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The Standard Bet Update

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Wondering how my Standard Bet with my old man is going? Well, ten of fourteen eighteen possible championship outcomes have been eliminated following the elimination of Wisconsin and Michigan State yesterday. Has the probability of me adding a case of beer to my account improved? Not really.

Ryan Santoso Named a Lou Groza Award Semifinalist!

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Gopher sophomore kicker Ryan Santoso was named one of 20 semifinalists for the Lou Groza Award, which given to the best kicker in the NCAA each season. Santoso is the only Big Ten kicker named a semifinalist. Santoso is a perfect 17-17 on extra points this season and has made 14-of-17 (82.4 percent) of his field goals this year. Santoso is 9-or-9 from inside of 39 yards, 4-of-6 from 40-49 yards and 1-2 from 50 yards or longer. Semifinalists will be voted on by FBS Head Coaches and SIDs, a panel of kicking experts including all previous Groza finalists, and national and regional football writers to select the three finalists. These finalists will be announced on November 24 and honored at the 24th annual Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Awards Banquet on Dec. 7 in West Palm Beach, Fla. The winner will be announced live on ESPN at the Home Depot College Football Awards Show on Thursday, Dec. 10. Good luck to Ryan!

Minnesota opens as 23 point underdogs to Ohio State

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I'm sure this spread is large enough to get people talking. Me? I'm more like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Schierhorn and Brodzinski Named B1G 1st and 2nd Stars of Week!

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Gopher freshman goalie Eric Schierhorn was named the Big Ten's #1 Star of the Week after leading Minnesota to a weekend sweep of Northeastern. Schierhorn shut out the Huskies on Friday night to achieve his first collegiate win, and the Gophers first win on the season. He came back Saturday and backstopped the Gophers to a 4-3 win. He led all Big Ten goalies on the weekend with a .941 save percentage, and a 1.50 goals against average. Brodzinski was named the #2 start after recording four points to lead all Big Ten defensemen on the weekend. He assisted on both game winning goals on the weekend, and added his first goal of the season on Saturday. He currently leads the Big Ten defensemen in points on the season with 5.

Big Ten Football: Week 5 S&P+ Vectors

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Link to Full Size Image. A couple words on process. First, the theoretical best team is a combination of the highest rated offense by S&P+ (Texas Tech) and the highest rated defense (Boston College). All teams are placed on the chart with the defensive rating serving as the basis for the x-axis and the offensive rating servince as the basis for the y-axis.

The vectors are calculated using the Pythagorean Theorem (A^2 + B^2 = C^2). The shorter the vector, the closer you are to being the "theoretical best team." Teams with shorter vectors are better than teams with longer vectors.

I've only included teams that matter to our Golden Gophers.

HALFTIME THOUGHTS: THIS. IS. NOT. FUN.

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These halftime thoughts are going to be more angst filled than normal.

- Special teams errors are so frustrating.

- Calling the playcalling today conservative would be polite. I think I get what they plan is...play close to the vest, rely on your defense to get it done, strike when the best opportunity presents itself. In other words, it's Kent State, Part Deux. The problem with this plan is that a single mistake (/waves at special teams) is enough to blow that plan up. That is why it works against Kent State and not against the Big Ten.

- Against the wind, I can see going full #RUTM and hoping for the best. I mean, I can't really see it but I'm being kind here. But with the wind the Gophers hung it up and said they were content to go to halftime with 5+ minutes left. NO.

- I'm ok with seeing Croft. If this season has proven anything it's that I'm not knee jerk reacting to the QB situation. And yet I just said I'm ok with playing the backup. If you trust Mitch so little today that your are going full #RUTM with the wind then play Croft. At least I can use the minions GIF more if he plays well.

Let's hope it gets better. GO GOPHERS!

HALFTIME THOUGHTS: Gophers lead 10-0.

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Quick off the cuff thoughts:

- Love the defense, as always.

- Mitch has 3 completely terrible throws today. Both interceptions should have been incompletions at worst and the missed 3rd down conversion where he thew behind the receiver were...ugh.

- Mitch isn't the sole reason the offense sucked though. The offensive line is a big problem. They are getting worked by KENT EFFING STATE far too often.

- Honestly, if the offensive line was healthy I would have been ok seeing a different QB at some point that half. This is the worst game of the year for Mitch IMO.

- Hooray for having the lead though.

Minnesota Volleyball wins in Straight Sets

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The Minnesota Golden Gopher Volleyball Team defeated Bryant University in their first game of the Charleston Invite. They play Same Houston State and the College of Charleston tomorrow. The Gophers have won 5 in a row to improve to 5-2 and have won the last 4 games (including today) all in straight sets. The Gohpers will open Big Ten play on Wednesday at Ohio State followed by Penn State next Saturday. The Big 10 home opener will be on Wednesday, September 30th against Northwestern. Go Gophers!

Chester A. Arthur - The Iowa Football Of Presidents

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From Every Day Should Be Saturday's Presidents Day post:

Chester A. Arthur. Didn't really try to do anything other than pay the bills. The well-considered punt of Presidents. IOWA

The real question is, did Chester ever say "That's politics" when his critics pointed out how poorly he managed his administration's policies and staff?

And yes, this was all just a shameless excuse to paste a terrible Herky hat onto a photo of Chester A. Arthur. What other reason do you need?