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How good will this fall’s UMD football team be? The picture came into a little sharper focus during Tuesday afternoon’s intrasquad scrimmage at Malosky Stadium.
Mostly second-team and rookie players were on the field when No. 13 in maroon took a handoff, slithered through a tiny hole in the line, and was off to the races -- sprinting up the right sideline for something like a 70-yard touchdown run.
Since one of the Bulldogs’ major challenges is to find a couple of explosive running backs, it appeared that our “No. 14” might be just what the doctor ordered.
The doctor, in this case, is coach Curt Wiese. After that most impressive scoring run, I asked Curt who No. 14 was.
“That’s Dom Conway,” Wiese said. “A true freshman.”
I asked if UMD has big plans for the true freshman from De Pere, Wis., and Wiese said: “Hopefully, we can redshirt him.”
Division I and II football teams most like to bring in flashy freshmen, and give them a year to get acclimated, work on weights, and prepare themselves for productive college careers by having them redshirt -- staying our of game action for a year and still retaining four years of eligibility.
But when a team needs to find a couple of running backs, and somebody as explosive and swift as Conway shows his heels to the whole defense, it is a true sign of strenght and depth if that team can afford to hold him out of competition for a season.
The intrasquad scrimmage was an enjoyable evening for players, coaches and fans alike, especially new students who were welcomed to orientation with a large free feed of barbecued pork, potato salad, chips, assorted healthy beverages, and an assortment of cookies. A few thousand freshmen showed up and may have been impressed with the layout, put on by Tavern On the Hill, Erbert and Gerbert’s, Jimmy John’s, Cub Foods and Fury drinks. They may also be unaware that they should appreciate what may prove to be a rare free feast for their college fees.
Because it was maroons against whites, the teams wore practice pullovers, which also meant there were no visible numbers, and no way to tell who was on the field at any given time. The public address announcer was reduced to saying things such as: “That was a nice pass from No. 2 to No. 17.”
Didn’t matter, because, as Wiese said, “It was typical of a first scrimmage. We had a lot of young guys who needed to get some reps in front of a big crowd like this. It was a good effort by everyone, and we’re all looking to take the next step toward Sept. 3rd.”
The season starts in extreme fashion as the Bulldogs play at Minnesota State-Mankato in an opener that pits the top two teams in the Northern Sun Conference and with defending national runner-up Mankato facing the region’s No. 3 ranked Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs are set up to provide a comfortable break-in for newcomers, with 10 seniors and 20 juniors on the roster. That’s 30 players -- more than enough to fill out starters both on offense and defense. But depth is extremely important.
Drew Bauer, who seems situated as a long-term regular at quarterback, has been exactly that, having started since the second game of his freshman season. A smart-reading and adaptive play-caller, Bauer has superb running back Logan Lauters to hand the ball to, and wide receiver Beau Bofferding proved he can do an impressive job at running back as well.
Wiese’s teams always have a trademark defense that can stifle foes, so finding a few receivers and running backs remains a priority.
In the scrimmage, Darren Walker looked good. A juinmior t5ransfer from Elk Grove, Cal., who is from Elk Grove, Calif. And Nate Ricci, a sophomore from Stillwater, made an excellent diving catch along the sidelines as another highlight of the controlled scrimmage that featured different plays to emphasize scoring offense, and the chance to escape from deep in their own end.
Wiese said he likes the makeup of this team and is satisfied with the progress of the Bulldogs, but he kept mentioning “September 3rd” a lot. A victory in the opener at MSU-Mankato would set the standard high, while a loss, which would be no disgrace, would mean battling every week to regain their high preseason rank.

Just when Minnesota sports fans thought it was safe to ignore the rest of the Twins season and focus on the Vikings, the Twins went on the road and turned things completely around.

By dropping into a losing swoon, the Twins dropped to two games below .500, and appeared to be eliminating themselves from one of the hottest races for wild card playoff stature. They had been swept by the Yankees in a maddening series where they kept taking the lead, then blowing it in the closing innings, day after day.

That sent them on their way to Baltimore and then Tampa Bay, where they’d face two of the teams they have to beat out for a wild card. Amazingly, the Twins went to Baltimore and rocked the Orioles 15-2, then got great pitching and some crucial and timely hitting by the much-maligned bottom of the batting order to go on and sweep the series, climbing from two games under .500 to two games over, at 63-61.

As the Twins were winning four straight in Baltimore, the sizzling Toronto Blue Jays went out to Anaheim and swept the Angels, scoring 36 runs in the three games, to leave the Angels 63-61.

