Football

Philip Nelson was eight years old when Joel Sambursky took over at quarterback for a football program in shambles.

Southern Illinois was fresh off a 1-10 record, and according to then-head coach Jerry Kill, was in danger of losing football at the school altogether.

Kill turned to Sambursky at the start of the 2002 season, and so began the resurgence of the Salukis.

Sambursky was 4-8 in his first season as a starter, but the team fought its way to consecutive 10-win seasons the next two years.

He helped put that program back on the map.

It’s flu season for students and injury season for Gophers football players.

Several key Minnesota players are hampered with an injury. But the team’s schedule shows no remorse.

The banged-up Gophers travel to Lincoln, Neb., this weekend for a showdown with a very good Nebraska team.

“I’ve coached for 30 years, and this has been a unique situation on the offensive side of the ball,” Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill said referring to his team’s injuries.

LINCOLN, Neb. — Minnesota was on cloud nine last week after it clinched its first bowl berth in three years.

Nebraska spent all Saturday bringing the Gophers back to earth.

The Huskers beat Minnesota 38-14 at Memorial Stadium, dropping the Gophers to 6-5 on the season.

Nebraska honored legendary head coach and athletics director Tom Osborne before kickoff in his final home game before retirement. Osborne dominated the Gophers in his tenure, and Saturday brought back some memories.

Gophers offensive lineman Zach Mottla will miss the rest of the season with a broken lower leg, head coach Jerry Kill confirmed Tuesday.

Mottla started the first three games at center and has spent time at guard. He was carted off the field after breaking his leg in the second half of Minnesota’s 17-3 win over Illinois on Saturday. 

Kill said Mottla had surgery to repair the injury and is optimistic about a speedy recovery.

“Home from the hospital!” Mottla wrote on his Twitter account Nov. 12.

Wisconsin clinched a spot in the Big Ten championship game with its 62-14 win over Indiana on Saturday.

The Badgers (4-2 Big Ten) will represent the conference’s Leaders Division for the second-straight season. They will play the representative from the Legends Division — either Nebraska or Michigan — in the Dec. 1 title game.

The Huskers and Wolverines are both 5-1 in the Big Ten with two games left. Nebraska holds the tiebreaker against Michigan and will advance to the championship game if both teams finish with the same conference record.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Mike Rallis, a normally stoic postgame persona, couldn’t help but smile in the media room Saturday.

And the senior linebacker had good reason to.

The Gophers defeated Illinois 17-3 to become bowl eligible for the first time in three years, and Rallis had one of the biggest plays of the game — a forced fumble that set up Minnesota’s second touchdown.

“We came up with some critical plays in the game,” head coach Jerry Kill said. “A week ago we didn’t make those crucial plays.”