It’s commonplace for college football teams to combine for 80 or more points in single games. Recently Boise State and Nevada scored 136 points in an overtime game. Gopher coach Tim Brewster said balance between offense and defense has always been cyclical and he expects a slow down in the present trend.
There will be a lot of disappointed and surprised fans in Nebraska if coach Bill Callahan isn’t replaced after this season. The athletic director who hired Callahan is gone and speculation by many is that the Husker coach is next after being blown out in three consecutive games against Missouri, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M. North Dakota State coach Craig Bohl is a former defensive coordinator at Nebraska and his name could be on a replacement list. Perhaps, too, might former Gopher coach Glen Mason whose success with running teams fits the Nebraska tradition (unlike Callahan’s West Coast offense).
Bohl came into this season with a 33-11 record at North Dakota State. After Saturday’s 27-21 win over the Gophers his team is 7-0 and has won 11 consecutive games. During the last 44 seasons all but one coach at NDSU has won at least .676 percent of his games. Included among the winners is former Gopher coach Jim Wacker who was 24-9-1 (.721) during three seasons in Fargo. At Minnesota Wacker was 16-39 (.291).
Among Big Ten coaches who coached at least 10 years in the conference, Mason ranks 25th in all-time winning percentage at .529.
Matt Carufel was the 2005 Gatorade Player of the Year in Minnesota and one of the nation’s most highly recruited linemen before choosing Notre Dame. His decision to leave the Irish earlier this month during his sophomore season reportedly means he will transfer to either Iowa or Minnesota. The South Bend Tribune’s Web site, southbendtribune.com, posted a story on Carufel that said he’s one of 17 players to leave the Notre Dame program since December of 2004.
Ken Lien, analyst on Crystal Clear Sports prep Webcasts, is referring to the upcoming state football large school playoff as the “shampoo” tournament. He said E