The UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans are in talks to realign conferences from the PAC-12 Conference to the Big Ten Conference as early as 2024, according to Jon Wilner on Twitter Thursday. Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated confirmed on Twitter that there are ongoing negotiations. Wilner said nothing has been finalized by the “highest levels of power.”

Last summer, Texas and Oklahoma shocked the college football landscape by announcing to leave the Big 12 for the SEC. One year later, two more athletic goliaths from a weaker Power 5 conference are interested in moving to one of the top two college football conferences (Big Ten and SEC).

This would put a rift in the regular PAC-12 versus Big Ten bowl games such as the Rose Bowl, and more teams like Oregon could jump ship and follow soon. It also brings up the question of national college conferences, with California schools in the same conference as eastern schools like Maryland, Penn State and Rutgers. Unlike Texas’s and Oklahoma’s moves to the SEC, these two teams are in different time zones and vastly different climates than the other Big Ten schools. 

In 10 years, will collegiate sports consist of just the Big Ten and SEC? One thing is for sure, if this move happens, everything will change. 

Minnesota Gophers senior forward, Taylor Heise, was awarded the highest individual honor in women’s hockey on March 26, the Patty Kazmaier Award, which is given to the top player in collegiate women’s hockey.

“We are absolutely thrilled for Taylor, her family, teammates and our program,” Gophers head coach Brad Frost told gophersports.com. “Taylor embodies what Patty was all about and we are so happy for her. To add her name to the likes of Wendell and Kessel, as past winners from the University of Minnesota, speaks volumes to the season that Taylor had.”

Hailing from the basketball town of Lake City, Minn., which only has one outdoor ice rink, the odds were stacked against Heise from lacing up the skates. The first hockey gear Heise ever used was donated from the Minnesota Wild’s giving back program, since she didn’t have her own. Both her parents and brothers played hoops and it was a 50-50 decision for Heise to play either basketball or hockey in college.

“I had to work harder and convince my parents a little more than the average kid would have to play hockey,” Heise said. “They laughed when I first asked because they thought I was crazy since no one’s ever played hockey in my family.”

Heise open-enrolled into Red Wing High School to play high school hockey since Lake City didn’t play the sport. At Red Wing she most notably won the 2018 Minnesota Ms. Hockey Award.

Fast forward to the 2021-22 season, Heise earned a hefty amount of hardware. She led the nation in scoring with 29 goals and 37 assists totalling 66 points. She was a three-time WCHA Forward of the Month and two-time HCA Player of the Month. Heise finished the season with First-Team All-American, WCHA Offensive Player of the Year, WCHA Player of the Year and WCHA Scoring Champion honors.

Heise attributes her improved play to a chip on her shoulder as the Gophers were not named as an NCAA Tournament team to finish out the 2020-21 season. It was the first time Minnesota missed the postseason since 2007.

“After not getting a bid last year, I came in with more of an attitude of wanting to succeed more than ever before,” Heise said. “I think we as a team, even though this year didn’t end the way we wanted it to, we still shocked the nation, especially being number one for many straight weeks.”
Linemates and roommates of Heise, seniors Abigail Boreen and Catie Skaja also improved this season. In a shortened 2020-21 season, Boreen earned 11 points on the season while Skaja only accumulated six.

In 2021-22 both players exploded past those numbers, with Boreen scoring 59 points and Skaja scoring 47. Heise, Boreen and Skaja combined for 172 points this season, the most out of any line in the nation.

“I’m just grateful to be alongside them and they just needed a little kick of confidence,” Heise said. “I’m hoping that I was a part of helping them with that this year, they’re my best friends and when you have them as your linemates it makes everything on the ice better.”

After winning the Patty Kazmaier award, Heise and her family went to eat at Blue Door Pub, in honor of her always consuming a burger a day before every hockey game she plays. She later came back to her house on campus, nicknamed “Treehouse”, where ten women’s hockey players live and regularly partake in movie nights, bonfires and rollerblading.

“My whole team was there waiting for me…it’s such a heartwarming feeling to see so many people that love and support you show up for you,” Heise said. “You can’t really ask for more than that.”

