Adam Weber was sacked seven times in the Gophers' 35-25 loss to Illinois on Saturday, but in the postgame news conference the junior quarterback was willing to take the blame for the loss -- which is not characteristic of many athletes.

No doubt the Gophers dug a hole for themselves in the first half, when they trailed 28-7 before rallying after halftime to outscore the Illini 25-7 with a chance to pull out a victory.

If you want to look for key plays in the loss, point to the Gophers' out-of-bounds kickoff to Illinois with 9:13 to play.

The Gophers trailed 28-25 but had momentum. Instead of Illinois having to return the kick from deep in its own territory, the Illini got it on the 40-yard line and went to score the clinching touchdown with a short march.

Coach Tim Brewster was asked about the kickoff out of bounds.

"That's not on purpose," Brewster said. "That was very disappointing that we kicked two balls out of bounds. It's unfortunate. Our kicker [Eric Ellestad] has kicked the ball very well all year. Unfortunately, today twice he kicked the ball out of bounds, which hurt our football team."

The Gophers came back to block a punt and return it for a score to make it 35-32, but time ran out on them.

Weber had a terrible first half, completing five of 17 passes for 74 yards and throwing an interception for a touchdown. He was asked how frustrating the first half was.

"Very frustrating. There is a belief out there that after a big game, the Gophers tend to struggle," said Weber, who was named Big Ten offensive player of the week after the victory over Michigan State. "We wanted to go out there and do a good job. Going into the second half, I think a lot of teams would have just given up. It was a very exciting second half."

Weber completed nine of 14 passes in the second half for 147 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions.

On the interception returned for a touchdown, Weber said: "A very critical mistake. In the course of a game, you just go on to the next play. That's seven points right there. You take that off the board, it's a whole different ballgame. You realize you made a mistake and just keep on going. I'm very frustrated at myself for making that throw. It was a very dumb decision."

At one point in the second half, the Gophers failed to score from the 1-yard line and had to settle for a field goal because Weber got sacked.

"You drive all the way down there and you know you have to get seven points," he said. "I've got to throw that ball away and not take that sack. If I throw that ball away, it's third-and-1. We probably stick it in there."

Weber was asked about being sacked seven times.

"Sacks can be a deceptive stat," he said, "A lot of people like to pin it on the quarterback or linemen, but the sacks today were a little bit on everybody. Whether it was myself holding the ball too long or maybe guys getting pressed up a little bit and wide receivers not finding ways to get off guys. It was a combination of all 11 guys not really playing well."

It made me sick when the crowd booed Weber. If you knew this young man like I do and how hard he works, that wouldn't happen.

"I'm more frustrated at myself than the crowd is," he said. "I can't boo myself, that's the difference. The fans demand a great performance, and I don't blame them. ... We didn't perform. We set the bar high in the Michigan State game, and didn't live up to it today."

As Weber said, it is an 11-man game, and for some reason the Gophers didn't perform Saturday like they had in beating a much better team last week in Michigan State, a team that defeated Illinois on the road.

Jottings While refusing to talk about any details of contract negotiations that might be going on, Twins General Manager Bill Smith said there was one thing positive about catcher Joe Mauer's agent, Ron Shapiro: Two of his top clients, Kirby Puckett and Cal Ripken, played their entire careers with one club. Mauer, who signed a four-year, $33 million extension with the Twins in 2007, becomes a free agent after next season.

Vikings vice presidents Lester Bagley and Steve Poppen recently met with the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission and representatives of M.A. Mortenson Co. to see if the cost of building a stadium on the Metrodome site, using part of the building, had gone down. A study of that issue is planned.

Twins farm director Jim Rantz has signed three of his six free agents. They are: Jose Lugo, a lefthanded pitcher who was 4-2 with three saves and a 4.19 ERA at New Britain and 0-0 and 4.00 ERA at Rochester; Yancarlos Ortiz, a shortstop who played 106 games for New Britain and hit .223; and Henry Arias, a righthanded pitcher who was 4-5 with a 5.19 ERA for Fort Myers.

Three Twins baseball officials have been honored recently, with former General Manager Terry Ryan receiving the Roland Hemond Award for leadership and service to the Arizona Fall League; Twins scout Marty Esposito was inducted into the Texas Scouts Association Hall of Fame; and Mike Radcliff, vice president of player personnel, was inducted in the Midwest Scouts Hall of Fame.

Gophers track star Hassan Mead, who recently won his second Big Ten cross-country title and has won the Big Ten 5,000 meters, lived in Somalia until he was in his teens. His father came over here to live and eventually brought his wife, Hassan and the rest of the family here. But Hassan didn't stay here long, according to Gophers track coach Steve Plasencia, because he said it was too cold and he went to live with an uncle in California. But eventually he came back, enrolled at Minneapolis South and then the University of Minnesota.

Phil Esten, Gophers associate athletic director, and assistant athletic director Jason LaFrenz will share the marketing duties of former associate athletic director Tom Wistrcill, who was named athletic director at the University of Akron.

Esten should be commended for the job he did in supervising a lot of details on the building of TCF Bank Stadium on campus.

The father of Michael Handel, an infielder from Sun Prairie, Wis., who will sign with the Gopher baseball team this week, worked in the University of Wisconsin athletic department when current Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi was working with the Badgers.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO AM-830 at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. • shartman@startribune.com