Posted by Adam Jacobi

So Minnesota hires Mark Mangino as a consultant, and the very first news out of Minneapolis just hours later? Wideout/kick return specialist Troy Stoudermire is suspended for "conduct detrimental to the team." Are the two events related? There's no telling as yet, so that just means we're going to have to speculate. And speculate recklessly, at that.

So we wonder: what exactly did Stoudermire do to get suspended indefinitely?

• Cracked a fusillade of fat jokes at Mangino
• Pulled a Dion Sims, but with the entire team's helmets
• Knowingly and willingly participated in the Gophers' 41-38 loss to South Dakota
• Liquid Heat in the jockstraps
• Printed Motivational Tourette's bingo cards for his teammates for use at team meetings
• Begged Lane Kiffin after USC's 32-21 win at Minnesota to "take me home with you"
• Refuses to open an account at TCF Bank, stadium name be damned

Posted by Chip Patterson

It may seem like an exaggeration, but the 1-2 Minnesota Golden Gophers have could be 3-0 right now.  If it weren't for USC's Robert Woods 97-yard kick return TD in the late third quarter or a few bad bounces against South Dakota, the Gophers would be feeling very different about their season.

But yet another sluggish start for Minnesota has the Golden Gophers looking for answers.  Reports have made it seem to look like they will be looking to a former coach and friend of the program to help with those answers.
 
It's been less than a year, but it appears that former Kansas head coach Mark Mangino is returning to college football.  According to a local report, Mangino has been hired by the University of Minnesota in a non-coaching role to assist current head coach Tim Brewster.  

KSTP Channel 5, an ABC affiliate in Minneapolis, is reporting that Mangino had been hired as a consultant to University of Minnesota football coach Tim Brewster.  

Several Minnesota media outlets reported over the weekend that Mangino was on the Gophers’ sideline during their loss to USC last Saturday.

On Wednesday afternoon, University of Minnesota officials refuted the report in response to an email sent by the Journal-World late Tuesday night.
Mangino, the 2007 Coach of the Year, left Kansas amidst allegations of verbal and physical player abuse.  The end of Mangino's era at Kansas were included some of the most successful in Jayhawks history.  In that 2007 season, Kansas was 12-1 and made their schools first BCS appearance ever in the Orange Bowl.  

The Jayhawks dominating defense was one the characteristics of Mangino's team, and if there a spot where he can help immediately at Minnesota it is on the defensive side of the ball.  The Golden Gophers are giving up an average 30.0 points per game so far this season, against a relatively soft schedule.  Brewster and Mangino should work well together, the two have been known as friends and have often spoken highly of each other.
  

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Posted by Adam Jacobi

Friends, keep an eye on the contest up in Minneapolis, because a major upset may be afoot. One week after dropping a home date against FCS cupcakes South Dakota, the Minnesota Golden Gophers momentarily took a 14-13 lead.

The go-ahead score came on a picture-perfect fade down the sideline from Adam Weber to wideout Da'Jon McKnight with 5:47 left in the third quarter.

The lead was short-lived, however, as USC's Robert Woods took the ensuing kickoff 97 yards. USC would go for two, since their first attempted 2-pointer went so well, and it too failed; so here we are, 19-14 USC, and the Trojans look awfully vulnerable.

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Posted by Adam Jacobi

With only a few minutes gone in the second quarter, the Minnesota Golden Gophers found themselves at USC's 42-yard line with a 4th and 2. The correct decision is to go for it in that scenario; Minnesota is not going to win this football game by completely shutting down the USC offense (as we'll see shortly), so any opportunity to maintain possession of the ball in USC territory would be enormously beneficial for Minnesota.

But since Tim Brewster is the head coach of Minnesota, Minnesota punted the ball anyway. And since Dan Orseske is Minnesota's punter, the punt only went to the 22-yard line, and the Trojans found themselves just 20 yards further away from the end zone than if Minnesota QB Adam Weber had spiked the ball on 4th down.

Sure enough, USC needed just two plays from scrimmage to get back to their own 42, both plays aided by poor tackling by Minnesota. Then, as if to drive the "this punt was stupid because Minnesota needs to at least try to score" point home with a railroad stake, USC QB Matt Barkley hit Ronald Johnson for a 57-yard touchdown to give USC their first lead of the game on the very next snap. Three plays. One touchdown. 13-7.

Outraged that Minnesota's errors in judgment were receiving all the attention of the day, Lane Kiffin had his charges attempt a two-point conversion--one that involved the questionably athletic Mitch Mustain trying to run the football--and it's 13-7 USC.

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Posted by Adam Jacobi

Here's the weather outlook for all of today's important matchups. Will the heat affect teams' gameplans in the southeast? All times are Eastern.

