sports take | Wild's Weird Start, Manager Nick Punto (?) + College Football's Out of Control
10.16.25
BACK IN HIGH GEAR — Tough tests for the Gophers in football and hockey. Tougher test for the Vikings against the Super Bowl-champion Eagles. The Wild head east looking for some consistency and the Timberwolves head west to open their season. Plus, Rocco Baldelli finally speaks, a hissing match over youth sports and big-time college football makes it even more obvious that college barely matters. Time to get after it. Let’s go! — Howard Sinker
BIG GAMES ARE BACK! Here are six things to power you through the next week.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: Gophers football vs. Nebraska at Huntington Bank Stadium. The 25th-ranked Cornhuskers are 5-1 (Michigan is their only loss) and imagining an 11-1 season. No Ohio State, Oregon or Indiana on their schedule. Added drama: Coach Matt Rhule has Penn State ties and has front-runner status for that job. (7 p.m. FOX).
THE CHAMP IS HERE: Vikings return from their bye week and London/Dublin trip to play the Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia on Sunday . The Eagles are annoyed, having lost to Broncos and Giants after a 4-0 start. The Vikings still have their quarterback question to solve. (Noon, FOX).
NO. 2 VS. NO. 3: Gophers women’s hockey vs. Ohio State at Ridder Arena. Buckeyes are 4-0 and ranked second. Gophers are 6-0 and ranked third after sweeping No. 10 St. Cloud State. (2 p.m. Saturday on BIG+ and 2 p.m. Sunday on FOX9+).
HOCKEY BORDER BATTLE: Gophers men’s hockey vs. North Dakota in Grand Forks. The rankings aren’t as high as on the women’s side. The No. 8 Fighting Hawks are 2-0 after sweeping St. Thomas and No. 12 Minnesota is 1-2-1. But tickets are pricey on the aftermarket. If you’re thinking of going, you weren’t getting into the lower bowl for less than $160 as of Thursday morning. (7 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Sunday on FOX9+ and Midco Sports)
FOUR ON THE ROAD: After four wildly different games to open the season, the Wild heads east for a four-game swing — Washington on Friday, Philadelphia on Saturday, Rangers on Monday and Devils on Wednesday. Will they find some consistency, of the good kind? (All games 6 p.m. on FDSN.)
WOLVES OPENER: Wednesday at Portland. The Trail Blazers are a borderline playoff team in ESPN’s 2025-26 season simulation. (9 p.m., FDSN).
ALSO WORTH NOTING: The Loons finish their regular season on Saturday at the L.A. Galaxy (8 p.m., Apple TV), after which we’ll know their first-round MLS playoff opponent. They can finish anywhere from second to fourth in the Western Conference depending on Saturday’s match outcomes. Playoffs start a week from Friday. State high school tournaments begin next week with boys’ and girls’ soccer and girls’ tennis. SCHEDULES.
WILD’S WEIRD START: Their first four games featured a shutout, yielding seven goals in the next game (while scoring four on the power play), winning in a shootout after blowing a three-goal lead and losing at Dallas — a 5-2 final after a frantic comeback try brought the Wild from 3-0 to 3-2 until the Stars scored two empty-net goals. Four games, four different looks.
