Minnesota opened its 2021-22 season at Williams Arena with a sloppy up and down performance, resulting in a disappointing 66-69 loss against Jacksonville.

Facing a Dolphins program that finished 4-17 a season ago, head coach Lindsay Whalen opted to deploy a starting lineup familiar to Gophers fans with one surprise.

Junior guards Jasmine Powell and Sara Scalia started in the backcourt alongside graduate student Gadiva Hubbard. Redshirt junior forward Kadi Sissoko started in the frontcourt alongside Kansas graduate student transfer center Bailey Helgren, who was playing in her first game with the Gophers.

It was a slow start out of the gate for the Gophers. A 3-15 first-quarter shooting from the field and 0-5 from beyond the three-point line stunted their offensive success and Jacksonville took advantage.

Dolphins’ junior forward Shynia Jackson led all scorers with eight first-quarter points, while Sissoko led the Gophers with five. Minnesota trailed 9-15.

Scalia began to heat up offensively in the second quarter, leading an offensive resurgence. She added 14 points, bringing her game total to 16.

NC A&T graduate student transfer guard Deja Winters gave the Gophers 13 productive minutes off the bench, leveling Jasmine Powell at six points for the second-most on the team in the first half. Minnesota’s 6-15 shooting from the field and 5-11 from beyond the three-point line in the second resulted in a 32-29 lead heading into the half.

Out of the locker room, the Gophers started out slow. It looked like Jacksonville was getting back into the game by evening it at 45, but a 5-0 run to close the quarter extended Minnesota’s lead to 50-45.

Powell accumulated a team-high seven points in the quarter bringing her total to 13 for the game. Nearly all of the Gophers’ offensive success through 30 minutes was between Powell and Scalia, combining for 33 of the team’s 50 points.

Jacksonville would not go away, giving the Gophers trouble all of the way until the final buzzer. Eight fourth-quarter turnovers were too much for Minnesota to overcome. The Dolphins took advantage with 10 points off those turnovers and pulled away with a 66-69 victory.

Sara Scalia led the Gophers with 25 points and seven rebounds on the day to go along with three assists, while Jasmine Powell’s 15 points were second on the team and her five assists were a team-high.

The Gophers were outscored 26-12 in bench scoring and Jacksonville’s balanced attack with four different players scoring in double figures was a vastly different performance than Minnesota’s.

The Gophers will have a quick turnaround, traveling to Tempe, Arizona for a non-conference showdown with Arizona State this Friday on Nov. 19 at 8:00 p.m. (CST).

After a disappointing 2020-21 season that saw the Gophers finish 8-13, they’re expected to turn things around returning 12 of the 13 players from last year’s team as well as adding four more.

Fifth-year Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck has officially signed a new seven-year contract to remain with the program through the 2028 season.

“This is home,” said Fleck. “Our family loves it here and we are excited to continue this journey at the University of Minnesota. From day one, we talked about cultural sustainability and how important it is to building a successful football program and life program. Today is another step in that process, and this new contract is a commitment to our elite staff and the entire state of Minnesota. Heather and I are so thankful to our staff, Mark Coyle, President Joan Gabel and the Board of Regents for trusting us to lead this program. Our goal is to recruit and coach at an elite level and to have our young people achieve academic, athletic, social and spiritual excellence. It’s a tremendous honor to lead this program, and we will continue to work to build a culture that connects the entire state.”

This season, Fleck has led the Gophers to a 6-2 record and a 4-1 record in Big Ten conference play. He has accumulated a 32-21 record during his five total seasons leading the program.

Fleck has already established himself as one of the best coaches in program history. In 2019, the team’s 11 wins were the most in program history since 1904. He is already 10th in school history in games coached (53) and sixth in wins (32).

“P.J. and Heather continue to do everything the right way,” said Director of Athletics Mark Coyle. “He continues to build a program that fans can take great pride in, and his student-athletes compete at a high level academically, athletically and socially. He is a tremendous recruiter and has elevated the stature of our program by an immeasurable amount. I am grateful to President Gabel and the Board of Regents for their continued support, and I look forward to Coach Fleck continuing to lead the Gophers.”

The extension is pending approval from the Board of Regents, who approved Fleck’s last contract extension with a unanimous vote in 2019.

After a 41-14 road victory over Northwestern, Minnesota’s sixth win officially gives them bowl eligibility, as they now sit alone in first place atop the Big Ten West standings.

