My  God.  Hello  and welcome  back  to  the  weekly  rundown presented  by  the  Minnesota  Daily. I'm  your  host,  Paul  Hodowonick, and  we're  back  to  talking football  again  this  weekend.  How  could  we  not? The  success  has  been  undeniable  by  the  gophers  and the  anticipation  continues  to grow  as  they  have  started  out  their  season  60. To  break  down  everything  happening in  the  Gopher  football  world, we  welcome  back  our  football  reporters, Nick  Young,  Heim,  and  John  Miller. How's  it  going,  guys?  Living  the  dream?  It's  going  great. Make  sure  to  check  out  both  Nick  and  John's  work online  at  Men  Day.com  or  in  print. So  let's  get  going.  All  right, so  the  Gophers  now  sit  at  six  and  after  their  latest  win, a  34  to  seven  victory  at  home  against  Nebraska. And  I  think  it  may  have  generated  the  most buzz  any  game  has  generated  so  far  this  season. You  know,  it  was  a  little  shaky  there  at  the  beginning  in terms  of  we  were  winning  but  by  a  close  margin, so  there  was  never  that  blowout  victory. And  then  Illinois  Purdue  confidence. But  Nebraska  was  ranked  high  coming  into  the  season. A  lot  of  talent  on  that  team,  there  were  expectations, they  might  not  have  lived  up  to  those  quite  yet. But  it  was  just  a  convincing  win  and  it  has kind  of  spurned  a  lot  of  talk  about how  far  these  Gophers  can  go  undefeated. I  want  to  know  what  is  the  mood  of the  team  so  far  after  this  six  start? Is  their  energy  matched  what the  fans  have  been  putting  forth, or  are  they  one  game  at  a  time? We're  not  worrying  about  the  bigger  picture  quite  yet. This  team,  PJ. Fleck,  always  preaches, they  want  to  go  one  and each  week  and  that's  what  they're  mostly  focused  on. And  I  don't  know  at  what  point  they  start  looking  ahead. But  from  everything  they've  said in  press  conferences  so  far, it  seems  like  they're  really  focused on  taking  things  one  game  at  a  time  and not  getting  too  emotional  one  way or  the  other  after  each  victory. So  far,  I  think  heading  into  this  next  game, they  are  in  a  pretty  good  place.  Pretty  even  keeled? Yeah.  I  mean,  I  think  this  team's  really, you  know,  Tanner  Morgan  said  it, you  know,  they  play  for  the  as  Nick  said, to  go  one  and  every  week. And  the  Morgan  said  it  straight  up. They  don't  care  what  the  national  pundits  think  of  them, they're  playing  for  each  other and  that's  what  you  have  to  like  about  this  team. Everybody's  buying  into  the  culture. And  if  you're  wondering  if  they're  for  real, I  mean  it's  time  to  start  buying  in  on the  gophers.  Get  your  stock  ready. Like  this  team  is  really  like  one  cohesive  unit. You  know?  I  mean,  you  listen  to  them  all. They  all  say  the  same  things  in  the  press  conferences. I  mean,  this  team,  they  love  each  other and  they  really  do put  their  best  foot  forward  every  week,  it  seems  like. Yeah.  And  let's  kind  of  go  through what  got  them  to  that  3047  victory. It  was  kind  of  a  domination  all  around. And  I  think  the  main  catalyst  to  that  was  the  run  game. Their  run  game  was  fantastic. Rodney  Smith  ran  for  139  yards  in  a  touchdown. Shannon  Brooks  13  13  carries, excuse  me,  99  yards. Ibrahim  had  15  carries  for  84  yards  and  three  touchdowns. So  they  spread  the  wealth  across  all  their  backs. It  was  kind  of  the  first  time  that  they  had  all of  them  at  their  disposal. And  what  do  we  think  that  is something  that's  going  to  continue  where they  were  spread  out  between? Yes.  Rodney  Smith  had  the  most  at  18, Brooks  had  13,  should  we  expect, kind  of  this  three  headed  monster  going  forward. I  think  that's  exactly  where  the  Gophers  offense wants  to  be  in  terms  of  running  the  ball. They  have  three  really  talented  Running  Backs. And  like  you  said,  and  like the  Running  Backs  touched  on  after  the  game, it  was  really  the  first  time all  three  of  those  guys,  Smith, Brooks,  and  Ibrahim,  had  all played  together  in  the  same  game. Which  is  crazy  to  think  about, especially  as  long  as  Brooks and  Smith  have  been  with  the  Gophers. So  I  think  in  an  ideal  situation, that's  where  the  offense  is  going to  continue  to  go  spreading. Pretty  even  carries  around  with  those  three. Yeah.  