Minnesota player says Michigan's Devin Gardner "panics a lot"

The Michigan-Minnesota game is shaping up to be just another game. The teams do play for the Little Brown Jug but generally there's not too much excitement that surrounds this game. The rivalry has been fairly one side as the Wolverines have won 20 of the past 21 games. That hasn't stopped the Golden Gophers from feeling confident about themselves.

Despite being a 20 point underdog the Golden Gophers feel they have as good of a shot as anyone to knock off the unbeaten Wolverines. After narrow wins over Akron and Connecticut they feel the Wolverines are ripe for the pickings.

“Just the fact they almost lost to Akron, they’re human,” Gophers defensive tackle Ra’Shede Hageman said. “You know what I mean? Everybody praises them to be elite, and I just feel like they’re a regular football team. You just have to come with your A-game, but that’s how you approach every game.”

To add a little spice to the game, Minnesota safety Cedric Thompson told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner 'panics a lot' when he gets pressured.

“I think he kind of just panics a lot,” Thompson said. “I think that when he scrambles, he kind of just throws the ball.”

I'm sure those words will make it back to Ann Arbor. Hopefully for the Wolverines it'll be a little incentive to bring their best this Saturday. If not they could find themselves on the wrong end of the scoreboard.

Thoughts on week 3 in college football

I'll admit this is the first week I've really had a chance to watch a full slate of college football. It was a week in which we had near upsets, shootouts, and comeback wins.

Michigan over Akron- The Wolverines clearly had a hangover from the Notre Dame game and it showed. Michigan nearly suffered an upset of Appalachian State proportions to a team that has lost 28 straight road games and has suffered through three straight one win seasons in the Akron Zips. Pump the brakes on the Wolverine bandwagon for now. Quarterback Devin Gardner needs to learn the meaning of ball security and the defense has to play better if they expect to compete with Ohio State for the Big Ten championship. Give Akron credit for coming close and playing hard.

UCLA over Nebraska- The Bruins came into Lincoln with heavy hearts after the death of Nick Pasquale and played with a lot of early emotion. Unfortunately that emotion led to an early 21-3 deficit. The Bruins rallied in the second half and put up a combined 38 unanswered points in a 41-21 win. For the Huskers it was disappointing loss after looking like they were poised to run away with this game. UCLA made the adjustments and Nebraska failed to get the momentum back.

 "The second half was a lot like last year," Nebraska coach Bo Pelini said. "We made the tackles in the first half. I don't know how many tackles we missed in that second half but it is a lot. We missed tackle after tackle after tackle." 

Sounds almost like every big game the Huskers have played in since they've joined the Big Ten. If Pelini can't get it together and start winning some of those games he might find himself listening to the wolves howling for his job.

Alabama over Texas A&M- Billed as the SEC game of the century for this season, it lived up to the hype. Aggies quarterback Johnny Manziel didn't disappoint as the Aggies jumped out to a 14-0 lead. After that it was all Alabama, as the Tide rolled to 35 straight points to seize control of the game. Tide quarterback A.J. McCarron went 20-29 for 334 yards and 4 touchdowns. The 42 points and 628 total yards were the most allowed by an Alabama team, but it wasn't enough as Alabama has taken control of the SEC West division.
Maybe it's time to trumpet AJ Champion aka McCarron as a legit Heisman candidate.

Arizona State over Wisconsin- This game ended in controversy. The Badgers appeared to be robbed of a possible win by the officials. The Badgers were driving for a game winning field goal. Wisconsin quarterback Joel Stave appeared to take a knee to stop the clock and put the ball on the ground. A Sun Devil defender jumped on the ball and looked like it was a defensive delay of game. The officials spotted the ball and time ran out on the Badgers in this back and forth affair.

Oregon over Tennessee- It was a good week for the Pac-12 as the league racked up a number of 'name' wins this weekend. the Ducks once again steamrolled another opponent and they made their SEC foe look like a Sun Belt team. Fans chanted S-E-C and we want Bama. The Ducks have been impressive early but first take care of business in your own conference before calling out the champion like Clubber Lang.

Minnesota over Western Illinois- This game was significant because Golden Gophers head coach Jerry Kill was carted off on a stretcher after he suffered another seizure in their 29-12 win over  Western Illinois. Reports say he's resting comfortably in the hospital but you have to wonder if the administration at Minnesota might be thinking of moving on instead of keeping Kill around.

Ole Miss over Texas- The Rebels scored an impressive 44-23 win over the Longhorns. I guess it doesn't matter who the defensive coordinator is in Austin if the talent is going to underachieve. Coach Mack Brown might see the vultures circling if the Horns can't win the Oklahoma game. In all fairness starting quarterback David Ash didn't play but with the talent on hand in Austin this team has no excuses to be losing by three touchdowns at home.

Honorable mention- Ohio State looked impressive against California with backup quarterback Kenny Guiton at the controls....Notre Dame and South Carolina bounced back after week 2 losses, although it took the Irish awhile to get going...On a positive note Rutgers honored the paralyzed former player Eric LeGrand by retiring his number 52. It marked the first time in the 144-year history of the birthplace of college football that the university retired the number of a football player and this one was clearly loved by all in attendance.

Winners- Pac-12, Alabama, Rutgers, UCLA, Ole Miss, Marcus Mariota, AJ McCarron, Eric LeGrand    

Losers- Big Ten, Pac-12 officials, Texas    

Texas Tech interested in Tubby Smith

After being unceremoniously dumped by Minnesota, Tubby Smith is in line for another coaching job. Smith has been mentioned as a candidate for the open Texas Tech job.

