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Playing down to legitimate college football championships create a wide-open climax to the season, whether Division 1, or 2 -- or, for that matter, 3. Focusing on Division 1 and 2, it is impossible to guess at the favorites for the championship, but we can pretty well be sure it will only be coincidence if the teams ranked No. 1 happen to go all the way.
Consider Division 2, where we’ve watched UMD run through a pretty amazing season, overcoming injuries and problems but gathering and improving offensively and defensively to stand 10-0 going into this weekend’s regular-season finale. The Bulldogs had to keep on battling to the finish to subdue the University of Mary 53-35, in a game that was much higher scoring than coach Curt Wiese would have liked.
But Mary had a quarterback in Zach Roberson who kept finding ways to pass beyond UMD’s secondary, clicking for four touchdown passes while going 31-for-56. That rendered UMD’s once-commanding 34-7 halftime lead unsafe, and quarterback Drew Bauer had to make use of his full arsenal of offensive weapons.
Logan Lauters was, as usual, superb, gaining 147 yards on 21 carries, while Bauer added 52 yards himself on the ground, and added 23-34 passing for 250 yards and two TDs. In the absence of Austin Sikorski, who is out with a knee injury, Wiese dispatched wide receiver Beau Bofferding to special duty, and though he carried only seven times for 44 yards, four of those carries were on touchdown runs.
“That’s the culture of this team,” said Wiese. “Our guys really don’t care who gets the touchdowns. Beau Bofferding has got great speed, and we can get him on the perimeter and he gives us another weapon. Logan did most of the work to get us inside the 10, and our game plan, and our goal line package, gave Bofferding the chance to get four touchdowns.”
Here is where the ratings fall apart. UMD has been ranked No. 2 in the country among D-2 teams for most of the season, and in the Super Region, UMD was No. 1. Two weeks ago, UMD went to Crookston and even though the regulars only played the first half, the Bulldogs whipped Minnesota-Crookston 77-3. After that, they remained No. 2 in the country, but dropped from No. 1 to No. 3 in the region! Minnesota State-Mankato and Ouachita State are 1-2.
That’s where an interesting scenario arises. The top two teams in the region get byes, while four others play to determine the foes for the top two in the second week. So if UMD rises to 1 or 2, they get a bye in the first round, the better to heal all those bumps and bruises. If they stay No. 3, they would have to play a pretty good team, at Malosky Field, in the first round in order to get a crack at Mankato or Ouachita State. It’s not as though a bye is the perfect fit, either. Being off for a week means you practice all week, but you are unsure of your opponent the following week, plus you risk losing that every-Saturday rhythm that can be so important at playoff time.
Of course, the Division 1 ratings are more outrageous, with the Southeast Conference seeming to own the voters. My preference for the first four-team selected national tournament would be to declare that any conference would never get more than one of the four entries. This year, that would likely be Mississippi State or Alabama from the Southeast, Oregon from the Pac-12, Florida State from the ACC, and let’s say Texas Christian from the Big 12.
But things could all get sorted out this weekend. Mississippi State, ranked No. 1, faces Alabama, ranked No. 3. Now, in recent weeks, whenever Alabama or Auburn or LSU loses, they drop three or four slots in the ratings. When Oregon lost to Arizona -- then the only unbeaten team left in the Pac-12 -- Oregon dropped 10 places, and has had to work its way back up to the top 4.
Alabama had no business coming back to beat Auburn last week, but it happened, 20-13 in two overtimes. And Oregon, only by the brilliance of Marcus Mariota, survived a wild and crazy game against a tough and hard-hitting Utah outfit. Oregon’s victory came partly from one of the weirdest plays of this or any season.
Utah led 7-0, and apparently was going up 14-0 when a pass over the middle resulted in a sprint up the left sideline to the end zone. The receiver, however, incomprehensibly got super-casual about starting his celebration, and he dropped the football as he reached the end zone. Actually, he dropped it on the 2 yard line, and ran on into the end zone without it.
Two Oregon defensive backs arrived on the scene and ran past the ball too. The first one ran on out of bounds after reaching the end zone. Then he realized it was a live ball, came back onto the field and picked up the ball, but he, incomprehensibly, also dropped it. The other defensive back picked it up with one foot on the goal line, and ran behind a convoy of blockers, 100 yards for a touchdown.
That may all seem moot, since the Ducks started scoring and kept on scoring, and won 51-27, but we can only speculate about what difference it might have made if the game had been 14-0 Utah instead of 7-7 back at the start.
My biggest disappointment with the 13-person bowl selection committee is that their picks so far make it appear that they are watching ESPN for highlights -- and blatant Southeast Conference propaganda -- and then they look at the two national ratings before making their selections, which are almost identical. I would like to see them pay more attention to strength of schedule and make some courageous picks. If they’re going to simply duplicate the regular ratings, then why do we need them?

UMD-Gopher Hockey Must Share Spotlight

For 50 years, the biggest sports event in Duluth has been the annual clash between the UMD Bulldogs and the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers on a hockey rink. It’s happening again, this weekend, when the Bulldogs travel to Minneapolis to face the No. 1 ranked Gophers Friday night, then the teams travel up Interstate 35 to Duluth for Saturday night’s rematch at AMSOIL Arena/

The teams are in different leagues now, with Minnesota helping torpedo the old WCHA by joining Michigan, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Ohio State and Penn State and forming a Big Ten hockey conference. UMD quickly jumped to join North Dakota, St. Cloud State, Denver, Colorado College, and CCHA refugees Nebraska-Omaha, Miami of Ohio and Western Michigan to form the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC), establishing itself as the premier college hockey conference.