I  mean,  this  is  a  complete  luxury. I  mean,  Saca  said  yesterday  and  Yeah. His  Wednesday  press  conference  that he  doesn't  want  to  give  one  back  all  the  carries. I  know  they  did  that  with  Rodney  Smith, but  that  was  when  they're  implementing back  Shannon  Brooks  and  Ibrahim  was  out. He  thinks  it's  a  luxury  and  he's  going  to  continue  to feed  all  those  guys  almost  the  same  amount  of  carries. He  cited  all  the  carries  they  had  and  he  goes, that's  probably  what  it's  going  to  be  and  you  keep those  guys  fresh  in  big  ten  play. I  mean  that's  those  guys are  going  to  do  damage  to  have  a  defense, you  just  keep  grinding  and  grinding, and  grinding  them  down,  it's going  to  help  them  in  the  long  run. And  I  know  much  has  been  talked  about earlier  in  the  season  about  maybe the  ofpens  of  line  struggling, but  it  seems  they've  come  together. Do  we  think  it's  more  about that  ofpens  of  line  finally  catching  going? Or  is  it  the  running  Backs  that might  have  kind  of  started  to  find  a  groove? Well,  I  think  you  have  to  look  at  both  of  them  coming together  at  the  same  time  with the  running  back  unit  getting  healthy. Along  with  some  changes  along the  offensive  line  with  John  Michael  Schmitz. Getting  some  playing  time  in the  first  two  big  ten  games  and then  getting  the  start last  week  with  Daniel  Le  Le  Injury. They  kind  of  reshuffled  the  line, but  they  didn't  really  miss  a  step  in  the  run  game. They  kept  pounding  away  with  those  three  backs  and then  the  tight  ends  to  have  been  blocking  really  well, Jake,  Paulson,  and  Kokief. So  I  think  all  those  factors  combined  of what  have  taken  the  gophers from  after  non  conference  rushing. 2.6  yards  a  carry  to The  big  ten. Having  a  couple  big  performances  these  last  two  weeks? Yeah.  I  mean,  there's  not  one  senior in  that  offensive  line  rotation. I  mean,  this  unit  has  taken  time  to  grow  and we've  seen  them  grow  together since  the  beginning  of  the  season. I  mean,  they  were  almost  downright  terrible  for the  first  couple  weeks  of  the  season and  to  where  they've  got  to  now, I  mean,  that's  just  nothing  but improving  week  after  week. And  they've  talked  about,  you  know, John  Michael  Schmitz  just being  a  bulldog  and  he's  going  to  smack  you  in  the  mouth. And  that's  kind  of  what  you  need  in  big  ten  play. And  he  kind  of  sets  that  tone  since  he's  been  playing. Yeah.  And  on  the  other  side  of  the  ball, the  Golphers  had  the  benefit  of  not  going  up against  Adrian  Martinez,  who  was  out. They  relied  on  backup  quarterback  Noah  Vedral, I  think  is  how  you  pronounce  it, and  he  just  couldn't  provide  the  explosive  plays that  Martinez  has  in  his  dual  threadibility. Vedral  was  14  for  23  for  only  135  yards  passing, no  touchdowns,  no  interceptions. So  it  didn't  have  that  much  effect  on  the  game. And  it  seemed  like  at the  beginning  of  the  game  they  were  getting a  lot  of  fourth  in  shorts, kind  of  in  Gopher  territory. Just  in  Gopher  territory.  And  they  decided  to  go  for  him. And  each  time  they  were  stopped, and  it's  hard  for  me  to  believe,  if  they  had  Martinez, one  or  two  of  those,  he  wasn't  going  to  scramble  out, maybe  get  a  first  down  change  the way  the  game  kind  of  went  along. So  how  did  you  guys  see  that? How  did  you  think  his  absence really  like  halted  the  the  Nebraska  offense? I  don't  think  Martinez,  you  know, him  being  out  really  made  that big  of  a  difference  in  the  game. I  think  he  maybe  would  have  add  an  extra  touchdown. I  don't  think  it  would  have  been  that  much different  on  the  scoreboard. The  Gophers  are  just  winning  in the  trenches.  