Minnesota’s offense came out firing on all cylinders. Several different players received the ball on the opening drive, but it did not result in a touchdown. Matthew Trickett’s 26-yard field goal gave the Gophers a 3-0 lead.

Freshman cornerback Justin Walley continued the Gophers’ fast start. On Northwestern’s first offensive play, Walley scooped up and returned a fumble for his first career touchdown extending Minnesota’s lead to 9-0.

After forcing a Northwestern punt on the next drive, the Gophers’ offense failed to score its first offensive touchdown, but a 30-yard Trickett field goal made it a 13-0 ball game.

To begin the second quarter, Northwestern finally found its rhythm. 51 total yards from Maple Grove, Minnesota native running back Evan Hull resulted in a Wildcats’ touchdown drive narrowing the lead to 13-7.

Dynamic running back duo Ky Thomas and Mar’Keise ‘Bucko’ Irving combined for 24 carries, 108 yards and one Irving touchdown in the second quarter which gave Minnesota a 20-7 lead heading into the locker room.

The second half did not start with the same tempo. Three consecutive punts from both the Gophers and Northwestern made for a sluggish third quarter.

Tanner Morgan opened things up in the third quarter. An 18-yard scamper from the redshirt-senior quarterback extended Minnesota’s lead to 27-7.

Success continued to come in the form of the running game for the Gophers. Irving’s second touchdown of the day came in the form of 40 yards, and the Minnesota lead ballooned to 33-7.

Northwestern added a touchdown at the end of the quarter, but an early injury from Bryce Williams opened the door for redshirt sophomore Gophers linebacker-turned-running back Derik LeCaptain to make his first career appearance in the backfield. The former walk-on ran with the opportunity for 24 yards, giving him his first career touchdown, finishing off the Wildcats, 41-14.

Minnesota’s winning streak has now grown to four, and it now sits alone in first place atop of the Big Ten West standings.

Thanks to another dominating performance from both its offensive and defensive lines, Minnesota controlled Northwestern for much of the entire game. Defensive ends Boye Mafe and M.J. Anderson both recorded a sack of their own, while the offensive line was the driving force of another terrific offensive performance.

The Gophers 41-17 victory gives them six on the season and they now control their own destiny to win the Big Ten conference.

The Gophers bye week gave them some early energy against the Cornhuskers, and they led all game, ultimately leaving victorious 30-23.

“That was truly culture over skill,” head coach P.J. Fleck said. “Whatever anyone wants to say about us, our culture, feel free, we have been called everything in the book.”

The Minnesota defense was aggressive to open the game, and after forcing Nebraska into an opening drive three-and-out, Minnesota’s offense was ready to take the field.

An opening offensive drive that saw six Gophers’ passes and seven runs, was capped off by redshirt-sophomore quarterback Cole Kramer’s first career pass going for a touchdown to tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford.

Nebraska’s offense would respond with a methodical drive resulting in a 50-yard field goal, shortening the Minnesota lead to 7-3.

Tanner Morgan and the Gophers’ offense would pick up right where they left off. A beautiful 28-yard touchdown pass to Mike Brown-Stephens extended the lead to 14-3.

After a pair of disappointing drives for both teams, the Cornhuskers’ offense put together their best drive of the game. Freshman running back Rahmir Johnson found the end zone for Nebraska’s first touchdown of the day. After missing the extra point the Gophers lead would be 14-9.

Redshirt-senior wide receiver Chris Autman-Bell capped off an explosive first half for himself and the Gophers’ offense with a spectacular seven-yard touchdown grab in the back corner of the end zone.

The duo of Autman-Bell and Morgan was effective early and often, resulting in the 6-foot-1-inch wide receiver reeling in nine catches for 100 yards in the first half alone.

“Everybody wrote him [Morgan] off,” said Fleck. “He’s gutsy, he’s gritty, he’s been through a lot in his life and the more you’ve been through the better you’re from me, because you know what you’re going to get.”

Out of the locker room, it was not as smooth for the Gophers. Tanner Morgan’s program-best 16 straight completion streak was ended by an interception. Nebraska failed to take advantage with a punt, but on Morgan’s next pass it would fall in the hands of the Cornhuskers once again.

Nebraska found the end for the first points of the second half on the second touchdown of the day from Johnson.

After punting the ball back to the Cornhuskers, a crucial Nebraska fourth and goal from Minnesota’s one-yard line shortly after got stuffed by the Gophers’ defensive line, as they completely regained momentum.