During the fourth inning of Sunday’s 10-3 series clinching win over Rutgers, Natalie DenHartog blasted her 52nd home run of her collegiate career, breaking the Minnesota Softball program record.

“The minute I swung the bat, I felt like it was going to be out, but with the wind I wasn’t sure and it went over the fence,” said DenHartog. “In that moment I got all the memories flashing before my eyes of everything it took to get there and all the people that supported me along the way, including my parents as I rounded the bases.”

Gophers assistant coach Katie Richardson had her own praise for DenHartog.

6 home runs from 6 DIFFERENT hitters but this one takes the cake!! So proud of you @natdenh, excited to watch you put our schools record out of reach over the next year and a half #GoGophsForever #SkiUMah https://t.co/cv3jtlCfZd

— Katie Richardson (@KatieRich26) March 27, 2022

As a freshman, DenHartog led the Gophers in RBIs. During that first year with the Gophers she looked up to Maddie Houlihan, who DenHartog tries to model her role on the team after.

“Maddie was a really excellent leader and she was a logical, no-nonsense type player,” said DenHartog. “She might not have been the flashiest player but she came through in crunch time consistently and you could count on her to be successful in high pressure situations, purely because of her tough mindset.”

Ever since 2019, DenHartog has continued to be an offensive juggernaut, leading the Big Ten in home runs in 2021.

“I definitely don’t go up and try to hit home runs because I’ll probably end up putting some more K’s on the board,” said DenHartog. “I just go up and try to have good at-bats…my job for this team is to be someone that gets on base and makes the pitcher work so the people after me can produce runs. Whether it’s a walk, single, double, or home run, I’m happy with whatever it is as long as I can contribute to the team.”

Looking at the 2022 squad, the Gophers play their opening home series this weekend against Illinois. This home stand is a long time coming after the team has been on the road since the season began on Feb. 11.

“We travel a lot, so playing at home is not only a blessing to be in front of your home fans, but to have that extra rest of not getting on a bus or a plane,” said DenHartog. “It’s always fun to hear the crowd and to see the support that the state of Minnesota gives back to us.”

Minnesota is coming off of a successful 2021 where they came one game short of the NCAA Super Regionals, losing to the UCLA Bruins. The team had a heavy amount of experience and coming into 2022, the Gophers lost five super-seniors to graduation.

“It was hard because they were great leaders off the field,” said DenHartog. “But we also brought in some really great people and the character of this team is extremely enjoyable. Being able to be a cohesive unit off the field is where it all starts and we’re excited to see where this new team can go.”

The Gophers first game back in Minneapolis will take place at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium at 4 p.m. on Friday.

The No. 1 Minnesota Golden Gophers will host No. 2 Ohio State, No. 4 Wisconsin and No. 8 Minnesota Duluth in the WCHA Final Faceoff at Ridder Arena this weekend.

The Gophers enter the Final Faceoff having won their last nine games. Although eight of those games came against teams under .500, head coach Brad Frost is confident that his team will be ready to go against some of the toughest teams in the country.

“It’s true, we haven’t played a top 10 team since Ohio State,” Frost said. “But you know, the good news is, the teams that we have played, we played very well against. We’ll ramp it up and practice again and simulate some of those things and we’ll be ready to go.”

The four teams competing this weekend boast a slew of skilled skaters, with six named as finalists for the 2022 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award for national player of the year (Minnesota Duluth: Elizabeth Giguere and Gabbie Hughes. Wisconsin: Casey O’Brien and Daryl Watts. Minnesota: Taylor Heise. Ohio State: Sophie Jaques).

Against the WCHA Final Faceoff field, Minnesota is 6-5-1, with no losses against their rival Wisconsin Badgers. The Gophers will be playing the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs who they are 2-2 against on the year.

“Their first line is one of the best in the country,” Frost said. “Giguere was player of the year at Clarkson just a few years ago, Gabbie Hughes has been one of the best players in the country as well. When we played them last, we were up a goal going into the third and they got loose twice and ended up beating us and so it starts with them. They’re well coached and they’ve got good goaltending, they’ve got two that have been playing pretty well here as of late. So they match up pretty good with us and we match up pretty good with them. So I expect it to be a great game.”

