Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 10.6.25
Western Carolina QB Taron Dickens completed his first 46 passes en route to a 53-for-56, 378-yard effort in a 23-21 win over Wofford. Hard to believe that 53 completions only netted 378 yards! Dickens actually completed 50 straight passes over a two-game stretch earlier this season.
Thirteen game misconducts and 322 penalty minutes in the Panthers/Lightning pre-season finale. The officials lost so much control that the would-be eighth goal in a 7-0 Florida win was wiped off the board when they realized the player who scored it…had been given a game misconduct and shouldn’t have even been on the ice.
The Wild beat the Blackhawks 3-2 in their final pre-season game. The season opens Thursday in St. Louis. Minnesota claimed former Wild d-man Daemon Hunt off waivers as more depth on the blueline as Jonas Brodin won’t be ready to start the season. Youngsters Danila Yurov and Liam Ohgren, both forwards, have made the team.
The college football season is barely a month old, and neither the pre-season No. 1 or No. 2 are still ranked in the top 25.
Bones Hyland scored 18 points and Johnny Juzang added 16 in the Wolves’ first game and win of the pre-season. And that’ll be all the pre-season hoops you get from me for a minute.
Vikings Escape from London with Last-Second Win
What would have been a crushing loss wound up an extremely satisfying win.
Look, they won’t put the Vikings’ 21-17 win over the Browns near London in the NFL Hall of Fame. Not even in the NFL Europe Hall of Fame. But considering they were playing four backup offensive linemen, were staring a bye in the face knowing that the Eagles await in 14 days, this was a pretty darn good win.
Jordan Addison, benched for the first quarter after missing a walk through this week, caught three late passes including the go-ahead score from Carson Wentz with 21 seconds left.
Listen I’m all for second chances. But, the Vikings have to be growing very impatient with Addison. He missed the first three games after the DUI related charge. That wasn’t his first run in with the law since getting to Minnesota. And having worked in pro sports for 15 years, I can’t tell you HOW HARD IT IS to miss a walk through on a team trip to another country where everyone is staying in a remote location. Frustrating, especially just two weeks into his “comeback.”
The Vikings pulled Christian Darrisaw in the third quarter, saying he had a limit on the number of snaps he could play. Their starting center had never played an NFL game at center. Kevin O’Connell did a great job setting Wentz up for success - lots of short passes between the numbers and hash marks to Justin Jefferson. Wentz suffered a shoulder injury late in the second quarter but was able to return.
Soon enough they’ll turn their eyes on the Eagles, who suffered their first loss today. It’ll be at U.S. Bank Stadium, but do the Vikings dare run J.J. McCarthy back out there against the Eagles after missing a month?
I’m a big fan of the NFL playing these Europe games, but the league needs to take them as seriously as the teams do. A week after the playclock wasn’t functioning at all on one side of the field in Dublin, Will Reichard’s field goal attempt early in the fourth quarter hit a wire and went wide right. Not a single official on the field or back at NFL headquarters noticed, not even enough to look at it again.
No. 1 Ohio State Cruises Past Gophers
The less said the better about the Gophers’ 42-3 loss on the road at top-ranked Ohio State on Saturday.
Minnesota actually led 3-0 with the ball late in the first quarter before the Buckeyes took over.
The Gophers managed just 94 passing yards while giving up 341.
Minnesota plays host to Purdue on homecoming this Saturday night.
Loons Best Sporting KC 3-0 in Home Finale
I was talking to some members of the Loons’ front office two weeks ago, and they were mentioning how much different it was for the team to have a playoff spot secured and to plan a really fun home finale.
Fun can still be winning, of course. The Loons beat Sporting KC 3-0, keeping hopes alive - but unlikely - but a Western Conference championship. Minnesota has one game left - not until Oct. 18 at the L.A. Galazy - and is two points back of FC San Diego (one game left) and Vancouver (two games left).
If the season ended today the Loons would play Austin in a best-of-three playoff series - although that’s in flux, with Portland also in play.
Gopher Hockey
The Gopher men have a lot of offense to replace…and maybe some defense, too. The Gophers split their season-opening series with Michigan Tech, winning 6-3 on Friday and losing 5-3 Saturday. They host B.C. this Thursday and Friday before a much-anticipated weekend series at UND the following week.
The No. 3 Gopher women took on No. 13 Boston University on the road and it wasn’t even close, with the Gophers winning 5-0 and 5-2. They need to be careful and not look past St. Cloud State this weekend, with a home series against No. 2 Ohio State the next.
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