The Gophers football program will have a double dip into the newly expanded Big Ten Conference over a two-week span.
After their first conference home game against Southern Cal on Saturday, the U will travel to the Rose Bowl Stadium to face UCLA next Saturday.
The Gophers won’t face Oregon or Washington this season, but those former Pac-12 teams are coming soon. The conference shared a year ago each team’s future opponents and locations through the 2028 season, but not the future dates for those games.
In 2025, the U will play the Ducks at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. Minnesota last played in Oregon against Oregon State in 2018.
In 2026, the Gophers will play Washington at Husky Stadium and on the banks of Lake Washington in Seattle. The U will also host UCLA at Huntington Bank Stadium.
In 2027, the Gophers head back out to Los Angeles, but this time against the Trojans at L.A. Memorial Coliseum. The U will host Washington in Minneapolis that year, too.
In 2028, the Gophers will host Oregon and again visit the Rose Bowl Stadium to play UCLA.
The Gophers’ athletics department is anticipating a big crowd in Pasadena, Calif., next weekend, possibly in excess of 10,000. The Gophers estimated 8,000-10,000 fans were in Boulder, Colo., for a 30-0 win over Colorado in September 2021 and roughly 6,000-8,000 fans in Chapel, Hill, N.C., for the 31-13 loss to North Carolina in September 2023.
Legacy offers
The Gophers offered a scholarship Saturday to Daylen Sharper, the son of former Vikings and Packers safety Darren Sharper, and Devin Fitzgerald, the son of former Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald of Minneapolis.
“Excited to be heading back home today to Minnesota for a game day visit at the University of Minnesota!” Sharper wrote on X.
Daylen is a three-star receiver out of Phoenix; he has offers from Wisconsin, Oregon, Arizona, Arizona State, Iowa State and others. Devin is a three-star receiver in Phoenix; he has offers from Washington State and Pittsburgh, where his father attended college.
Helping O’Brien
With former Gophers placeholder Casey O’Brien in the throes of another cancer fight, his former team wore Team One Four Fund lapel pins on their suits to bring attention to fundraising for cancer research.
“Love ya @caseyob14!!” coach P.J. Fleck posted on X.
Brutal, Bruins
Before facing Minnesota next week, UCLA (1-4, 0-3 Big Ten) ended a nearly 10-quarter drought without an offensive touchdown by finally scoring a TD with 16 seconds left in a 27-11 loss to No. 7 Penn State on Saturday.
The Bruins did not score a TD across the second half of a 37-17 loss to No. 16 LSU two weeks ago and throughout a 34-13 defeat to No. 8 Oregon last week.
The Gophers defense will continue to be affected by injuries in the USC game at Huntington Bank Stadium on Saturday night.
Cornerback Justin Walley was upgraded to questionable on the team’s unavailable list. After missing the last two games with a knee injury, Walley’s return would be huge against the Trojans’ potent passing game.
Linebacker Maverick Baranowski is listed as out; he leads the team with 36 tackles in all five games. Devon Williams is expected to make his first start after playing in the first five games.
Defensive tackle Jalen Logan-Redding is listed as questionable but is doubtful to play against Trojans. If Logan-Redding can’t play, the Gophers defensive line could move some players around, possibly Anthony Smith and Darnell Jefferies.
Tight end Pierce Walsh remained listed as out. He will miss the first half of the season. Tight end Jameson Geers, who was listed as questionable last week, was not listed on report after playing five snaps against Michigan last week.
Jakub Lauko is an interesting cat, so it’s difficult to know where to begin when discussing the Wild’s new winger.
Do you start with his love of cinema? The young Czechian was at a film festival with friends in Prague when he learned he had been traded from Boston to Minnesota this summer. Or is it his obsession with fantasy fiction, the reason for a left arm covered in impressive tattoos of his favorite characters?
“A little fantasy sleeve,” he called it.
Then there is his love of grapes, which sounds fairly mundane but is so pervasive that he earned the nickname “Grapes” for sharing his favorite intermission snack with Bruins teammates last season.
Now in St. Paul, he noted, “I might become the grape dealer again.”
The reason we already know so much about Lauko? He’s demanded attention by making his presence felt in training camp and preseason games as the Wild prepare for Thursday’s regular-season opener against Columbus on Thursday at Xcel Energy Center.
“He’s been very consistent. I think that would be the word for it,” coach John Hynes said this week. “He’s impacting the game the same way every time; with his speed, he’s been able to score for us, but he’s put himself in good situations to be able to do it.”
In four preseason games, including Friday’s 6-1 victory at Chicago in the preseason finale, Lauko has three goals and an assist and helped solidify what has been a productive fourth line with rookie center Marat Khusnutdinov and veteran wing Freddy Gaudreau.