The Bulldogs have the most to lose in the WCHA Final Faceoff as they are a bubble team for the 2022 NCAA tournament. It does not help being the fourth-best team in the WCHA, as the Gophers were controversially not bidded a tournament invite last year.

If the Gophers manage to fend off the Bulldogs, a date with the Badgers or Buckeyes looms on Sunday. Wisconsin and Ohio State are even on their season series with each team earning two wins and two losses. Ohio State’s Amanda Thiele leads the WCHA and is sixth nationally in save percentage (.942). Daryl Watts leads Wisconsin with 27 goals, second nationally only to Minnesota’s Taylor Heise. The Badgers have not missed the WCHA Final Faceoff Championship since the 2013-14 season.

Minnesota will play Minnesota-Duluth at 1 p.m. on Saturday with Wisconsin facing Ohio State at 4 p.m. at the same location in Ridder Arena. The WCHA championship will then take place at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

State champion, IIHF Under-18 gold medalist and now Minnesota Gopher, Peyton Hemp has been on fire her freshman year. The Andover native has tallied 12 goals and 19 assists totaling 31 points this season.

Playing on a line with two seniors, Emily Oden and Amy Potomak, Hemp doesn’t shrink but stands out.

Emily Oden told the Forum News Service, “Peyton plays with a lot of confidence. She knows her abilities and what she’s good at, and she plays to what she knows she can do. Peyton knows she’s a fast, strong skater, so she plays to those abilities and keeps things simple. She doesn’t try to do things that aren’t necessarily in her toolbox.”

“She plays in every situation and she’s got a really good 200 foot game,” Gophers head coach Brad Frost said. “She backtracks well, she uses her speed and gets the puck to the net. Normally it takes a semester for freshman, in particular Minnesota freshman, to get into the groove of things but she jumped in right away.”

Fifth-year co-captain Emily Brown agreed with Frost, saying, “there really doesn’t feel like there’s that five year age gap.”

Hemp did jump in right away, scoring the Gophers’ first goal of the season against Ohio State on Oct. 1.

“The first goal took a lot of weight off my shoulders because that’s something that every freshman thinks about,” Hemp said. “I was definitely more comfortable after that.”

Currently, Hemp is fifth on the Gophers in goal scoring and points. She has additionally won WCHA Rookie of the Month in October and November and has locked in two WCHA Rookie of the Week honors with one of those weeks having her score her first-career multi-goal game versus Bemidji State.

“As a defense there’s certain players you don’t want to match up against in practice, and Peyton is definitely one of them,” Brown said. “She can break free at any point and really work for it due to her speed and good vision of the ice. She has a knack for getting into dangerous areas of the ice where goals are usually scored and you can see that through her score sheet this season.”

Hemp was on Frost’s radar for a long time during the recruiting process, being on top of her age group in Minnesota and winning 2021 Minnesota Ms. Hockey.

“When it was permissible we were able to get her on a visit and we had a great visit with her, talking about our culture and what we, the Gophers, want to be about, and she wanted to be a part of it,” Frost said.

Frost also noted that Hemp is super competitive, hard and strong on the puck, quick, has a good release and plays an honest game where she stays above the puck and doesn’t cheat. Sizing up Hemp to other players he’s seen, Frost said senior forward Catie Skaja would be the closest comparison.

Off the ice, the transition towards school hasn’t been quite as smooth for Hemp, a biology major, who wants to go into a career in the medical field.

“The first semester kinda kicked me in the butt,” said Hemp, whose dream job is to become a dermatologist. “I’m figuring it out now, but that was a big adjustment for me.”

Taylor Heise has been playing for the Gophers women’s hockey team since the 2018-19 season and has consistently been a reliable scorer for head coach Brad Frost and company. Now in her fourth season playing for Minnesota, she is leading the country in points (55).