Noon kickoffs

No. 12 Arkansas at Georgia, 12:00, Athens, GA: Lower 80s, clear, hot

Maryland at No. 21 West Virginia, 12:00, Morgantown, WV: Upper 60s, clear

Afternoon kickoffs

No. 8 Nebraska at Washington, 3:30, Seattle, WA: Mid 60s, cloudy, scattered showers

No. 18 USC at Minnesota, 3:30, Minneapolis, MN: Mid 50s, partly cloudy

No. 10 Florida at Tennessee, 3:30, Knoxville, TN: Mid 80s, clear, hot

Evening kickoffs

Clemson at No. 16 Auburn, 7:00, Auburn, AL: Mid 80s, cloudy, slight chance of showers

No. 6 Texas at Texas Tech, 8:00, Lubbock, TX: Mid 80s, partly cloudy, windy

Late kickoffs

No. 9 Iowa at No. 24 Arizona, 10:30, Tucson, AZ: Lower 90s, breezy, hot

No. 23 Houston at UCLA, 10:30, Pasadena, CA: Upper 60s, clear

Wake Forest at No. 19 Stanford, 11:15, Palo Alto, CA: Lower 60s, clear

Posted by Tom Fornelli

We've already gone over some of the very unfortunate circumstances surrounding the Minnesota football program earlier today, but the Gophers' problems aren't limited to their collective health off the field.  While the importance of winning football games pales in comparison to the importance of Connor Cosgrove winning his fight against leukemia, it's still something Tim Brewster would like to do.

Which is what Brewster is supposedly in Minneapolis to do, but truth be told, he wouldn't mind seeing the school that just gave him a contract extension and built him a brand new stadium that cost nearly $300 million put a little more money into the football program.

Minnesota's athletic department "is spending enough money on football for me to win football games," Gophers coach Tim Brewster said Tuesday. But that doesn't mean he believes the football budget is large enough.

"We need to spend more money on football and basketball. That's a fact," Brewster said in response to a question about published reports that rank the Gophers last in the Big Ten in football spending. "I've talked at length to [athletic director Joel Maturi] about what we need to do to help take our football program forward. He understands we need to put more money into the football program. ... If we want to have championship success, we've got to get more involved with helping the football program."

While Brewster is correct in saying that if Minnesota ever wants to be a championship contender they're going to need to put more money into the program, I do believe the $288 million they spent on TCF Bank Stadium is a pretty nice start.  Also, maybe I'm crazy here, but if I'm Tim Brewster and my team is coming off a loss to South Dakota after narrowly escaping Middle Tennessee State, I don't know if I'm coming out talking about how I need more money.

Especially when it's pretty clear what Gophers fans think of me.

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Posted by Tom Fornelli

Here's some news that ought to put any anger Minnesota fans may have over last weekend's loss to South Dakota in perspective.  Freshman wide receiver Connor Cosgrove has been diagnosed with an acute form of leukemia.

"Connor is a special young guy," Brewster said. "He's got a hell of a battle in front of him, and we're going to help him get it done."

The 19-year-old freshman, an all-state high school player at Edgewood, Wis., spent last season at St. Cloud State but transferred to Minnesota this fall to be with his father. He hadn't been feeling well lately, Brewster said, so the team had him undergo a series of tests. "Unfortunately, they came back and showed he has an acute form of leukemia," Brewster said. "It's a difficult situation."

Cosgrove is the son of Minnesota co-defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove.

Obviously, this is terrible news for the Cosgroves and a Minnesota team that has already had to deal with personal tragedy this season.  Fullback Jon Hoese lost his father to a stroke only a week ago.

Kevin Cosgrove took Tuesday off from practice after learning of his son's diagnosis, but returned to practice on Wednesday and plans on calling the defensive plays this Saturday against USC.   Which is going to be a lot easier battle than the one his son is currently facing.

We wish Connor Cosgrove and his family all the best as they fight it.

Photo courtesy of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune

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Posted by Tom Fornelli

Even though he signed a contract extension at Minnesota after the 2009 season, Tim Brewster's status as head coach of the Golden Gophers isn't exactly set in stone.  In fact, if things keep going the way they are on this Saturday afternoon, you could probably say his status is set in Etch-a-Sketch, and South Dakota is ready to shake that thing clean.

The Gophers trail South Dakota 28-10 in the third quarter at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis even though the Gophers have held the ball longer (17:23 to 14:04).  The problem for Minnesota has been that the defense can't get off the field on third down, as the Coyotes are four for six on third down conversions.

The Coyotes have outgained the Gophers on offense by the tune of 291-190.

If things don't turn around soon it looks like we'll have a FCS team from the Dakotas handing a BCS conference team a loss for the second consecutive week.

As for Brewster's job status, considering that the Gophers had trouble beating a Middle Tennessee State team without Dwight Dasher last week, are currently losing to South Dakota, and have the USC Trojans coming to town next week, well, let's just hope he's wearing flame-retardant pants.

That seat he's sitting on is getting pretty toasty.