(1) Some Scout message boards are reporting that Jewel Hampton, the Iowa RB, has torn his ACL in practices. That, to say the least, would be a problem for Iowa.

(2) One of the things I think that works against Minnesota now is that conferences have institutionalized who is successful, and the relative success of different teams. I liken it to politics. Once in a while you’ll see a strong third-party candidate (such as Ross Perot, Jesse “the Mind” Ventura, or even Dean Barkley) pop up, but the party eventually retreats to a level of no real support.

It’s very hard to locate the last program that stunk, that became consistently excellent. It may have been Florida State. Maybe Utah? Other programs (I’m thinking South Florida, Hawaii, Wisconsin, Louisville, West Virginia, Arkansas) have regularly enjoyed average to above average seasons, but have regressed from a point of being “excellent.” To find that excellence, the keys seem to be: (1) recruiting; (2) location; (3) money; (4) coaching; (5) historical cache; (6) huge fanbase/huge stadium.

Any school we analyze that was average or slightly good when the recent history of TV exposure and recruiting over-drive began started from a position of weakness as compared to the traditional powers. They were shut out from the prime television spots and the biggest recruits. Smaller attendance figures meant less money for facilities and coaches.

Now, Minnesota is turning a corner. The new stadium and facilities are positive developments that should have coincided with Mason showing up on campus 12 years ago. Regardless, the only school that can now compete with the Gophers for the trinkets that 17 year olds care about is Oregon (with the freebies that Mr. Knight gives the program). That ratchets the pressure up on Brewster 10-fold. There are no more cards in his deck to play in asking the fanbase for time to develop his program. There exists an opportunity to turn this team into a team like Iowa, who I would consider a program that meets the “consistently good” standard we should be aiming for – 8-10 wins most years, New Years’ bowl games or close to it (uh, didn’t Mason do this sometimes?). Most importantly, winning the games that mean something to the fan base – beating Iowa and Wisconsin more than once a decade, winning the Jug more than 4 times in 50 years, and going into the Horseshoe (no, not our horseshoe) and beating the pro football team in Columbus.