All the sports news you need to know: 10-27-22 edition

CATHY WURZER: Well, look at the clock. It's time for sports. Return to our experts, Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson. Wally is the founder of Minnesota Score Magazine and the co-host of 10,000 Takes sports talk show on radio and TV. Eric is the other host of 10,000 Takes and is also the Minnesota Vikings' reporter for CBS Sports Radio's Eye on the NFL. Hey, you guys. It's been a long time since I've talked to you. How are ya?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yes. Long time, no talk. Last time I saw you, you were in a photo with me in a newspaper.

CATHY WURZER: We don't-- people I'm sure are wondering, what? What was that? Anyway. Well, we digress.

ERIC NELSON: And I barely recognize your voice, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: I know. We haven't talked in a long time, Eric. For goodness' sakes. Well, let us begin with the Vikings. So they're coming off a little bit of rest here. And who do we have? Arizona coming up next?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah. Cardinals are in town on Sunday. Vikings are 5 and 1. They have the second best record the National Football League right now. They're playing an Arizona team that got a big win last week. They have one of their key players back into the mix in DeAndre Hopkins. It's going to be a challenge for the Vikings. Kyler Murray is a mobile quarterback. He moves around a lot. And the Vikings struggled with that against Philadelphia. Let's see how they do against Arizona.

Now, the flip side of that, the Cardinals don't win here very often. As a matter of fact, they are 0 and 10 in their last 10 trips to Minnesota. A Viking win would be big, obviously. They'd extend their lead over Green Bay and Chicago. They're, by the way, tied right now for second place. But the Cardinals are a team that I think is on the upswing. So we'll see how the thing shakes out. The Vikings are favored in the game.

CATHY WURZER: You know, Eric Nelson, my Wisconsin friends are heartbroken. They don't even know what to say anymore.

ERIC NELSON: And for good reason, Cathy. I mean, all those Green Bay Packer car flags in dairyland are flying at half staff because this team is 3 and 4. They've lost three in a row. They're in freefall mode. But they have some big picture problems. I mean, Aaron Rodgers is still all galaxy. He's very good. But I think we're learning he needs a go-to receiver. And he lost Davante Adams through free agency in the off season. He's now with the Las Vegas Raiders. Adams is Justin Jefferson good.

So he's out of the mix. Green Bay is trying to find a way to get back on track, and it won't be easy. They're in the prime time slot Sunday night on NBC when they take on Buffalo. And the Bills have one of the best records in the NFL. And they have Josh Allen and ex-Viking wideout Stefon Diggs. So Green Bay is going to have to dig deep to find a way to win at Buffalo. They are a 10 and 1/2 point underdog in this one.

CATHY WURZER: I got to say, guys. Remember when I was worried about the Twins toward the end of the season? And look what happened, obviously. I know the Vikings are doing well. But I am nervous. I'm nervous.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Oh, you're one of those nonbelievers.

CATHY WURZER: Yes. Get on my bandwagon. Do I need to worry?

ERIC NELSON: You're in the majority, by the way. I don't run into a lot of Viking fans, Cathy, who are optimistic. And I keep saying, look. It's the NFL. There's a lot of parity. There's a razor thin margin between the good and the bad. Just accept these victories. Enjoy the moment because you don't know when it's going to end.

CATHY WURZER: Right. OK. Move on. How about Gophers? I don't know what's going on there. The boat's leaking with the row the boat deal here. So tell me about what's going on here.

ERIC NELSON: It's a raft.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah, I think they need a motor these days. Forget the oars. OK, so we all know about the loss, unbearable loss at Penn State last Saturday. But there's more good news on the horizon, wink, wink. The 2023 schedule for Gopher football came out yesterday, came out on Wednesday. And the Minnesota Gophers, of course, will play all the teams in the Big Ten West.

But the Big Ten East crossover games, that's what the big question mark was. Guess who they get? They get Ohio State, ranked currently number two in the nation. They get Michigan, currently ranked number four in the nation. And they'll get another shot at Michigan State.