“She’s shooting the puck a fair amount and her confidence has continued to grow throughout the year,” Frost said. “She’s always doing individual skill work before and after practice. She’s a rink rat that loves to get better and it’s so fun to see all her hard work pay off.”

In her freshman season, Heise scored 13 goals and totaled 35 points. She also led the team in shots on goal (147).

“I’ve gotten a lot stronger and faster since my freshman year,” Heise said. “In high school I was small and fast. Now I have strength and power. Also, freshman year on the Gophers I was jittery and played mostly off of momentum, now I’m more patient with the puck.”

This season Minnesota is without top offensive talents in Grace Zumwinkle and Abbey Murphy, who are competing in the 2022 Beijing Olympics, yet they are still first in the nation due to a large chip on their shoulder. The Gophers last season missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2007.

“This season we definitely came in with a different attitude after not making the tournament last year,” Heise said. “We’re not going to give people the chance to take us out of the running for it. We want to make sure that we put up a fight every single game and it’s gonna put us in a solid spot in the tournament instead of maybe.”

Even with Zumwinkle and Murphy gone, different players have stepped up into different roles. On Heise’s line, Abigail Boreen is right behind Heise in scoring with 20 goals on the season. Catie Skaja is also third in points on the Gophers.

“They have fully immersed themselves in those roles that they need to play,” Heise said. “Boreen has grown up as a person and a hockey player more than anyone I’ve seen. As a line if we do our job, the momentum rolls off of us. Me, Skaja and Boreen are best friends and knowing that you can trust your linemates makes it easier to play every single day.”

Linemates Skaja and Boreen both had rave reviews about playing with Heise.

“She’s a great player who makes whoever she is playing with on ice better,” Boreen said.

“She gives us a lot of confidence,” Skaja said. “Every time we do something she makes sure we know that was the right play. She’s positive, she’s there for us and again she’s a huge confidence booster that makes it fun to play with her.”

As a captain of the Gophers, Heise attributes most of her leadership skills to former Gophers Paige Haley and Nicole Schammel who she played high school hockey with at Red Wing High School.

“They were super hard workers in my high school and were dominant figures and I always wanted to be like that,” Heise said. “Having leaders that you can look up to when you are younger helps make your decision to lead later in life easier.”

Off the ice, Heise is looking to complete her degree in kinesiology and start grad school with a possible second degree in marketing.

“I wanted to be a physical therapist when I came into college and realized I over-specified myself in one area,” Heise said. “I took one chemistry class and was like, ‘No thanks.’ I can’t really speak for my future right now but I’m looking for something in the area of kinesiology or sports marketing.”

Four hundred nine yards to 277. Gopher fans would think the team who gained 409 yards would come out victorious in Iowa City on Nov. 13. However, that wasn’t the case as the No. 17 Iowa Hawkeyes ousted the Minnesota Gophers 27-22.

21 of Iowa’s 27 points came on “explosive” plays, according to Gophers defensive coordinator Joe Rossi.

The Hawkeyes’ game-winning touchdown featured a flurry of missed tackles by Gophers defensive backs leading Iowa’s Keagan Johnson to the end zone.

A lack of sacks from the Gophers’ defense was prevalent in last Saturday’s game as well, with Iowa’s offensive line having a superb pass blocking day.

“We took that personally,” Nyles Pinckney said. “We need to get pressure on the quarterback to help our secondary.”

Gophers’ star defensive lineman Boye Mafe was noticeably silent against Iowa. Mafe posted one total tackle during the entire game.

Additionally, Minnesota had two dropped interceptions last Saturday that could’ve been massive momentum changers. Mariano Sori-Marin missed an interception that led Iowa to score and another missed interception would have led to favorable field position for the Gophers.

“It’s a learning experience but when you get those opportunities you have to make the most of it,” Rossi said on Wednesday.

Moreover, the Gophers gave up their most points to a defense since week one against the national leader in total offense, then No. 4 Ohio State. This is a far cry from a Minnesota defense that is ranked 7th in the country and hadn’t given up more than 20 points in a game since Oct. 16 versus Nebraska.