THE WEIRDEST THING: Via Michael Russo at The Athletic. The Wild hasn’t scored an even-strength goal since opening night while scoring their last nine on power plays. Scoring nine straight power-play goals is tied for the third longest streak in the NHL in the last 92 years. At Dallas, coach John Hynes separated first-liners Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy in hopes of firing up the offense. Didn’t work. It’s cause for concern, but not panic. VERBATIM: “I think we’re not executing as well as we could be,” defenseman Jake Middleton said after Tuesday’s loss. “I know it’s early in the year, and we do have to find that quicker than now, but it’s one of those things where we’re trying. . . . The work ethic’s there. I think we’ve just got to start executing and the tide will change for us.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/wild1016
THE KID CONUNDRUM: Via Tony Abbott at Hockey Wilderness. The Wild has a core of established veterans that’s done pretty well. But pretty well doesn’t get a team into the elite spaces of the NHL where the Wild want to be. That’s why Coach John Hynes is looking for the right combination of experience and youth. VERBATIM: “It’s the age-old NHL coaching conundrum: Ceiling vs. Floor. Minnesota has been the ultimate Floor Team for its entire existence, and recent years have been no exception. Even in a relatively disastrous 2023-24 season, the Wild finished with a 39-34-9 record. Despite crushing salary cap penalties, they rarely have serious issues making the playoffs, and the core of the team has been remarkably intact over the past half-decade. However, they haven’t had a ceiling. Or, rather, that ceiling was built between the first and second rounds of the playoffs. That’s what needs to change, and that’s why building is required.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/kids1016
GET WELL: Via Associated Press. Chicago’s Nick Foligno, the older brother of Wild forward Marcus Foligno, is taking time away from his team to be with his 12-year-old daughter, who is about to have surgery for a congenital heart issue. MORE: https://fluence-media.co/foligno1016
McCARTHY’S ANKLE NOT HEALED: Via Andrew Krammer at Star Tribune. J.J. McCarthy dropped some fresh news on his recovery from the ankle sprain he suffered against Atlanta during the second game of the season. BIG NEWS: Ankle isn’t 100%. FRESH NEWS: A timeline that hadn’t been previously disclosed. VERBATIM: “He revealed he was given recovery timelines of up to six weeks from ‘a lot of well-respected second opinions.’ He’s about 4½ weeks removed from the Sept. 14 injury. His reps were limited on Wednesday, when he practiced for just the second time since his last start. ‘We’re still in that [six-week] range,’ McCarthy said. ‘It’s an unfortunate, really annoying injury.’ “ IN OTHER WORDS: Expect Carson Wentz to start on Sunday vs. the team that drafted him. MORE: https://fluence-media.co/jj1016
TROUBLE WITH THE RUN: Via Matthew Coller at Purple Insider. The Vikings rank only 21st against the run this season and, according to Pro Football Focus data, are the 23rd ranked tackling team — a steep drop from being fifth last season. Defensive coordinator Brian Flores went deep on what hasn’t gone well. VERBATIM: “That’s a spot where we certainly need some improvement. First person I look at is myself. What can we do to put them players in better positions? Whether it’s calls, fronts, coverages, disguise, maybe it’s too much of this, too much of that. I think generally they’re the same things: it’s fundamentals, it’s tackling, it’s getting off blocks, it’s setting edges, it’s you know things right in that kind of realm. . . . It’s not the flashy stuff — there’s nothing flashy about it, it’s really the non-sexy things that we just need to do better a better job of.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/defense1016
FOUR THINGS TO IMPROVE. Via Ben Goessling’s Access Vikings newsletter. One of them is getting the ball more often to Justin Jefferson. That’s what Wentz did in the fourth quarter when the Vikings rallied past Cleveland. VERBATIM: “Jefferson has now played with eight different quarterbacks in Minnesota, including six — Jaren Hall, Joshua Dobbs, Nick Mullens, Sam Darnold, McCarthy and Wentz — since Kirk Cousins tore his Achilles tendon in October 2023. His message to all of them is the same: trust yourself, and trust me to come down with the ball.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/improve1016
VIKINGS (3-2) VS. EAGLES (4-2): Noon Sunday kickoff on FOX and the Vikings Audio Network. Vikings depth chart | Real-time betting info, match-ups | Eagles web site
NICK PUNTO, TWINS MANAGER? Via Dan Hayes and Dennis Lin at The Athletic. You want a guy who does baseball the right way, except for his trademark head-first slides into first base, to mange the Twins? Then maybe you want Nick Punto. VERBATIM: “Multiple team sources confirmed to The Athletic on Wednesday that the Twins were granted permission by the San Diego Padres to interview Punto, who returned to the big leagues during the 2025 season as a coach. . . . During a 14-year big-league career that ended in 2014, Punto embodied a gritty style of play the Twins are seeking as they look to fill their vacant managerial seat. Punto’s style was so relentless during a seven-season stint with the Twins from 2004-2010 that Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen labeled him as a leader of a group of “piranhas” who needled his club successfully with small-ball tactics.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/punto1016
MORE CANDIDATES: Both Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press are reporting that the Twins have plans to interview Yankees hitting coach James Rowson, fired Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton and Red Sox bench coach Ramon Vazquez. Rowson and Shelton were coaching with the Twins under Baldelli before taking new jobs. Local media attributed the story to the New York Post, which had the information first. POST STORY: https://fluence-media.co/manager1016
ROCCO SPEAKS: Via Dan Hayes at The Athletic. It took more than two weeks after his firing to hear from him, but ex-Twins manager Rocco Baldelli finally talked publicly about being let do. He said much of his time has been spent looking for landing spots for Twins coaches, who are currently uncertain about their futures. Baldelli doesn’t need to rush into anything because he will be paid by the Twins through the 2026 season. VERBATIM: “ ‘I knew the reality of the situation,’ Baldelli said. ‘I knew it was a possibility. I’m good. Was it a difficult period? Of course. Nobody wants to get fired. But I feel good.’ In the days after he was let go, Baldelli heard from many in his baseball community, which uplifted his spirits. Potential jobs were discussed and doors for the future were opened, giving him confidence he’ll find a spot for 2026.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/rocco1016
STORY TIME: I covered two Twins manager firings and both times, we were able to hear from the fired manager within hours of the news. When Billy Gardner was fired in 1985, Patrick Reusse (who was still at the Pioneer Press) and I went to the Super 8 motel in Roseville where Gardner lived during the season. A year later, Pioneer Press baseball writer Gregg Wong and I went to fired manager Ray Miller’s Loring Park high-rise for his “exit interview.” Gardner was amusing; Miller was angry.