On Tuesday, the Twins opened another critical series at Tampa Bay. Erwin Santana, who has struggled in recent starts, struggled again after the Twins staked him to a 3-0 first-inning lead. It was 5-5 when Santana headed for the showers in the third inning, having yielded eight hits.

But, as they have demonstrated all through this most bizarre season, after looking like buffoons who have never played organized ball for various stretches, these Twins catch fire and click on all cylinders. That includes starting pitching, relief, varied contributions throughout the lineup at bat, and superb defense.

When you look at the Twins, the newcomers have been outstanding, with Miguel Sano socking his 12th home run in the first inning for a 3-0 lead in Tampa, which was his 45th major league game. But he’s not alone. Eddie Rosario also homered, and he has been most impressive in this rookie season, immediately becoming the Twins best defensive outfielder, making a series of spectacular catches and also showing off a left-handed rifle to repeatedly throw out aggressive opposing runners with amazing throws.

Watching Rosario circle the bases for a triple is so impressive Twins fans can almost forget that Byron Buxton is another rookie with possibly even more swiftness rounding the bases than Rosario. With Buxton in center field and Rosario in either left or right, and Torii Hunter in right, the injured Aaron Hicks might want to hustle his way back from the infirmary as soon as possible or find himself crowded out of the lineup. If Hunter slows down, he can remain a valuable asset as designated hitter and part-time player, and an outfield of Hicks, Buxton and Rosario can carry the club into the future.

In the infield, Joe Mauer is secure at first, Bryan Dozier excellent at second, and Trevor Plouffe becoming an accomplished third baseman. Only at shortstop, where the Escobar-Nunez rotation is insecure, do the Twins need help. So all of a sudden, rookie Sano shows that he can play third base with anyone, which creates an intriguing future for the team. Both Plouffe and Dozier came up as shortstops, so it might be possible to anchor Sano at third, and, say, Dozier at short and Plouffe at second, with Mauer at first.

Behind the plate, Kurt Suzuki keeps improving, and while his batting average is woeful, it seems as though every hit he gets ties or wins a game, as he did in back to back victories at Baltimore this week.

Which brings us back to Tampa, where the Twins won the series opener 11-7 despite Santana’s shaky performance. That boosted the Twins to five straight victories and a 64-61 record -- ahead of Baltimore and Tampa Bay, even with the Angels, and within a half-game of Texas (64-60) for the second American League wild card spot.

The great thing about baseball is that no matter how you’re doing, you’re only as good as your next game. The Twins faced the rest of the Tampa Bay series, and another month of play, but right now, they are on top of their game.

The Twins self-made drama commands attention, which is OK, because the Vikings, while winning their first three exhibition games, have yet to let Adrian Peterson play in even one offensive play yet. They are holding him out until the regular season begins, although it seems to me that by missing all of last season, Peterson might benefit by having the chance to run a half-dozen times just to make sure he’s in proper rhythm by the start of the season.

Besides, Teddy Bridgewater will think he’s in heaven when he only has to concoct clever plays half the time, because he can give the ball to Peterson the other half.


Line Drawn In Pro Stock

Jason Line, of Wright, had a fantastic weekend at the NHRA Lucas Nationals at Brainerd International Racway, even though he lost the Pro Stock final to Erica Enders. That final was one of the rarities in drag racing, which proves that elapsed time means everything, but elapsed time includes the all-important milliseconds that can be gained at the starting line.

Picture this: Jason Line had a good reaction time at the starting lights, launching in .043 seconds, and running a 6.541-second blast down the quarter mile, and hitting 211.06 mph. Enders had a 6.552-second run at 210.14 mph, both of which were a close second to Line. But she cut the starting lights amazingly close, launching in .014 seconds. So even though she lost to Line by 0.11 seconds -- 11-thousandths of a second -- she beat Line’s reaction time by .029 -- 29-thousandths of a second -- at the start. The milliseconds at the start count as much as in the elapsed time on the track, so Enders beat Line by .018 -- 18-thousandths of a second -- altogether.

The victory also thrust Enders into first place in Pro Stock, ahead of Duluth’s Greg Anderson, who lost in the quarterfinals. Anderson and Line, Summit Racing teammates, next head to Indianapolis for the U.S. Nationals, after putting on quite a show at BIR.

Meanwhile, the grey overcast and cool temperatures allowed the big engines to make enormous horsepower, and in Top Fuel, Richie Crampton won over Brittany Force in the final, after Antron Brown set the BIR Top Fuel record of 3.680 seconds, and Spence Massey pegged the speed record at 332.75 mph. In Funny Car, Robert Hight beat Tommy Johnson in the final, while Jack Beckman set the ET record of 3.901 seconds and Matt Hagan pushed the speed record to 329.58 mph.