Plain  and  simple. The  defensive  linemen,  we're  penetrating  in  the  gaps. The  linebackers  played  some  of the  best  games  we've  ever  seen  them. Now  that  they  have  Barber  and  Mal  Martin  back. I  mean,  the  Gophers  just  came  in  and just  they  pushed  around the  offensive  defensive  line  of  Nebraska and  I  don't  think Adrian  Martinez  would  have  had  any  room  to  run. You  said,  I  don't  think  the  Nebraska  game  plan changed  a  whole  lot  on  Saturday. It  seemed  like  they  were  trying  to  do  a  lot  of the  same  things  with  draw  as  they  were  with  Martinez, especially  in  terms  of  some  of the  running  plays  with  the  quarterback. Martinez  is  very  mobile  and  I  think Vidral  brings  a  little  bit  of  the  same  skill  set. And  then  also,  like  you  said,  Paul  Nebraska. Those  first  three  drives, all  of  them  got  into  Gophers  territory and  they  got  no  points  out  of  it. I  don't  know  that  Martinez would  have  made  a  27  point  difference, even  though  maybe  one  or  two  of those  drives  could  have  ended  differently. Yeah,  And  from  whatever  I've  been  reading  is that  drawl  is  actually  faster  than  Martinez, So  if  he  couldn't  get  it  done  on  the  ground,  you  know, Martinez  is  averaging  400  or  4  yards a  carry  in  almost  400  yards  rushing  this  year. I  mean,  if  this  kid's faster  and  they  couldn't  run  the  ball, makes  me  think  they  couldn't  run  the  ball  either  way. Yeah.  And  the  Gophers  didn't  even  allow  a  touchdown. They  were  up  3040  before they  finally  did  actually  get  on  the  board. So  quite  the  butt  weapon,  I  would  say. And  it's  good  form. Heading  into  their  next  game  against  Rutgers. And  who  knows  if  they would  even  have  needed  the  good  form. Rutgers  is  not  playing  well  this  year. There  are  1.5  only  win  has  come  in  the  season  opener. When  they  beat  Massachusetts, they're  0.4  in  the  Big  Ten, and  they've  been  outscored  by  an  ungodly  number. It's  16057.  They're  just  not  great. There's  not  a  better  way  I  can  put  it. And  I  know  Gopher  fans are  kind  of  already  looking  forward, maybe  two  weeks,  even  past  Maryland  to  Penn  State. I  know  there  was  buzz  right  after the  Nebraska  game  when  I  checked Twitter  about  College  Game  Day, maybe  coming  to  Minnesota. It's  one  of  the  few  colleges  that  have  never  hosted  it. I  think  that  might  be  LSU,  Alabama  that  week. So  there's  a  little  bit  of the  competition  going  up  against  them. But  it  doesn't  change  the  fact  that  there's  a  lot of  anticipation  on  paper. It  doesn't  look  like  there  really  could be  that  upset  capability. You  know,  looking  ahead.  I  know that  can  be  dangerous  in  college  football. But  given  how  bad  Rutgers  has  been, it  doesn't  really  look  that  attainable. But  if  Rutgers  were  to  spoil  Minnesota's  party, what  would  they  have  to  do? Well,  a  lot  would  have  to  go  wrong  for  Minnesota. First  of  all,  there's  just  flat  out  more  talent for  the  Gophers  in  this  game at  almost  every  position  right  now. So  it  would  have  to  be  things  like turnovers  and  penalties  that  really  cost  the  gophers. They  do  have  to  be  careful,  because  the  first  time these  teams  played  back  in  2016, I  believe  Rutgers  came  to TCF  Bank  stadium  and  pushed  Minnesota  to  the  brink. It  was  a  two  game  and Emmett  Carpenter  kicked a  winning  field  goal  in  the  final  seconds. So  there  has  been  a  history, but  this  Gophers  team  is  very  different this  year  as  this  Rucker's  team. I  really  think  this  is  as  big  of a  mismatch  as  the  Gophers  are  going  to  have  all  year. So  I  would  be  very  surprised  if  this  was  a  close  game. Yeah,  I  mean,  I  think  the  Gophers  are almost  a  30  point  favorite  right  now. And  I  mean,  Rucker's  is  maybe the  worst  team  in  college  football  right  now. I  mean,  almost  every  statistical category  I'm  looking  at  it  right  now, they're  in  the  bottom  15  in the  nation  for  Division  One  football. I  mean,  that's  just. Absolutely  terrible.  