THE FIRING OF ALL FIRINGS (THIS MONTH, ANYWAY): There was growing dissatisfaction with former Penn State coach James Franklin for getting his team to the verge of greatness, only to keep falling short. But firing Franklin this week boiled down to this: Following a loss to Oregon (understandable) with defeats by then-winless UCLA and Big Ten-weakling Northwestern. The firing comes with a $45 to $50 million buyout, not to mention the costs associated with paying off assistants and throwing another truckload of money at Franklin’s replacement. It’s another example of how major sports programs are often attached to their colleges in name only. The U did that last summer, giving P.J. Fleck a contract extension and raise against the backdrop of an athletic department revenue shortfall. You can’t even make the argument any more that thriving sports programs attract donors who help the entire school, because that money is now sought to pay players.
HONEST AND TROUBLESOME: Via Kaleb Henry at Sports Illustrated. The disconnect between college and college sports was crystallized by Nebraska coach Matt Rhule when he was asked about what his team, which plays Minnesota on Friday, needs from his school to restore the program as a national power. VERBATIM: “The thing I’ve always said, we have to be unabashed. You can’t always worry about the optics of everything. It’s a really hard time in higher education; there’s cuts. There’s all these different things. But athletics here are a separate entity. We’re not taking money from the university.”
REBUKING HIS BOSS? That comment contradicts what Nebraska’s athletic director, Troy Dannen, said two months ago when asked about stadium renovations. VERBATIM: “We’re not going to take anything to the board for their approval, and I don’t know when we will. The time is not now. In the midst of what I would almost level some degree of crisis on campus. Now is not the time to debut a big capital project.” FULL STORY: https://fluence-media.co/nebraska1016
CONNECT THE DOTS: Penn State has a $700 million stadium renovation in progress. Rhule grew up in State College, Pa., played for Penn State and worked with current AD Pat Kraft when they dramatically improved the football program at Temple. Rhule is trying not to sound like he’s interested in Franklin’s old job. Are you skeptical, too?
CALLING BS: Via Stewart Mandel at The Athletic. VERBATIM: “If you watched college football on Saturday, you saw yet another set of misleading political ads urging you to call your local congressman and tell them to SAVE COLLEGE SPORTS! The latest ones give the impression that women’s and Olympic sports are in trouble because having to pay athletes a salary is going to bankrupt their schools. . . . These schools aren’t broke. They’re just wildly irresponsible spenders.” READ ON: https://fluence-media.co/spending1016
BACK ON THE FIELD: Via Chip Scoggins at Star Tribune. The Gophers didn’t beat Purdue as much as the Boilermakers imploded upon themselves. Four turnovers and dropped passes contributed to their demise as much as the Koi Perich interception return for a touchdown that gave Minnesota the 27-20 win. VERBATIM: “The Gophers won despite being outrushed 253-30 by one of the worst rushing offenses in major college football. That seems almost impossible, but it happened. . . . Fleck’s declaration that he has a ‘really good team’ will be determined by what happens in this four-game stretch: Purdue, Nebraska, at Iowa, Michigan State. This stretch will define their season. A good team wins three of those games, minimum. MORE: https://fluence-media.co/gophers1016
GOPHERS DIDN’T WANT HUSKERS STAR: Via Andy Greder at Pioneer Press. The Gophers didn’t offer Emmett Johnson of Holy Angels a scholarship even though he was named Minnesota’s Mr. Football in 2021. Now he’s among the elite running backs in the Big Ten. Johnson leads the conference in carries, is second in rushing yards and is tied for fifth in touchdowns. VERBATIM: “Before this season, Johnson joined a roundtable of Cornhuskers players on CBS Sports and shared: ‘I wanted to go to Minnesota out of high school. But I didn’t get an offer from them. So that is more motivation for me.’ One of his teammates noted the Gophers were on Nebraska’s schedule this season. ‘Oct. 17,’ Johnson immediately replied, drawing laughter from his teammates. MORE: https://fluence-media.co/huskers1016
GOPHERS (4-2) VS. NEBRASKA (5-1): 7 p.m. Friday kickoff on FOX, KFAN and the Gophers Radio Network. Gophers depth chart | Real-time betting info, match-ups | Nebraska web site
GUIDE TO THE WOLVES: The season starts Wednesday at Portland here’s some reading to get you ready.
