3 days and counting...

I haven't received any picks yet, so obviously no one is interested in the great HAW/LT tilt tonight...I can't blame you. HAW is the better team, but tough to pick them on their super strange travel schedule they had to face to play this one at LTECH tonight. But hey, it's football on Wednesday so I love it.

Also, the Twins are a must watch tonight. I have been done with this team for a month, like not watching any games done...until last night. Good god Verlander is good. 98 with that nasty curve ball...wow. I thought Denarded was going to come through for us, but I have to like our chances in the next 2. A straight up tie going into the weekend series (vs. KC, DET vs. CHISOX)would be a good thing. If this happens, I give it a 95% chance of ending in a tie and a 1-game playoff in the dome...it's a fitting end to this whole Dome experience, isn't it.

Now on to the best game of this incredible weekend...GOPHERS-BECKY at the Brickhouse.

So getting 2 guys suspended on Monday isn't exactly the way I wanted to start this week, but it might actually have some positive impact on the squad. Why? Well, first of all losing Dandridge leaves us deathly thin at S, so finally the coaching staff has decided to move the infamous Ryan Collado back to S, which likely moves Michael Carter to our nickel back. Collado can hit and tackle, but can't cover a lick - which makes him a logical S...why we didn't make this move about 2 years ago, i don't know. Getting Carter on the field more is also positive. He looks like the real deal in the limited time I've seen him on the field this year. I read he's also actually splitting snaps as a starting CB with BPT this week. Simmons has been extremely disappointing this year - time for him to wake up and make a play or 3 this weekend.

The other move is the suspension of DE Cedric McKinley. While I'm not as optimistic about this one, I do think we have a ton of depth at this spot and am not worried about this loss. He's had a few moments of greatness through 4 games, but with Jacobs and Moen and Wilhite and Henderson I think we have 4 capable DE's. I think we actually might mix in a little more 3-4 this weekend than most expect anyway. I love having Cooper on the field as the 4th LB against teams that can throw. And believe it or not, WIS is looking more and more like a throwing team this year than a grinder running team. This is mainly due to their OL, which hasn't been its usual outstanding self in 2009. This is a weak link, and their D is defintiely a weak link once again. Tolzien making his first road start in a hostile environment might allow us to capitalize on some mistakes early.

My feelings right now are that we need to win this game on defense. I think the offense will be able score some points against this porous D. Weber should have a field day throwing to Decker and hopefully others and I think we have some confidence going on the ground so we should at least have a threat there...hopefully seeing more of Kevin Whaley, I could see him taking one to the house on our first "big play" from the running game. The defense will need to be creative, and we should have the right guy in charge to make that happen. Cosgrove knows the Becky program extremely well and honestly their offense really hasn't changed that much in the last 10-12 years. I think our DL and LB's can hold the big lumbering backfield in check...it's not the lightning quick Jahvid Best, is the slow and plodding John Clay - much easier challenge for what our defense is built to stop. Like I said before, I think we can rattle Tolzien, who's really making his first big start, and get some opportunities early. Pressure is key - let's hope we can make it happen and get Mr. Tolzien looking over his shoulder all day.

No official prediction yet, but I really do like our chances this weekend. Saturday can't come soon enough.

A couple other random notes that I have run onto this week...

- Maine played some aggressive football against SYR last week. How aggressive you say? They recovered 2 onside kicks and tried 2 fake punts...in the 1st half! I love it. Nothing to lose, take a chance and make it happen. I wish more "little engine that could" type teams would take this approach. I love it.

- Who is Josh Johnson? He's your starting QB for the TB Bucs this weekend. This is the guy that the head coach said, "I would love to have him as my backup for the next 13 years in this league."...and now in week 4 he's starting him. Yikes. So, with my immense interest in NCAA Football I usually can remember most of these guys you see in the NFL...but Josh Johnson I can not place. So I looked it up and he's a 2nd year guy from San Diego. Wow. That's like starting a 2nd year guy from Alabama St. at QB...wait, I think I know a guy who did that. Basically, it looks like TB is going with the, "season's over, we might as well lose them all" approach already. Should be fun this weekend at WAS...although I'm tempted to pick TB to cover the 8.5 because I don't think WAS can score over 8 points in a game!!

- In closing I have a couple of final thoughts. First, in an idea that I LOVE, somebody can up with the plan to play "Jump Around" after the Gophs run acrossed the field and take back the axe...how f'ing amazing would that be!!

Finally, what is going to make you the most excited over the next week...

1) GOPHERS running across the field to take back the axe!
2) PURPLE housing the Pack in style on Monday Night and Favre throwing 3 TD's!
3) WILD season starting! zzzzzzzzz....zzzzzzzzzz....zzzzzz
4) TWINS clinching the division on Saturday after the Tigers drop the next 4 and we win the first 2 against the Royals after cleaning up on the Tigers the next 2 days!
5) WOLVES training camp opening up!

Which, by the way - look at this gem from the Dallas Morning News:
"McHale, who somehow was let go by the Minnesota Timberwolves despite being a native son and doing a solid job building that team (and coaching it, too, at times). For now, he's just wanting to impart as much as he can to the Mavericks."

What?!?!? Have you seen the Wolves during McHale's tenure?! I don't pretend to know the NBA as well as some do, but even I realize that this guy is insane.

It's going to be a great week - send over your picks when you have them.

Go GOPHS!