That set him apart competitively with several forwards hoping to earn a spot with the NHL club in camp, and his personality and interests — and willingness to talk about it — has set him apart from all of his new teammates. One topic in particular puts that into stark relief, and it’s not the movies, books or grapes.
“It should be pushed for everyone,” Lauko said after a practice on Thursday at TRIA Rink, “to wear a neck guard.”
Lauko is the first Wild player to wear the cut-proof protective gear that has yet to catch on at the NHL level, even in the wake of Adam Johnson’s death from a cut suffered during a professional game in England last fall, which prompted the IIHF and AHL to make them mandatory starting this fall.
On Oct. 24 last fall, an opponent’s skate got under Lauko’s visor in Chicago and hit him hard above the bridge of his nose, fracturing his skull in four places and missing his left eye by centimeters. In the immediate aftermath, Lauko wasn’t sure that was the case.
“There was so much blood I couldn’t see,” he said.
Lauko clearly doesn’t love talking about it — “I was freaking out. I was scared, too,” he said — but he does.
Four days later, Johnson died after being injured in a game between his Nottingham team and Sheffield in England’s top professional league. That tragedy hasn’t convinced many NHL players to wear protective neck gear. But after learning first-hand how dangerous a skate blade can be, Lauko didn’t have to think twice.
A post from Lauko’s social media account on x.com shows how close the young forward came to losing an eye.
“I know someone said (the guard) is uncomfortable and you get hot. It took me three practices to get used to it, then I was fine to play with it,” Lauko said. “It’s better to have something there; it’s the most vulnerable spot on your body, especially when the blades, they’re so sharp. It can slice you pretty quick. I’m wearing those cut-proof wrist guards, too.”
The NHL and its players union would have to work together to mandate the use of any protective gear. Visors didn’t become mandatory until 2013.
“The joint NHL/NHLPA Protective Equipment Subcommittee provides education to players and teams regarding cut-resistant equipment that is available to them,” said Jonathan Weatherdon of the NHLPA. “The NHLPA focuses on making sure players have the necessary information to make informed choices about their equipment.”
Lauko, in true hockey fashion, returned to the ice on Nov. 11, 18 days after he was hurt, wearing a full cage on his helmet for the better part of two months. His next injury happened in the playoffs when he broke a foot blocking a shot in the closing seconds of playoff win. He returned from that to play five more postseason games.
The neck guard hasn’t stopped Lauko from having one of the best camps of any Wild player this fall.
“I mean, you’ll get used to it,” he said. “I just don’t want to risk it anymore.”
Briefly
The Wild reassigned defenseman Daemon Hunt to Iowa and placed forward Ben Jones on waivers for the purpose of sending him to Des Moines, cutting the roster to 27. The NHL deadline to cut to 23 is Monday at 4 p.m. CDT.
In a Minnesota Public Radio broadcast debate Friday ahead of the election for one of the state’s most hotly contested congressional seats, Rep. Angie Craig and her Republican challenger Joe Teirab squared off on the economy, abortion rights and immigration.
Craig, a Democrat seeking a fourth two-year term representing the state’s Second Congressional District, touted her bipartisan record and support from law enforcement and painted her opponent as an “anti-abortion activist” who wants to raise the Social Security retirement age — something Teirab denied.
Craig emphasized her past splits from fellow Democrats and her work with Minnesota Republican House members.
“Where I’ve broken with my own party has been around law enforcement issues, it’s been around border security, and it’s been on behalf of our family farmers,” she said. “I’ve proven already that I will be an independent voice.”
Meanwhile, Teirab tried to tie Craig to rising prices of housing and groceries because she supported government spending bills signed into law by President Joe Biden.
Framing himself as a “middle-class guy” attuned to the struggles of working families, Teirab accused Craig of throwing “gas on the inflation fire” by backing Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, infrastructure bill and big pandemic-era spending packages, some of which were signed into law by former president Donald Trump.
“Middle-class families are struggling and crushed under the weight of inflation,” he said. “Angie Craig stands for the status quo in the economy. We can go a different direction.”
The candidates are vying for a U.S. Congress seat representing the south metro suburbs and rural areas extending to the Wisconsin border in the east, and southwest to around St. Peter and Mankato. Of the eight U.S. House races in Minnesota, it’s typically the most closely watched and competitive.
Craig first was elected in 2018, ousting one-term GOP incumbent Jason Lewis. Teirab is a former federal prosecutor who served in the Marines and is the son of a Sudanese immigrant.