Usually a pretty good football program as well. Down a little bit this year. So if you're looking forward to the future and saying, OK, this year, it's a learning lesson, we're not going to go to a big bowl game, blah, blah, blah, 2023 may not be exactly what you were hoping for.

CATHY WURZER: Eric?

ERIC NELSON: Yeah. And it could get even worse in 2024 because USC and UCLA come into the Big Ten, and those are premier programs. And they could end up in the same division as Minnesota. We don't know how that's going to shake out. But I guess the good news is those will be some fun road trips for the Gopher fan base, going to the Coliseum and the Rose Bowl. But this week, in the here and now, Rutgers out of Piscataway, New Jersey. There's absolutely no buzz for this game.

Minnesota will be lucky, I think, to draw 35,000 this week when the Scarlet Knights come to town in Dinkytown. The Gophers have lost three in a row. About a month ago, a lot of us were realistically saying, maybe this is a Rose Bowl year. Now they would be lucky to get an invite to the Pinstripe Bowl in New York City. They're in last place in the Big Ten West, which is clearly the weaker of the two divisions in the conference. And let's not forget, they play at 11:00 AM on Saturday. So that's not exactly a big drawing card anyway.

CATHY WURZER: Yeah, that's true. Say, let's talk hockey. Minnesota Wild, kind of a slow start.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah, but they've picked it up the last few games. They've got another 2 points, regular 2-point victory on Tuesday night. Marc-Andre Fleury was in nets. He stopped 26 out of 27 shots, so that's good because he had been shaky. Of course, you remember their first three games, they gave up 20 goals, and Fleury was in nets for most of that. They have since pulled things together a little bit, particularly defensively. They got a couple of goals from Joel Eriksson Ek on Tuesday night.

They continue this road trip tonight. They're at Ottawa. And then they will finish the road trip on Saturday at Detroit. So slowly, but surely. It's early in the season. I mean, I'm not even sure I'm ready for hockey yet. It's still October. The World Series coming up, college football, the NFL. The NBA has started. I mean, there's all this going on.

CATHY WURZER: You mentioned the World Series. Here, Eric, to be honest with you, I have kind of lost track as to what's going on here.

ERIC NELSON: All right. Well, we'll get you up-to-date, Cathy. This will be the 118th edition of the Fall Classic, a.k.a. the World Series. You've got Philadelphia. The Phillies are really the Cinderella of this year's tournament. They were a wild card, and they blew through St. Louis and Atlanta and San Diego, and here they are. I mean, the Phillies, until this season, most fans only knew about their mascot, the Philly Phanatic, who's a rock star when it comes to mascots around pro sports.

But last time the Phillies were in the World Series was 2009. Houston, well, we're used to seeing the Astros play for the title. Four trips in six years to the World Series. They have the stain of the cheating scandal, where they were banging on trash can lids because they got signals sent into them. And it was tainted a few years ago. But this is, for all we know, a very clean Astros team.

And all they do is replace superstars like Carlos Correa, who went to Minnesota, George Springer, who went to Toronto. They just don't skip a beat. And I think a lot of people want to see their manager, Dusty Baker, win his first ever World Series title. He's a baseball lifer. He's 73. He's played the game. He's managed for multiple teams. It would be good for Dusty to get a win.

But I will say this. Bryce Harper hit a dramatic home run in game 5 of the NLCS to propel Philadelphia into the World Series. They knocked off San Diego. He's now, Cathy, an instant Philadelphia legend. He's up there with Ben Franklin, the Liberty Bell, Rocky, and Dr. J. And I'm not kidding you because that fan base loves their sports heroes.

CATHY WURZER: That is true. I do know that. I do know that. See, we covered a lot of ground here in the past--

ERIC NELSON: We did.

CATHY WURZER: --few minutes. I know. All right, you guys. I hope you have a good weekend. Thank you so much.

ERIC NELSON: Thanks, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Talk to you soon. Talk to you next week. Wally Langfellow, Eric Nelson. Wally, of course, the founder of Minnesota Score Magazine, the co-host of 10,000 Takes sports talk show radio, TV is where that is. Eric is the other host of 10,000 Takes. He's also the Minnesota Vikings reporter for CBS Sports Radio's Eye on the NFL.