“We had to go down there and bull up,” said senior linebacker Jack Gibbens. “That was an awesome play.”

The Gophers’ offense failed to get going with four straight punts, but after pinning Nebraska deep in its own territory another big play from the Gophers’ defensive line resulted in a safety giving Minnesota a 23-16 lead.

Redshirt-junior running back Bryce Williams broke free for a 56-yard touchdown on the following drive, virtually sealing the game for the Gophers.

“When it came down to who I trusted, and who has done it, 21 [Williams],” Fleck said.

A tale of two halves was the story for Minnesota. After a dominant showing from the passing game in the first half, big plays from the defensive line proved crucial in the Gophers coming out on top.

Minnesota will face off against Maryland next week at home on Saturday, Oct. 23.

The injury bug continues to hit the Gophers’ running back group. Head coach P.J. Fleck opened his press conference Monday saying that he doesn’t respect redshirt-sophomore running back Trey Potts to return in 2021.

“Do I expect them to play the rest of the year? No. And I’m not going to get into the extent of his injury, just like our other players, that’s up for him and his family to be able to talk about,” Fleck said.

Potts exited the Gophers week five contest with Purdue and was immediately rushed to a local hospital. The extent or specifics of his injury have not been released, but he would not get discharged from the hospital until Oct. 8, six days after the game.

“He’s out of the hospital, he’s back in Minnesota and he’s back here. And you know it’s unfortunate what happened, and really scary what happened,” Fleck said. “But he exited in the fourth quarter, and was immediately observed by our medical team, who went through their proper steps and then obviously went to the tent and then went to the hospital and then they took them from there. But he is doing very well and again back in Minnesota.”

After longtime starter Mohamed Ibrahim underwent season-ending surgery earlier this season, Potts has stepped up in his absence. Leading the team with 552 rushing yards and six touchdowns, he has been one of the Gophers most effective players this season.

“We talk about these players as football players is one thing but when you’re talking about them as people, right, that’s what ultimately matters,” Fleck said. “So I appreciate everybody’s concern. I know him and his family do as well.”

The Gophers will now look to an in-experienced group to fill Potts’ role at the position. Talented freshman Bucky Irving will likely take on the biggest role, while redshirt-freshman Ky Thomas, redshirt junior Bryce Williams and redshirt sophomore Cam Wiley will all likely be involved.

The Minnesota Golden Gophers found great success against Colorado Saturday, out-gaining the Buffaloes 443-63 in total offense en-route to a 30-0 victory.

The Gophers’ defense started out fast, holding Colorado to zero yards of total offense in the first quarter. The Gophers best chance of scoring in the quarter came when kicker Matthew Trickett missed a 24 yard field goal on their opening offensive drive, but there were ultimately no points to show for the clinical first quarter, ending 0-0 after 15 minutes of play.

Redshirt-sophomore running back Trey Potts opened up the game’s scoring when he capped off an eight-play, 82 yard drive with a 13 yard touchdown to begin the second quarter. A missed Trickett extra point gave the Gophers’ a 6-0 lead.

It continued to be tough sledding for Colorado, as the Minnesota defense continued to make plays. Senior defensive lineman Thomas Rush recorded his first sack of the season, forcing the Buffaloes to punt the ball away.

After a deep 39 yard pass to redshirt-sophomore wide receiver Dylan Wright, Trey Potts added another touchdown in the Gophers’ favor extending their lead to 13-0.

It continued to be a defensive battle, as the first half closed out with no more points scored, and Minnesota took its 13-0 lead into the locker room.

As the third quarter began, it looked like it would be another slow second half for the Gophers after Matthew Trickett missed his second field goal of the day on the team’s first offensive drive of the half.

After exchanging punts back and forth, a forced fumble from graduate-senior Jack Gibbens on the following Colorado drive, led to the Gophers regaining momentum.

Trey Potts was spelled by true-freshman running back Bucky Irving on the proceeding drive and for much of the game, but it was Potts who added his third touchdown of the day growing Minnesota’s lead to 20-0.

The fourth quarter saw the Gophers’ offensive line continue to perform at a high level giving the team’s skill position players every opportunity to make plays. A made field goal from Matthew Trickett and redshirt-freshman running back Ky Thomas’ first career touchdown resulted in a 30-0 Gophers victory.