Abortion
Minnesota 2nd congressional district candidate Republican nominee Joe Teirab, right, and incumbent U.S. Rep. Angie Craig listen to Brian Bakst, MPR News politics editor, explain the rules for their debate at the MPR Kling Public Media Center in downtown St. Paul on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Minnesota 2nd congressional district Republican nominee Joe Teirab makes a point during at a debate between him and incumbent U.S. Rep. Angie Craig at the MPR Kling Public Media Center in downtown St. Paul on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, DFL-Minn., thanks Republican challenger Joe Teirab for his military service during a debate between the Minnesota Second Congressional District candidates at MPR News in St. Paul on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Republican challenger Joe Teirab gives his opening remarks during a debate with U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, DFL-Minn., as the two Minnesota Second Congressional District candidates face off at MPR News in St. Paul on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Minnesota 2nd congressional district incumbent U.S. Rep. Angie Craig makes a point during a debate between her and Republican nominee Joe Teirab at the MPR Kling Public Media Center in downtown St. Paul on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Minnesota 2nd congressional district incumbent U.S. Rep. Angie Craig gives her opening statement at the start of a debate between her and Republican nominee Joe Teirab at the MPR Kling Public Media Center in downtown St. Paul on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Minnesota 2nd congressional district Republican nominee Joe Teirab makes a point during at a debate between him and incumbent U.S. Rep. Angie Craig at the MPR Kling Public Media Center in downtown St. Paul on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, DFL, right and Republican challenger Joe Teirab shake hands following a debate between the Minnesota Second Congressional District candidates at MPR News in St. Paul on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
1 of 8
Minnesota 2nd congressional district candidate Republican nominee Joe Teirab, right, and incumbent U.S. Rep. Angie Craig listen to Brian Bakst, MPR News politics editor, explain the rules for their debate at the MPR Kling Public Media Center in downtown St. Paul on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
With the end of federal protections for abortion, the issue has been front and center in suburban congressional races like Minnesota’s Second District.
During the debate, Craig noted Teirab’s ties to the anti-abortion movement, including his membership on the board of a crisis pregnancy center that Teirab says persuaded his mother to not have an abortion when she was pregnant with him.
Pressed on his views, Teirab echoed a line many Republicans have taken on abortion since the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022: There shouldn’t be a federal ban.
“This is not a federal issue, this is a state issue,” he said.
Craig questioned that stance.
“If you’re in Congress and you won’t stand up and say: ‘No way, I’m not going to stand by when a state forces a rape survivor to carry a child with no choice for 40 weeks, and have that child,’ you don’t belong in Congress,” she said.
Immigration
Republican challenger Joe Teirab gives his opening remarks during a debate with U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, DFL-Minn., as the two Minnesota Second Congressional District candidates face off at MPR News in St. Paul on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
The candidates also clashed on border policy during the debate. Teirab accused Craig of not taking a sufficiently hard line on immigration because she didn’t support a Republican bill that would have boosted border patrol funding and funded the construction of a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Craig noted she has parted with fellow Democrats in the past by supporting GOP immigration and law enforcement bills, including a limit on the number of asylum seekers allowed to enter the U.S. She also said she joined the GOP in condemning Biden for his handling of illegal immigration.
Social Security
Minnesota 2nd congressional district incumbent U.S. Rep. Angie Craig makes a point during a debate between her and Republican nominee Joe Teirab at the MPR Kling Public Media Center in downtown St. Paul on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Craig pushed on Teirab about saying in February that he’d consider privatizing Social Security and possibly raising the retirement age. Teirab has distanced himself from those comments, claiming he wasn’t expressing any serious policy preference and wouldn’t want to cut benefits for his parents, who live on fixed incomes.
Both Craig and Teirab said people shouldn’t have to pay income taxes on Social Security checks after a particular income threshold. Craig has a bill to create new cutoffs, something Teirab said he could support as a “common sense” solution.
2020 election
Moderator Brian Bakst, politics editor at MPR, asked Teirab if he believed the results of the 2020 presidential election.
“It was fair. It was unambiguous. Joe Biden was elected as president,” said Teirab, who was involved in the prosecution of Jan. 6 rioter Brian Mock.
Asked if he would support a pardon for Mock, as Trump suggested he might do for Capitol rioters, Teirab said it wouldn’t be appropriate.
“I was proud to be part of the effort to ensure that we’re actually holding those types of people accountable, and so that’s what I’m going to stand by,” he said.
Asked if there was any reason she might not certify the results of the 2024 presidential election, Craig said she believed in the “integrity of America’s elections.”
The race
U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, DFL, right and Republican challenger Joe Teirab shake hands following a debate between the Minnesota Second Congressional District candidates at MPR News in St. Paul on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Minnesota’s Second Congressional District is often one of the most expensive races in the state, and recent elections have seen accusations of either side backing “spoiler” candidates to take votes away from the two mainstream party nominees.
The hour-long debate on Minnesota Public Radio on Friday afternoon was the second time the candidates have met, after their first appearance in August at Minnesota Farmfest — whose candidate forums are a key early stop in state elections. They’re set to meet again Monday at a local chamber of commerce debate in Hastings.
Election Day is Nov. 5. Early voting already is underway.