“We have the best defensive staff I’ve ever coached with,” Rossi said. “The failings of last week have to make us grow this week. Make a mistake, come back, respond, fix it and get better.”

Looking forward to next week, the Indiana Hoosiers pose a peculiar matchup as they rotate between multiple quarterbacks in the game. Grant Gremel and Jack Tuttle play as more traditional pocket passers, while Donaven McCulley is their ‘Cole Kramer’ type of quarterback who mainly keeps the pigskin on designed runs.

“From a defensive perspective we have to be tuned into who is in the game and we have to understand that we will see different plays called between who is in,” Rossi said.

The reason for the quarterback carousel for Tom Allen’s squad is due to the injury of starting quarterback Michael Penix Jr. Against Penn State, Penix Jr. separated an AC Joint in his left shoulder on Oct. 2.

The message from P.J. Fleck to his players has stayed the same: one championship week at a time. This championship week is at Bloomington, Ind., with a kickoff time of 2:30 p.m.on the Big Ten Network.

“It feels like it flew by,” Pinckney said of the 2021 season. “Every little precious second I get with the team — practice, workout, team meeting — you appreciate them a lot more.”

“The hunt,” as P.J. Fleck said last Saturday, is afoot. Four teams (Iowa, Minnesota, Purdue and Wisconsin) sit at 4-2 in the Big Ten West. Only one team can come out victorious. A marquee matchup in Iowa City this Saturday between the Gophers and Hawkeyes will clear some air in a crowded race to Indianapolis.

Remember when Gophers TE Maxx Williams hauled in three touchdown grabs in a 51-14 shellacking of the Hawkeyes? That was seven years ago. Ever since, Iowa is 6-0 in the series and 4-0 during the Fleck era. Minnesota may win the all-time series, but they haven’t even led in the scoring column in this border battle since 2016.

The Hawkeyes are homesick. It is their first game at Kinnick Stadium in nearly a month. Iowa will also be without starting quarterback Spencer Petras and will start Alex Padilla, who completed 18/28 passes for 172 yards at Northwestern. Gophers Defensive Coordinator Joe Rossi thinks Petras and Padilla are capable quarterbacks that have different experience levels but is nonetheless impressed by them.

Star defensive back Riley Moss will return for Iowa as well. He is a turnover machine who has four career interceptions against the Gophers.

“Unless he hits a pothole, he’ll be full throttle on Saturday,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said of Moss’ status.

Gophers Offensive Coordinator Mike Sanford Jr. preaches patience for his offense on Saturday not to be prone to turnovers, which have been a staple in this rivalry.

“There’s a lot of tipped balls and quarterbacks are throwing it up for dear life and it shows quarterbacks and coordinators are getting impatient … we have to play smart football,” Sanford said.

“Everybody knows their role, they have really smart players, and they all have their eyes on the quarterback,” Fleck said about the Hawkeyes defense. “From the nose guards to three-technique, to the ends, to the linebackers and the secondary, everybody has a chance to make a play and make an impact on the game.”

Meanwhile, Minnesota, coming off a 14-6 upset loss at home, has lost sole possession of first place in the Big Ten West. Fleck made it clear on Monday that the Gophers control their own destiny. The run game, which was uncharacteristically dormant last Saturday, with leading rusher Ky Thomas only running for 60 yards, faces a tough task against Iowa’s 8th-ranked run defense.

In order for the Gophers to come out victorious in Iowa City, Rossi is adamant that the team can’t allow “chunk” or “explosive” plays. The 2020 Floyd of Rosedale match got “out of hand” in the 4th quarter where Iowa scored 21 points on big plays. Tyler Goodson and Mekhi Sargent each had carries of 30-plus yards against a porous Gophers defense. Today, the Gophers rank 14th nationally against the run and should have smoother sailing versus Iowa’s offense.

The Floyd of Rosedale trophy began with Minnesota governor Floyd B. Olson winning a bet in 1935 against the governor of Iowa over the Gophers-Hawkeyes matchup that year. The Gophers won 13-7 and a pig born in Rosedale, IA was given to Floyd.