And  I  mean they  had  their  starting  quarterback, Arthur  Sikowski's, he  pretty  much  stopped playing  and  he's  going  to  red  shirt. And  then  they  had  Black  Shear  also  do  the  same  thing. He  doesn't  know  if  he  wants  to  go  pro  or  transfer. He's  still  waiting  to  see  what  that  happened. So  that's  one  of  their  best  receivers and  rushers  on  the  team. I  mean,  this  program  for  ruckerss, just  an  absolute  wreck. And  it  kind  of  has  been  ever  since  Greg  Schiano  left, you  know,  like  almost  ten  years  ago  now. So  it'll  take  injuries, I  think  to  Morgan,  to  Roddie  Smith,  to  Shannon  Brooks. I  think  the  whole  team  would  have, the  whole  starting  unit  would  have  to  get hurt  for  ruckers  to  have  a  chance  in  this  football  game. But  the  golfers,  I  don't  think  they're  going  to look  ahead  too  far  from  this  game. Because  you  know  what,  they have  Rutgers  and  they  have  Maryland. And  then  they  have  a  by,  they  have  plenty  of time  to  prepare  for  Penn  State  this  week. I  think  it's  pretty  simple  for  the  gophers, they  just  have  to  play  up  to their  capabilities  and  play  to  their  level, not  worry  about  who  the  opponent  is. Because  as  long  as  they  can play  the  same  way  they've  played  these  last  three  games, they  should  have  no  problem. Yeah.  And  head  coach,  or the  Ruckers  fired  their  head  coach, Chris  Ash  after  four  games. They  start  when  they  started,  1.3. Their  interim  head  coach  was  there  tight  ends  coach Nunzio  Campanelli  right  after  he  took  over. That  was  when  Artz  Koski  and Rahm  Blackshear  told  him that  they  wanted  to  be  red  shirted  for  the  year. So  after  a  1.3  star, that's  not  a  great  look  to  have  your  starting running  back  and  quarterback  want  to sit  out  based  on wanting  to  stay  healthy  to  potentially  go  pro. Or  just  not  seeing  the  potential  with  this  team. And  wanting  to  wait  till  either  Campanelli stays  and  has  full  reign  over  the  program, or  they  hire  someone  new. So  not  a  great  look. But  now  I  want  to  focus a  little  bit  on  each  side  of  the  ball. For  both  Rutgers  and  Minnesota, we're  going  to  do  a  daily  breakdown  style  talk  here. This  is  kind  of  like  one  of  our  football  issue  stories that  we  do  every  week  for  a  home  game. So  I  thought  it  would  be  a  good  thing  to  run  through. So  we'll  start  when  Minnesota  runs  the  ball. So  they've  run  for  654  yards  in  the  last  two  games. And  they're  going  up  against the  worst  rushing  defense  in  the  Big  Ten. They've  allowed  209  yards  per  game. So  I'd  say  that's  a  slight  advantage for  Minnesota.  What  would  you  guys  say? Yeah,  I  think  that  the  Gophers  are  going  to  have a  fun  time  pounding  away  at  Rutgers  on  Saturday. I  think  all  three  of  those  running  backs, you  can  expect  another  big  game  from  them. Yeah,  I'll  be  very  surprised  if  we  don't  see Cam  Wiley  and  Trace  and  pots  out  there. I  mean,  I  think  they're  going  to,  I  mean, those  guys  have  four  games  to burn  this  year  and  you're  going  to  be  running  all over  Rutgers  and  you want  those  top  three  guys  to  be  fresh. I  mean,  I  think  more  They're  going  to  give a  lot  of  carries  to  Ibrahim. Just,  you  know,  to  carry  them throughout  the  game  and  keep  those  seniors  healthy. But  yeah,  I  think  the  younger  guys in  the  backfield  are  going  to  get to  play  this  week  and  but  if  they  don't,  that  means  flex. Trying  to  hide  it  again.  Yeah. And  then  when  Rutgers  runs  the  ball  again,  not  great. That's  a  theme  that  we've  seen  against  Indiana  only. 2.2  for  Kerry,  3.2  against  Maryland, 1.6  against  a  ranked  Michigan  team. They  ranked  13th  in  the  Big  ten  rush  offense, so  only  behind  or  only  in  front  of  one  team. And  Minnesota  did  well  last  week  against  a  run  team, even  though  without  Martinez,  like  we  said, Vedral  had  that  dual  threat  of  capability  as  well. And  they  came  in  with  some  other  guys who  could  run  the  ball  and  could  run  the  ball  well. And  they  only  allowed  3.2  yards  per  carry. So  again, not  something  that  it  looks like  ruckers  may  have  the  advantage  in. I  think  that  Rahim  Blackshear  is  very  possibly the  best  player  on  this  Ruckers  team  and  to have  him  sitting  out  without  him, I  don't  know  how  well the  Ruckers  is  going  to  be  able  to  run the  ball  against  Minnesota  or against  any  of  these  big  ten  teams, which  all  seem  to  have  really  stout  run  defenses. Yeah,  I  mean,  I  say  Pacheco,  I  mean  he's  a  decent  back. He's  averaging  4.3  yards per  carry  on  the  year.  