Redshirt-senior wide receiver Chris Autman-Bell led the team with four catches and 79 receiving yards in his first game of the season back from injury. Trey Potts performed very well for the second consecutive game, totaling 26 carries for 121 yards and three touchdowns.
Minnesota now extends its non-conference winning streak to a nation’s-best 21 games, as it moves to 2-1 on the season.

The Gophers will have their final non-conference test next week, as they welcome Bowling Green to Huntington Bank Stadium in the team’s annual Homecoming game, kicking-off at 11:00 a.m. local time.

After winning an NCAA title in March and then a gold medal in August at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Gable Steveson will now join professional wrestling’s top organization while still defending his NCAA title.

“Childhood dream accomplished,” Steveson tweeted Thursday. “I have officially signed with the @WWE!!! Thank you for the opportunity!! LETS WORK.” He also tweeted, “Dear @GopherWrestling, I’m Back!”

2021 was the year of Gable Steveson. His pair of individual championships made him one of the most sought after free agents in combat sports history. From professional MMA to pro football, everyone was looking to sign him. Steveson considered every avenue, but ultimately chose professional wrestling and WWE.

Steveson, an Apple Valley, Minn. native continues to make history, as he will become the first to compete at the collegiate wrestling level while having a deal in place with WWE. The recently introduced NIL laws presented Steveson with this historic opportunity.

According to an ESPN story, after Gable Steveson graduates next spring, his multiyear talent contract with WWE will begin. Steveson can prepare for his professional debut at a remote training facility near the University of Minnesota campus where he can work with WWE coaches, or the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Fla., where his older brother, Bobby Steveson, trains, ESPN said.

He will likely be the favorite to take home the NCAA Championship in the heavyweight division once again. He will be looking to become the first in Gophers program history to win back to back crowns since Tony Nelson did in 2012-13.

Redshirt senior diver Sarah Bacon swept both of the springboard diving events to claim her third and fourth career NCAA titles, and junior swimmer Max McHugh joined Bacon by sweeping 100- and 200-meter breaststroke events to earn two national championships of his own. Following the historic success, longtime Gophers’ coach Terry Ganley announced her retirement on March 29, after 44 seasons.

Ganley, a Minneapolis native, began her career with the Gophers as a freshman swimmer in fall 1973 and has remained on campus since then. Following her successful career as a student-athlete where she won multiple Big Ten titles, she began her coaching career under her college coach, Jean Freeman.

“It was the very beginning of respect or value of women’s athletics,” Ganley said. “I had no idea at that time that we would get to a place where we have an opportunity for women that we do now.”

Ganley and Freeman led Gophers women’s swimming to nine second-place finishes in the Big Ten conference between 1984 and 1998. They broke through in 1999, winning their first conference title and repeating the following season. During the same period, Ganley coached Gretchen Hegener to the 1997 national title in the 100 breaststroke – the program’s first NCAA swimming champion.

“Gretchen was a local young athlete, and she came to Minnesota with very little competitive background,” Ganley said. “When you got a local Minnesota athlete that performs on the national stage, wins the NCAA championship and sets an American record, obviously I guess that stands out.”

Ganley was named interim head coach following Freeman’s 2004 retirement. Ganley and current men’s head coach Kelly Kremer were then named co-head coaches of the women’s team; the men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs merged in 2011, and Kremer was named the head coach, while Ganley continued in her role as women’s head coach. She later entered her current role as women’s and men’s senior associate head coach.

The program then entered a period of unrivaled success, winning four consecutive Big Ten championships from 2012 to 2015. Ganley was involved in developing three NCAA champions during that time, Jillian Tyler, Haley Spencer and Kierra Smith. Ganley ended her career like she started: coaching national champions. She guided McHugh’s development; McHugh won the NCAA title in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes in March and became the first men’s NCAA swimming champion in 57 years.

“I would say [Ganley] is the most caring coaching that I have ever had,” McHugh said. “She cared for me more as a person than as a swimmer. That was evident every day in practice.”

In last month’s championships, McHugh became the first swimmer in the Minnesota swimming and diving program’s history to earn two titles in one NCAA championships event. The junior Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, native finished the 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:49.02, marking the fifth-fastest time in history.

McHugh’s time also broke his own program record.

“I see my name on the board, and there is that initial excitement,” McHugh said. “But I think I kinda realized it on the plane ride back. I realized that it was the end of my season and a good way to cap it off.”

