I promise not to punch you, push a porn-star down, or land on your shoulder. I will say this, rather briefly. By and large, the Big Ten did not impress this weekend (Illinois and Iowa, you are the main culprits). Looking forward, I don't have much confidence in Ohio State beating USC. Frankly, Navy's sophisticated run offense is so unique that I wasn't surprised Ohio State had to play late into that game (and yes, dealing with a triple-option run offense is something Minnesota has to confront on Saturday.)
Let's get on to the Nugz:
(1) We'll probably stick with Rittenberg for a couple links. First off, Lee Campbell was named a Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. Eric Ellestad got special "forces" honors. Kudos.
(2) Here's a writeup by Marcus Fuller which explains that many of the Gophers' offensive problems remain from 2008, which is unbelievably frustrating in the least. This sentence sums up the problem:
Weber used Decker as a decoy when sophomore Brandon Green made the first catch of the late fourth-quarter drive for a 10-yard gain on third and 4.
In my writeup last week on the Syracuse game, I stated a key matchup would be Weber versus his "eye-crush" on Eric Decker. Obviously the two aren't seeing other people. Weber has enough weapons on this team (Stoudermire, Green, Pittman, the RB's, the TE's) that Decker shouldn't be the only guy Weber looks at. The fact that it's happening means one of two things to me: (1) Weber does not fully trust his other options; or (2) Weber does not feel comfortable with this offense at all and simply reverts to what he's known for 3 years.
(3) Read about how Dave Mona helped in the development of TCF Bank Stadium.
(4) Also, remember when the Gophers play The Ohio State University this fall that their starting quarterback supports Michael Vick because "everyone murders." What a goof. He's right at home continuing the good work of Maurice Clarett at tOSU.
(5) Finally, this is a very good spot from which to start your analysis of the Air Force Academy's football team for this Saturday. I will take information liberally from this source later this week when figuring out the keys to victory for the Gophers.