I  mean,  he's  fine. But  this  Minnesota  defense  is just  jelling  at  the  right  time  like  we've  talked  about. I  mean,  ten  points  in the  last  two  games  against  Nebraska. I  mean,  that's  pretty  good. And  what  we  see  is  a  lot  of  guys  on  defensive  step  up. And  they've  been  a  totally  different  defense with  a  Martin  out  there. I  mean,  this  guy  has  just  been  making plays  as  well  as  Sam  Renner. Sam  Renner  is  coming  into  his  own  after  he had  a  lot  of  mistakes  at  the  beginning  of  the  year. He  had,  what,  two  defensive  holdings  in  the  first  game? I  mean,  that's  almost  unheard  of. But  now  he's  jelling. This  whole  defense,  you  know, is  just  like  come  on, Martin  said  yesterday,  they  just take  the  role  of  Joe  Rossi. They  feed  off  of  him  and  he  just  sets  the  example. Practice  hard,  Do  your  thing. Yeah.  And  now  transitioning  to  the  passing  game,  U, Rutgers  has  not  been  able  to  generate much  pressure  on  offenses and  that  should  probably  continue  again. They've  only  allowed  one  Sac  per  game. They're  losing  the  turnover  margin, so  not  generating  much  pressure for  a  quarterback  on  the  opposing  side. And  Tanner  Morgan  has  shown, if  he  gets  that  time,  he's  been  really  good. His  completion  percentage  has  been  high  all  season  long. I  think  he  has  14  touchdowns,  only  three  interceptions. So  it  doesn't  seem  like  a  winning  formula  for  us. And  no  team  has  really  been  able to  figure  out  Bateman  and  Johnson. And  the  running  game  is probably  going  to  open  up  if  they  can  hit some  passes  early  for  the  third  consecutive  time. I  don't  see  Ruckers  making much  headway  in  the  Minnesota  passing  game. I  would  expect  a  pretty  vanilla passing  game  out  of  Minnesota,  to  be  honest  this  week. I  don't  think  they  have  to  do  anything special  other  than  what  they  do  best, which  is  slant  routes  out  of  the  RPO. So  I  think  Bateman  and  Johnson could  have  some  big  receptions  out  of  that. But  I  would  say  by  the  second  half, I  don't  know  how  much  the  gophers are  going  to  be  throwing  the  ball. Yeah.  I  mean,  I  100%  agree  with  that. Not  to  mention  even  if  Rutgers  tries  to  stop  those  two. I  mean,  Chris  Otman  Bell  would  be  pretty  much a  starting  wide  receiver  on  any  big  ten  team. I  mean,  to  have  him  in  the  third  slot, I've  said  that  before. I  mean,  this  kid  is  talented  and  when the  Gophers  lose  Johnson,  it's  gonna  be  a  loss. But  this  kid's  gonna  step  up  and  be  just  fine. I  mean,  the  Gophers,  Morgan's almost  at  the  top  of  every  statistical  category. I  mean,  that  helps  that  yet how  the  running  game  is  going, he  doesn't  have  to  do too  much  and  they  can  win  both  ways. I  mean,  this  team  is  just  firing  in  all  cylinders. Yeah.  Now  we're  going  to  transition to  Rutgers  passing  game. And  I'm  getting  a  little  eerie  because we  just  keep  saying  the  same  thing  over  and  over  again. And  this  is  when  maybe  on Sunday  morning  someone's  playing this  back  and  laughing  at  us. I  hope  that's  not  the  case.  And  from  the  stance  again, doesn't  really  feel  like  that's  going  to be  how  it  will  turn  out. The  Gophers  are  16th  in  defensive  pass  efficiency  there. 26th  in  both.  These  are  in  the  country. 