News and Notes

• The Alabama job is officially a possibility as Alabama has fired Mark Godfried. Alabama is 12-7 and 2-3 in the terrible SEC. I am going to get so sick of the speculation that Tubby might leave just because of those who think Minnesota is an inferior school.
• The Gophers fell out of the top 25 in the AP poll but are still ranked 24 in the ESPN poll. The team is 36 in the latest RPI. The latest bracketology has the Gophers a 7 seed playing Florida State.
• Lawrence Westbrook is no longer the only Gopher averaging double digits in scoring. With 18 against Indiana Damian Johnson is now averaging 10.1 ppg along with 4.2 rebs.
  
• Gophers Illustrated has released the top 10 juniors in Minnesota football. If you have the premium service you can view it here. Seantrel Henderson (Cretin) could be the number 1 player in the nation. Other juniors who will be strongly recruited are Jimmy Gjere (Irondale), Beau Allen (Minnetonka) , Tobi Okuyemi (Wayzata), and Joel Bauman (Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg). I don't see the Gophers getting Henderson because he can go anywhere and start on day one and the Gophers have never been able to recruit Cretin kids. He likely will follow the Cretin train to Notre Dame. The Gophers should be able to get the others however.
• Some Vikings news: The NFL has settled the lawsuit with Korey Stringer's widow. It has been 7 years since the incident. There is still a pending lawsuit with Ridell, the maker of the helmet and shoulder pads he was wearing at the time. Viking great Carl Eller has been found guilty of assaulting a police officer.
• Blake Wheeler was named the MVP of the YoungStars game leading the rookies with a hat trick. He will get some serious consideration for Rookie of the Year. I would not have guessed that considering his underwhelming run as a Gopher. He went from barely making the team out of training camp to 14g, 16a and a whopping +/- of 27.
  

Quick Strikes

• If the Gophers play like they did against Ohio State they will make the tournament and have the potential to be a Sweet Sixteen team.
• Devoe Joeseph won that game for us and seems to be taking great strides. There was concern if he could play point guard but he is putting those concerns to rest. Paul Carter and Devron Bostick also seem to be improving.
• While I still think RSIII has the larger upside, Colton Iverson is a lot further along than him. He plays very physical and is improving on the rebounding. They both need to develop a post game.
• I have always been rooting T-Jack I think the experiment has to end. This team has a limited time frame with the talent they have acquired they need a quarterback who is ready to get them to the promised land.
• I have not ever been rooting for Brad Childress and he also needs to go. Him and T-Jack seemed to be in competition on who could cost the team the game more. He threw an interception for a touchdown, Childress doesn't accept a holding penalty that would move them out of field goal range. T-Jack can't complete a pass in the second half, Childress calls a pass play when trying to run out the half that gives Philly a chance to score.
• There are rumors out there that have Defensive Coordinator Lezlie Frazier geting a head coaching job elsewhere. I think the Vikings should fire Childress and hire Frazier. We can't lose a second coordinator that would be a better coach. We lost out on Mike Tomlin, lets not repeat that.
• I think Ohio State has a shot to win the Fiesta Bowl tonight. Texas doesn't possess the speed that USC and Florida had that gave them troubles. They did beat a McCoy lead Texas team last year and almost beat the Vince Young team. I think the extra practice will greatly further the development of Terrelle Pryor. I look for him to have a good game.
• I don't know why I got so much enjoyment out of Louisville beating Kentucky. I should be happy that Kentucky made a mistake and gave us Tubby Smith but I love seeing Minnesota getting better recruiting classes and I pray that somehow we face Kentucky in the near future.
  

Stats of the Day

• September 25, 2005: The last time the Vikings passed for 300 yards by Daunte Culpepper against the New Orleans Saints. What a Kick Ass offense Childress put in.
• 22: The Gophers new rank in the AP poll up from #23
• 328: Total yards by Darren Sproles in San Diego's win
  
• 8-20 78yds: TJack's stats in the the second half