Rallis sees U effort at USC as positive

Outstanding Gophers linebacker Mike Rallis said he doesn't believe in moral victories.

But since the Gophers were a 24-point underdog and playing in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the former Edina all-around athlete is willing to make a small exception in the Gophers' 19-17 loss to Southern California last Saturday.

"Well you know you never want to take moral victories," Rallis said. "I know a lot of people around the community are saying we did a good job, good effort, but we weren't working hard all offseason just so we could go out there and give good efforts. We always want to get that W.

"But we came together and gave great effort in the second half. That's something you can really build on. Guys, if they weren't believing before, the few that weren't believing, they're starting to believe we can be a good team."

The Gophers were picked by Sports Illustrated to go 0-8 in the Big Ten and 3-8 overall.

But going into the USC game, the players didn't pay attention to the so-called experts and they will keep that positive attitude all season.

"We knew what we could do as a team, and we just really focused on controlling what we could control and I thought we gave it a pretty good effort," Rallis said. "It gave guys confidence and guys started to believe that we could really do something special.

Rallis said coach Jerry Kill sent the team the right message following the loss: "I think coach Kill said it the best: 'Give yourself until midnight to be upset about the loss and then you turn around and just focus on how you get better and not focus on the loss so much.'"

The future looks bright for the Gophers. The traveling squad to Los Angeles included 24 freshmen, 16 sophomores, 14 juniors and only 16 seniors.

Was surprise choice McKinley Boston comes to the Twin Cities on Saturday as the athletic director for New Mexico State, the Gophers' opponent at TCF Bank Stadium. He did a great job for Minnesota from 1991-2000, first as athletic director, then as a vice president for student development and athletics.

At the time of his first Gophers appointment, Boston was athletic director at Rhode Island. A news conference had been called, with former Gophers tennis coach Jerry Noyce expected to be named athletic director, and the appointment of Boston came as a surprise.

Unfortunately, Boston was vice president when the Clem Haskins basketball scandal broke and he couldn't continue the great job he did getting a lot of professors interested in the athletic department. I believe interest in athletics on campus has suffered ever since.

Boston was promoted to vice president from athletic director in 1995, when he turned down a chance to be the athletic director at Florida State. He was the first black athletic director in the Big Ten and could have been the same in the Atlantic Coast Conference at Florida State.

Boston said the toughest thing he had to do at Minnesota was to fire football coach Jim Wacker, whom he had hired.

"Jim was an honest man," Boston said. "Jim had a Ph.D and he was the son of a Lutheran minister, and when I had to let him go, he and I both cried. I had such high respect and high regard for him. And that was when they ended up hiring Glen Mason."

Jottings • Vikings owners were really upset about the report that they planned to build a convention hotel along with the proposed stadium at the Arden Hills site. In fact, despite the fact that the Wilfs build apartments and shopping centers, they would not develop the land outside of that available for the stadium until economic conditions improve.

• If the Vikings find their current defensive line personnel can't do the job, don't be surprised if they re-sign nose tackle Pat Williams, who is still not playing with anybody.

• Kill is familiar with the offense run by New Mexico State. New Mexico State offensive coordinator Doug Martin was head coach at Kent State from 2004-2010, and Kill's Northern Illinois team played them.

• While Kill is definitely against opening on the road and the Gophers are scheduled to play their first game of 2012 at UNLV next Sept. 1, Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi can't schedule a game during the State Fair for one more year because of an agreement regarding parking for Gophers fans at the fair site.

• Former Cretin-Derham Hall star Michael Floyd set another Notre Dame record last week. He has the most receptions in Irish history with 183, after he caught 12 passes in a 23-20 loss to South Florida. Floyd passed Jeff Samardzija's old mark of 179. With 15 receiving yards Saturday at Michigan, Floyd will pass Golden Tate for the most receiving yards in Notre Dame history, and he needs two more 100-yard receiving games to pass Tate's 15 in that category. Floyd's 30 touchdown receptions also are an Irish record.

• Gophers wrestling coach J Robinson will spend a week this month in Kuwait visiting with National Guard soldiers from Minnesota.

• Former Gophers point guard Al Nolen has signed with Kyoto Hannaryz in Japan, where he will be playing alongside former Gophers forward Rick Rickert. Rickert played most recently for Vaqueros de Bayamon in Puerto Rico. ... Also recently signed to an overseas contract was former Gopher Paul Carter, who finished his college career with the University of Illinois-Chicago. Carter has signed with Proteas Danoi of the Cypriot League.

• Former Gophers basketball player Leo Rautins has stepped down as coach of the Canadian men's national basketball team after it was eliminated from qualifying for the 2012 Olympics.