26th  in  yards  allowed, while  Rutgers  is  117th  in  passing  yards. And  they've  had  three  different  starters  this  season. So  like  we  said, one  of  their  quarterbacks  sitting  out. So  definitely  not  their  first  option, maybe  not  even  their  second  option. So  it's  getting  a  little  dicey there  for  Rutgers  in  the  passing  game. Yeah,  I've  got  a  couple  stats  to  share. So  last  week  against  Indiana, Ruckers  had  a  grand  total  of one  passing  yard  in  four  big  ten  games  combined. Ruckers  has  317  passing  yards. There  are  14  teams  in  FBS  right  now, averaging  317  or  more  yards  per  game. And  then  gophers  16th in  the  nation  in  defensive  pass  efficiency. This  might  be  the  biggest  mismatch  of  them  all. Can  we  talk  about  the  job  that,  you  know, Cony  R.  And  Chris  Williamson  have  done  this  year? I  mean,  these  guys  have  really  stepped  up.  I  mean,  Dr. When  he  was  coming  back  from  his  ACL  injury, he  looked  bad  and  now  he's  looking  like, you  know,  a  fantastic  corner. Chris  Williamson  couldn't  tackle last  year  and  now  he  knew  he  could  cover. Now  he's  tackling  everything  in  sight  when Field  Junior  is  just taking  control  of  the  defense  and  leading  him. I  mean,  this  Gophers  past  defense is  fantastic  and  I  don't  think  they  get  enough  credit. All  right,  and  now  it's  time.  I  think  we're going  to  give  our  final  predictions  for  the  game. I  think  I  have  an  idea  of  where  these  are  headed, but  let's  just  tell  everyone  where  we're  leaning. This  might  be  a  little  generous  to  ruckers, but  I'm  going  to  say  Minnesota  38  rucker, ten  gophers  by  1  million. No,  I  would  say,  you  know, I  think  they  can  win  like  73 but  Fleck  wouldn't  do  that  to  another  team. I  don't  think  so.  Yeah,  I  think  I think  it's  going  to  be  like  45  to  three. All  right.  I'll  just  be  the  one  that maybe  comes  down  back  to Earth,  maybe  not  even  back  to  Earth. Maybe  I'm  the  one  being  a  little  crazy  here, but  I  don't  want  to  come in  here  on  Monday  and  think,  oh  no. So  we'll  say,  what  would  make  you  say  O  N? I  don't  know,  but  I  mean, a  loss  would  make  me  say  it. Maybe  a  ten  point  victory would  make  me  say  it.  I'm  not  sure. We'll  say  just  Oh,  no. If  we  lost.  Yeah,  I  don't  know. But  we'll  go. Minnesota  28  rucker  seven,  So  a  little  bit. You're  betting  against  the  spread? Yeah,  we'll  bet  against  the  spread  today. So  thank  you  guys  for  stopping  in. We  look  forward  to  your  coverage  of  the  game  afterwards. Make  sure  to  follow  both  Nick  and  John on  Twitter  for  updates  throughout  the  game. And  they  will  have  your  coverage  today, tomorrow,  and  throughout  the  rest  of  the  season. Thanks  guys. Yeah,  thank  you  and  other  news. After  a  week  off,  the  women's  cross  country  team is  in  Wisconsin  right  now  for the  Nutacomb  Wisconsin  Invitational  on  Friday  while the  men's  team  races  Saturday  for the  pre  National  Invitational  in  Indiana. The  golf  teams  also  had  a  week  off  and get  back  into  action  this  weekend. The  women  begin  Friday  at the  University  of  Louisville Golf  Club  for  the  Cardinal  Cup, while  the  men  tee  off  on  Sunday  for the  Tavistock  Intercollegiate  in  Florida. The  men's  hockey  team  split  its  opening  series in  Colorado  against  Colorado  College, losing  the  opener  32, before  bouncing  back  with  a  43  win  on  Saturday. The  Gophers  play  host  to  their first  home  series  of  the  season, starting  Friday  at  07:00  P.M.  against  Niagara. The  women's  hockey  team  remains  undefeated  on  the  season, as  they  swept  Robert  Morris  last  weekend, extending  their  record  to  6.0  They returned  home  for  a  Saturday  Sunday  series  against  St. Cloud  State.  The  volleyball  team  suffered its  first  loss  since  September  4  this  week, as  they  fell  in  a  midweek  clash against  fellow  ranked  opponent, Wisconsin  three  to  zero. They  are  back  at  home  for  a  pair of  matches  on  Friday  and  Saturday, beginning  with  Illinois  at  07:00 P.M.  That's  all  we  have  for  you  this  week. We'll  be  back  again  next  week  to  give  you the  weekly  rundown  on  all  things  go  for  sports. Don't  forget  to  share  subscribe  and  review. We'll  see  everyone  next  week.