This is a Minnesota Gophers blog. Always will be. But many of us here also are Minnesota sports fans generally. Many of us cheer for the Twins, Wild, Vikings and three of us cheer on the Wolves.
With that in mind, I want to send a quick message to our Minneapolis/St. Paul media. Right now, the most intriguing story is Tim Brewster and the Gophers. Ron Gardenhire's troops are in the midst of a great collapse. Meanwhile, the Brad Childress led Vikings are much more infuriating than anything Tim Brewster is putting on the field. The Vikings now have Gus Frerotte starting at quarterback. This, my friends, isn't going to sell papers. I'm sure the boys at Twinkie Town and the Daily Norseman can give you many more excruciating details.
What will? Coverage of the 3-0 Gophers! Instead of assigning Patrick Reusse the task of savaging all that is possibily savageable (is that a word?), perhaps the Star Tribune could take one of their two writers covering the dying Twins or one of their 5 hired hands covering the Vikings on any given Sunday and assign them to cover the best sporting story in town right now .. ... Tim Brewster's Gophers.
- Expectations are probably down some for Florida Atlantic as the enter the Metrodome this weekend, but Ted Roof and the Minnesota defense doesn't think we should underestimate the Owls. I agree. FAU has skill players on offense and quarterback Rusty Smith hasn't been sacked at all this season. Roof and company hope to change that.
- Getting to know DeLeon Eskridge courtesy of the Pioneer Press. Speaking of Eskridge, because his name is so very annoying to type, I really think we need a nickname for him. If Twins fans can turn Carlos Gomez into Go-Go, certainly we can find a way to promote DeLeon.
- Think BIg Ten non-conference schedules were relatively weak this year? Me too. ESPN's Rittenberg notes that Illinois has agreed to face Fresno State in the coming years, Minnesota will face California, Colorado and Washington State. Penn State is going to play Alabama and Virginia. And there's more. I think this is good for the conference.
- “Five yards, five yards, five yards, that’s what Minnesota is,” said defensive coordinator Kirk Hoza... ... That courtesy of everyone's favorite FAU beat writer Ted Hutton. I would hope Hoza has noted that the Gophers have been able to take advantage of big plays. A lot of dink and dunk, a lot of bubble screens and a safe mid-range passing game. The same article also states that FAU has been working on a 4-2-5 defensive alignment with five defensive backs.
- If you didn't know, Michigan doesn't play this weekend. Whew. Saves the conference from more embarrassment!!!!!!
- I wonder if in 1896, when the powers that be at New York Times decided to label its product "All the news that is fit to print," had blogs in mind? Anyway, Tim Brewster made an appearance on the NYT's The Quad blog in an item titled Redemption. Indeed, it has somsomething to do with FAU.
- A new reason to dislike Wisconsin! The Badger Herald had this to say . .. "The Big Ten boasts five 3-0 teams in the conference, tied for the national lead in that category. Though some may attribute that to weak scheduling, the Big Ten coaches are ignoring the criticism and trying to stay focused. Surprisingly, Minnesota is in that undefeated group and may go 4-0 when it faces Florida Atlantic this coming weekend."
- I agree that the Big Ten is down. But the Indy Star's Bob Kravitz is pretty blunt about it.
- If you want to keep up with Dan Monson's progress at Long Beach State, here's a quick study.
- Finally, keep the recommendations for naming the Fix coming in. I have a personal favorite. But some of you aren't here everyday. So, if you missed yesterday's request, please consider offering us a potential name or two that we can use to call this daily collection of awesome material. We'll narrow the offers down to five and poll for the winner and he/she who creates the winning name gets a prize. Fun!!