CHANGING THEIR STYLE: Via Chris Hine’s Wolves Weekly newsletter. The Timberwolves are committed to running more often and playing better transition basketball, an area in which they were among the worst in the NBA last season. It won’t be easy and at times it will look rocky. If you want a model, their goal is to be more like the Indiana Pacers, who are here for the home opener a week from Saturday.
VERBATIM: “Committing to playing that way in training camp is one thing. But maintaining that commitment even when it might not be going smoothly during the season is another. . . . To help guide them through his process, the Wolves will break down their miscues into good and bad turnovers when looking at them on film. An example of a good turnover is trying find a teammate at the rim in transition, but maybe the pass is just off the mark and goes out of bounds. ‘Not every turnover is the same,’ coach Chris Finch said. ‘Some turnovers, I treat them as 50% shots. If I’m trying to hit ahead in transition and it just goes out off the guy’s hands, goes out of bounds, yeah, it’s a turnover. But if I complete that play, it’s probably a layup. So those are the type of turnovers you can live with. It’s the silly ones or just the tragically poor decision-making that you absolutely have to get away from.’ “ MORE: https://fluence-media.co/transition1016
FIVE OF THE TOP 100: Via The Ringer. The Wolves have five players ranked by the website among the league’s 100 best players. Anthony Edwards in fifth, Rudy Gobert is 47th, Julius Randle is 48th, Jaden McDaniels is 58th and Naz Reid is 74th. The most interesting analysis is about Gobert. VERBATIM: “Will his game age gracefully? . . . In an era defined by pace and space, the aging curves of elite big men can be cruel AF. Gobert is 33. He’s been one of the league’s most impactful defenders and rebounders for a decade now, but it’s fair to ask whether his game is built to last, especially considering his offensive limitations. He remains the most important defender on Minnesota, but after watching the young fellas from OKC wipe the floor with that defense in the Western finals, I’m left wondering whether a defense led by an aging Gobert can get over the hump.” RANKINGS: https://fluence-media.co/rankings1016
LEADING MEN: Via Ben Rohrbach at Yahoo! Sports. Who are the best No. 1 options in the league. Anthony Edwards moved up from No. 8 last year to No. 5 on this year’s list. VERBATIM: “Edwards is a three-time All-Star at only 24 years old and has at least another leap left in him. One will happen eventually. And why shouldn’t it happen this season? He averaged a career-high 27.6 points per game last season on personal-best efficiency, shooting 40% on 10.3 attempts a night from 3-point range. Only Stephen Curry and James Harden have made more triples in a season than Edwards did in 2024-25. . . . There is a world where he averages north of 30 points per game and plays his way into a more serious MVP conversation, where he has finished seventh each of the past two years.” RANKINGS: https://fluence-media.co/edwards1016
BIG THREES: Via Tim Bontemps at ESPN. The Wolves are ranked in the Top 10 when it comes to the performance of their top three players. ESPN replaced Rudy Gobert with Julius Randle as a “top three” member, along with holdovers Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels. VERBATIM: “After advancing out of the first round of the playoffs once in its first 34 years of existence, Minnesota has now done so in back-to-back seasons, reaching the Western Conference finals before losing to the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder, respectively. The question now is how Minnesota will find a way to advance further -- especially with the Thunder looming over the West moving forward. The answer will begin with continued improvement from Edwards and McDaniels. Randle moves into the core after inking a long-term extension with the franchise this offseason. RANKINGS: https://fluence-media.co/threes
