the 6th inning and it isn't like Berrios had been dominant you'd think you'd start to get someone ready after the leadoff hit. Instead he waits a couple more hitters before getting a guy loose. Absolutely can't afford losses in games like these. Offensive effort has been pretty putrid as well with 11 strikeouts in 6 innings.

Two nights in a row. The one guy the White Sox have that is a threat and the Twins haven't been very smart facing him so far this series.

Nice threat built by the Twins loading the bases with 2 outs in the 9th. Ump bailed out a struggling pitcher who had thrown 9 balls in a row I believe with a strike that was well low. That one really changed the at bat for Cron from 2-0 to 1-1 makes a huge difference.

The top of 8A is tougher yes but the real question is is EGF's schedule tougher than a EDC and that is a definite yes not even close. EGF only plays the bottom half of 8A teams like a total of 3 times. EGF plays one of the toughest schedules in single A.

Romo made one mistake and the guy took advantage of it, problem was an error and a seeing eye single made it the 3 run home run to take the lead instead of just a solo shot. Twins have also missed a few different opportunities with less than 2 out and guys in scoring position today, have to take advantage and add on in those situations.

Pitchers, pinch hitters, pinch runners, lineups, etc. Rocco has a lot of room to improve.

He has made the same mistakes all year they're just being magnified right now with the offense not bailing him out quite as much.

EGF should make the state tournament but he will see plenty more competition throughout the season with the schedule East Side plays than he ever would in North Dakota. Warroad should be their top competition in the section this season but TRF always figures it out come playoff time and competes with very good coaching. Look at last years schedule Orono, Delano, Totino, Cathedral, Alexandria, Greenway, Warroad, Roseau, Bemidji, and Moorhead plus a couple with Central and Red River.

East side plays a very tough schedule and he will face much better consistent competition and see much less of the running time blowouts every other game. If he played at Central the only competition he may face would be Red River, maybe a Bismarck team, and maybe a Fargo team, and that is basically all for North Dakota teams. Crookston has had a couple decent years but yeah they're nothing special. Thief River and Warroad would be in the ND state tournament every year even when they are "down". Warroad down 3 of their top 6 players beat Grafton by a couple goals last year. EGF played Orono, Delano, Totino, Cathedral, Alexandria, Greenway, Warroad, Roseau, Bemidji, and Moorhead. A number of those teams could've played in North Dakota and would've probably made it to face Central in the state championship. If Cathedral was in ND no doubt in my mind they would have won the state championship and beat Central. He'd play less garbage on a ND schedule? Are you serious? EGF plays Park Rapids once and Lake of the Woods once and they have had a few solid teams but generally struggle lately and then they have rival Crookston twice who has gone downhill the last few seasons and Detroit Lakes once and they are pretty up and down and that is pretty much it for struggling teams. Meanwhile in North Dakota you'd get Fargo North, Fargo South, Devils Lake, Sheyenne, Grafton, and West Fargo and I believe all are X2, you could probably throw a couple more teams into this group as well. It is a good move for a good hockey player that wants to compete at a higher level but not have to leave home. Wouldn't be surprised to see more and more of the higher quality talents start to do this.

After the last two days the Twins 3rd base coach might need to start looking for a different job. Yesterday he tried to send Cron against Puig and it wasn't a close play at all. Today the Twins battle back and he tries to score Adrianza from 1st for the win on a bullet one hopper off the wall with 1 out. I screamed at my TV not to send him but that coach evidently has no brain. Hold Adrianza up and you have 2nd and 3rd with 1 out for Schoop. Not that I like Schoop's chances but I'd bet there is a decent chance Cleveland walks him to set up the force anywhere and get left on left with Kepler up.

Smeltzer can't stop the skid as he was awful. 7 hits and 3 walks in 4.1 innings and a lot of high 80's fastballs in the middle of the plate. The inning that knocked him out started with the perfect example of the way things are for the Twins right now as Smeltzer and Cron ran into each other on a bunt and instead of getting a quick out to start the inning there is a runner on for the top of the order.

They have the talent to do so. They can still make the playoff losing one of those games. The loss would probably have to come to Notre Dame though with the way Ohio State's schedule sets up and I'd say it is more likely Michigan loses to Ohio State than it is Notre Dame.