Bacon capped off her historic collegiate career with her first career NCAA title in the three-meter springboard and her third career title in the one-meter springboard. The Indianapolis, Indiana, native will join McHugh as two of the greatest to ever don the Maroon and Gold.

“I hope that I have helped build the foundation for a program that will continue to educate young men and women and really provide them with skills needed for success in life beyond competitive swimming and diving,” Ganley said.

In early October, the University of Minnesota’s athletics department announced its plans to cut the men’s tennis program and two other sports following the 2021 season; this gave the team one last season representing the Maroon and Gold.

Nobody could have predicted the impact that COVID-19 has had on the Gophers’ athletics department. Men’s tennis has been hit especially hard after ending its 2020 campaign early, on top of now facing the reality of it being the program’s last season.

“It’s been really tough; it’s still really tough. It was a big shock in the beginning, and I think it was a big distraction in the beginning,” senior Jackson Allen said. “With COVID, you can’t have more than 20-40 people at the match, so it really sucks because there are a lot of people that want to come watch with it being the last season but can’t. It’s kinda a double whammy.”

Allen and the rest of the team have overcome the multitude of uncontrollable circumstances, and they’re beginning to find their rhythm. After dropping three of their first four matches, the Gophers have found themselves in the win column in five of their last seven.

“I remember walking off the court after the first match thinking, ‘Oh no, I hope this isn’t going to be a long season,’” Allen said. “The team has really stuck together in tough circumstances and just kind of put our heads down and taken it one day at a time.”

With the Big Ten Tournament opening the Gophers’ postseason play on April 29, they have less than a month to make their final adjustments for the home stretch of the season. They currently find themselves in second place within the conference’s West Division and fourth place overall with a 7-5 record.

“We need to keep doing well in the doubles point, we have been mixing around pairings, and we just need to figure that out,” Allen said. “We’re pretty tough in singles, so it would be pretty hard for any team to win four out of the six singles matches against us.”

The Gophers are beginning to do just that, as senior Vlad Lobak and sophomore Siim Troost rank as the ninth-best doubles pair in the country, according to ITA’s weekly rankings. The duo’s 10-2 record on the season puts them in a position to make some serious noise in the postseason.

With nine total players on the roster, five who grew up outside of the country and five who are underclassmen, Allen, a Shakopee, Minnesota native has taken it upon himself to be one of the team’s leaders.

“These guys are 20 years old, and most of them are from a different country and not near family,” Allen said. “A lot of them have picked their new schools already, so this has just been a lot about trying to enjoy our time together. It’s been important to bring the group together and cherish these last few weeks, [as] opposed to letting them slip by and regretting it for the rest of our lives.”

Second baseman Zack Raabe has been the Gophers baseball team’s most lethal hitter this season; in 40 plate appearances the junior infielder has slashed .484 from the plate with 15 hits, highlighted by four home runs.

A Forest Lake, Minnesota native, Raabe entered his junior season with serious expectations. Through 17 games last season he led the entire country with 31 hits, garnering him a spot on this year’s preseason second-team All-American list.

“There is pressure with everything, pressure is what you make of it,” Raabe said. “My dad talks to me about it all the time.”

Raabe’s dad might be quite recognizable to some Gophers baseball fans. His father Brian Raabe earned All-America honors during his career as a Minnesota infielder in the 1980s. After a successful professional career following his time with the Gophers, Brian has now built Bethel University’s baseball program into a Division III powerhouse as its head coach.

While many people were stuck inside in the early stages of the ongoing pandemic, Zack was able to still consistently work out with his father in his hometown of Forest Lake. His hard work in the offseason has paid off with a remarkable 1.032 slugging percentage and .600 on-base-percentage.

“[Raabe] is a leader. They follow along with him, they learn a lot from him, he’s helped a lot of the younger players,” Gophers head coach John Anderson said. “Zack has picked [up] right where he left off last season.”

The rest of the Gophers’ roster has struggled to find a rhythm from the plate in 2021. Outside of Raabe, Boston Merila is the only player with a batting average above .250, but he has only faced 16 at bats and 17 total plate appearances.

The production gap is significant across the board, as Raabe has 15 more total bases than the next closest player on the roster.

There have been problems with Minnesota’s consistency on the pitching mound through 11 games, but its inability to generate runs has certainly not lightened the load on the pitching staff.

Heading into the Gophers four-game weekend series with Nebraska, offensive production from players not named Zack Raabe could go a long way for Minnesota to pull its way out of a 3-8 start to the season.