Down in the Twin Cities, nobody seems to have recognized that the NCHC is bristling with elite hockey programs, while the Big Ten is something like Minnesota and the five dwarfs. Minnesota is the only Big Ten program that is still considered elite. Wisconsin, if you haven’t looked, had its rebuilding year interrupted by an 0-6 start. Michigan had faded from the elite category in recent years, and being swept by Michigan Tech a couple weeks ago won’t help the Wolverines restore their reputation. Michigan State also had dropped from the elite level, and Ohio State could rise up to be Minnesota’s top challenger.

In the NCHC, meanwhile, North Dakota, Miami of Ohio, St. Cloud and Denver might all be considered favorites, with UMD trying to squeeze in there. Last weekend, Nebraska-Omaha swept Ohio State, while North Dakota was sweeping two games from Wisconsin. Minnesota looked good blitzing Notre Dame twice, although it should also be pointed out that UMD opened the season by beating Notre Dame 3-0 in South Bend.

Two weeks ago, Minnesota went to St. Cloud, another of its various arch-rivals, and the Huskies thoroughly outplayed the Gophers and won 4-1 before the Gophers rebounded for an overtime victory at Mariucci Arena. The Bulldogs went to St. Cloud for two games last weekend, and they were NCHC games besides. UMD got into penalty trouble and fell behind 2-1 against the impressive Huskies, but the Bulldogs rallied to tie, then won 3-2 in overtime. The next night, freshman goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo shut down the Huskies 3-1 for a sweep.

The national ratings, compiled by U.S. College Hockey Online, chose to leave Minnesota No 1, despite losing at St. Cloud, and there they remain. UMD crept up to ninth after splitting league series with Denver and Miami of Ohio, then sweeping St. Cloud. That’s fine. Friday’s game should be interesting, and AMSOIL will be rocking Saturday night. Then let’s look at the ratings.

Share The Spotlight

In other years, a Gopher-UMD hockey series would command all the attention of Up North sports fans. But because the series is no longer involving conference standings for either, and because of all else going on, there is need for the hockey types to share the spotlight.

True, UMD football is Division 2, and so is volleyball. But both teams are in serious running for NCAA glory at that level. The football Bulldogs are a sizzling 10-0 as they head off to Minot for Saturday’s Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference finale. After that, playoffs.

The volleyball team is on an incredible roll, having lost an early tournament game to Tampa, which is rated No. 1, but that’s the Bulldogs‘ only loss. They finished the regular season 20-0 to win the NSIC, and now stand 29-1 overall, to rank No 2 in the nation.

That put UMD in the enviable role of controlling their own destiny through the Northern Sun tournament, and, presumably, into the Regional NCAA tournament. Granted, this is the toughest region in the country, just as the Northern Sun is the toughest conference in D-2. With the top four teams playing host roles Tuesday to teams 5-6-7-8, winning was imperative, because the highest-seeded team reaching the semifinals gets to be host to the semifinals.

The Bulldogs, with great balance and their usual poise defeated Sioux Falls Tuesday night, winning 25-18 and 25-11 - including a nearly flawless second game when they hit 100 percent, at 11-11, led by Mariah Scharf, who had gone an amazing 12-12 through two games. But the Sioux Falls Cougars decided somewhere halfway through Game 3 that they could play with the Bulldogs, never mind they were the eighth seeded team trailing two games to none at the site of the top seed. The Bulldogs seemed to have fended off the Cougars, and led 22-18, but Sioux Falls came storming back by outscoring UMD 7-1 and gaining a stunning 25-23 victory in Game 3.
   
  Game 4 was more of the same. UMD led most of the way, up to 17-14, but then the Cougars went on a 6-1 run. UMD came back to retain the lead at 25-24, 26-25 and 27-26, but Sioux Falls scored three straight points and captured Game 4 by a 29-27 count.

  Scharf, who has shared team kill leads with four teammates all season, regained her remarkable form in Game 5, with three kills to pace the Bulldogs to leads of 6-0 and 7-1, that they eliminated the Cougars 15-6.

  “Sioux Falls absolutely didn’t quit,” said UMD coach Jim Boos. “They gave it all they had We played well through Games 1 and 2, and we were fine halfway through Game 3. Then they started playing aggressively, and we can talk about the things we didn’t do after that, but you’ve got to give them credit.”

  As for the usual balanced attack, well, there was no room for balance. Monica Turner had 14 kills, and Maddy Siroin and Siydnie Mauch 12 each, with Katie Ledwell chipping in 9, but Mariah Scharf had 27 kills. “And that was in 43 attacks, for a .581 percentage,” said Boos. “That’s ridiculous.”

The victory means UMD is host to the semifinals Friday, with seven-time defending NCAA champion Concordia facing Wayne State at 5 p.m., and UMD taking on Southwest Minnesota State at 7 p.m. The winners play Saturday at 4 p.m. in the championship game. It remains a tall order for UMD to continue rolling, but having to withstand the pressure of a five-set victory over Southwest Saturday, followed by the five-set battle with Sioux Falls should be the ideal preparation.