According to sources, the school has contacted Smith about the job. Smith has been rumored to meet with the school on Thursday but that could not be confirmed.

Texas Tech already has met with a handful of other coaches about the job, including Oral Roberts' Scott Sutton, Southern Illinois' Barry Hinson, New Mexico State's Marvin Menzies, Indiana assistant Steve McClain and former UTEP and Nebraska coach Doc Sadler, who is in his first season as director of basketball operations at Kansas.

I would have to say Smith might be the favorite for the job, but is he the man to build a program. I'm not sure if Smith could be patient enough to take over a bottom feeder in a BCS conference. Regardless of who takes over the administration at Texas Tech will have to be awfully patient to wait for a turnaround. Texas Tech doesn't get the recruits like some of the other schools in the Big 12 so they should hire a program builder more than a coach. I do think Smith is a fine coach but not a good fit for Texas Tech.

Is Saunders trying to line himself up for the Golden Gophers job?

To some in the Twin Cities, Minnesota Golden Gophers head basketball coach, Tubby Smith, might be a disappointment. When Smith arrived in Minneapolis, there were some hoping that he could recreate the magic that Clem Haskins had during his run at Minnesota. Instead there has been mediocrity that could land Smith on the proverbial hot seat with two years left on his contract.

Flip Saunders is an ex-NBA coach and Minnesota alum. Since he is unemployed he has a lot of idle time on his hands. So in an interview with KFAN's Dan Barreiro, it almost sounds like Saunders is doing a bit of politicking on his behalf for the Minnesota job. 

When answering questions about why college coaches have failed in the NBA, Saunders unintentionally sounded as if he wanted the job.

"One thing I’ve always said a lot is college coaches don’t always translate to the NBA. But yet guys have been college, gone to the NBA, that maybe fail in the NBA even their experience when they go back to college, they always say they’re much better coaches in college after they’ve been to the NBA."

After Barreiro jumped on the reply, Saunders back-pedaled, saying " No, no, no, no don’t throw that out there. I’m just saying if you look at guys like Larry Brown, [who] went from a pro coach and then goes back to UCLA and Kansas, has a lot of success; you look at [John] Calipari, as far as [Rick] Pitino. And if you talk to a lot of those guys, you’ve got to realize you spend 24/7 on basketball; it’s the purest you can be from a standpoint of basketball that there is as far as just working on basketball and just working on different plays, different schemes. So when you’re doing that, and you’re playing so many games, 110 games a year when you’re in the playoffs, those are the things that are going to make you better as a coach because the more situations you see the better you’re going to get."

I get what he was saying, but Saunders could've used a better choice of words. As much as I dislike Saunders as a coach, I don't think he was trying to get a jump on the Minnesota gig. I think he might be content in his unemployment right now and would like a few years away from the game.  

Jerry Kill Has A Seizure On The Sideline

Minnesota Golden Gophers head football coach Jerry Kill had to leave the game with New Mexico State after collapsing on the sidelines. Apparently Kill had a seizure and taken from TCF Bank Stadium by ambulance Saturday night after collapsing on the sidelines with 20 seconds to go in the game.

Team doctor Pat Smith says Kill "was at no time under any risk in any way.''


Smith says the 90-degree temperature coupled with dehydration might have played a role in the seizure.

The Golden Gophers were driving for a potential tying score when Kill fell to the sidelines, his legs kicking and his head moving back and forth as medical personnel rushed to his side, according to a Minneapolis Star-Tribune report.


Kill was taken to a local hospital and is reported to be in stable condition. He had a previous seziure in 2005, which had been his second in four years.

This would be a blow to the Gophers who are trying to rebuild their program. The Gophers have been crippled since they decided to jettison Glen Mason as coach. When you are perpetually rebuilding, you need any kind of stability you can get. Having something like this happen doesn't make it any easier to lure recruits to a school that has a hard time getting quality, big time players.

Tim Brewster Sounds Kind Of Bitter

 In Florida, former Minnesota Golden Gophers football coach Tim Brewster is down there checking out some of the local talent along with fellow ex-coaches Mike Leach, Mark Mangino and Rich Rodriguez .

The Naples News got a hold of him and Brewster offered a few interesting nuggets.

“One of the worst rules NCAA has is not letting head coaches be out in the spring,” Brewster said. “The past few I wasn’t able to get out and that was disappointing because you can really learn a lot evaluating them in the spring time.”


I have to agree with that, since all states aren't holding football workouts in the spring and the ones that do you can't get any proper evaluation on them.

“I want to get back into coaching but I’m using this break to just take some time and take a deep breath,” Brewster said. “I poured my heart and soul into that situation in Minnesota and I was disappointed with how it ended. But I’m a positive guy and you’re not going to keep me down long. … It’s been a really great spring being around these high school kids and just appreciating the game again.”


Brewster may get back into college coaching on a lower level, but not at a Big Ten level. To me it sounded like ther was a little bitterness. Minnesota adminstrators should realize how hard it is to win there and attract major talent. Brewster did have a highly rated recruiting class in his first year there, but it just didn't work out.

He was 15-30 in four years and you are what your record says you are. But in his defense he is enthusiastic about football and has shown to be a good recruiter. I think he should have gotten another year, but I'm not the one making the decisions in Minnesota.