NEW TV VOICE: Via Audacy. Veteran college coach Tom Crean, who coached Anthony Edwards during the one season he played at Georgia, will be a pregame and postgame analyst for Wolves games on TV this season. VERBATIM: “FanDuel Sports Network announced Wednesday that Crean will split those duties with Rebekkah Brunson, a current assistant coach and former star player in the WNBA for the Minnesota Lynx.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/crean1016
WOLVES SWAG SATURDAY: Falling Knife Brewing in northeast Minneapolis is holding WolvesFest 2025 from 3 to 9 p.m. Saturday. Hosted by podcaster Dane Moore — the center on my son’s fifth-grade travel team in the 20th Century — there will be a live podcast, flash tattoos and free Wolves posters by Minneapolis artist Adam Johnson, who will also be selling 18 by 24 double-sided signs for $5. DETAILS: https://fluence-media.co/wolvesfest1016
YOUTH FOOTBALL DEBATE: Via Joe Christensen at Strib Varsity. Former Gophers assistant coach Mike Sherels is convinced Minnesota doesn’t have more top-level high school football players because almost every youth association in the state puts together teams of equal talent rather than creating A, B and C teams. He thinks the programs have “kind of gotten away from development.” But the associations say participation is their priority. Their side has an ally in Maple Grove coach Adam Spurell, whose teams have won two out of the last three Class 6A Prep Bowls. VERBATIM: “Simply because in football, it is truly a numbers sport. And we’ve had our best numbers in probably about 20-some years.” Maple Grove’s youth program produced 72 freshman football players this year and 68 sophomores. “I do think part of it is the fact that we’re not making an A and B team,” Spurrell said. “Everybody gets to play on the team and be a Crimson, and I think that is to our advantage.” MORE: https://fluence-media.co/wolvesfest1016
CRIMSON KEEP WINNING: No. 1-ranked Maple Grove finished an 8-0 regular season and ran its two-year winning streak to 21 with a 30-14 victory over No. 5 Minnetonka on Wednesday. All of this year’s wins have been by double-digits.
STATE FOOTBALL BRACKETS: They’re being posted starting today. Section play begins Tuesday and Class 6A playoffs open a week from Friday. BRACKETS: https://fluence-media.co/brackets1016
COMMITTED: Vienna Murray of East Ridge, the No. 3 or 4 ranked girls’ basketball player in the state (depending on your source), has committed to Oklahoma. At No. 91, the 6-foot-1 guard is one of four Minnesota players in the Class of 2026 ranked in the Top 100 nationally. LIST: https://fluence-media.co/girlsbb1016
WATCHING THE NBA? IT’S COMPLICATED: In order to watch the Timberwolves and as many local and network NBA games as you’ll want this season, you’ll need to have access to ABC, NBC, ESPN, NBA TV, Prime Video, Peacock and Prime Video. CHANNEL FLIPPING: The first five games of the Wolves season are the opener in Portland on FDSN, a week from Friday vs. the Lakers on Prime Video, a week from Sunday vs. the Pacers on FDSN, Oct. 27 vs. Denver on Peacock and Oct. vs. the Lakers on ESPN and FDSN. That’s a lot to remember.
HUH? Here’s how to figure out what’s where in the basketball TV and streaming ecosystem. ESPN sorts out what networks have which national games. The Timberwolves schedule page includes which network is carrying each game. And ESPN’s “Where to Watch” almost everything page lists every game, including those on NBA League Pass.
WATCH THIS, TOO: Via Neal Justin at Star Tribune. That nerdy looking photographer taking picture at a flag football game at the West St. Paul Dome. He called himself “Darius Frost” and said he was a nature photographer who wanted to learn about the sport. It was really . . . Justin Jefferson starring in an episode of “Eli Manning Presents: The Undercovers.” The episode starts streaming tonight on Amazon Prime. In addition to working the sidelines, Jefferson has a phone check-in with Manning’s daughter. The subject? Teaching “Frost” how to do the Griddy. STORY: https://fluence-media.co/undercovers1016
THANKS FOR READING. More mayhem next week.
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