Game Day Thoughts

Very sad day in Kansas City. Our thought and prayers are with all those affected by this terrible tragedy.

Congratulations to Stanford on their invitation to the Rose Bowl. That is so hard for me to say.

Congratulations to Notre Dame and Alabama on their date in the National Championship game. That was so much easier to say.

I was pleasantly surprised when Cal received a commit from superfast Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, CA) High running back Khalfani Muhammad this week. It's a little difficult for a college to recruit when it has no head coach. Cal had earlier made the smart move of retaining five of Jeff Tedford's coaches to maintain a recruiting presence. I'm pretty sure that the Cal future of all five will be determined by the new coach. I'm hoping that the commitment by running back Muhammad is an indication that running back coach Ron Gould is likely to be one that will be retained. If so, he will have survived two head coaching changes. Pretty remarkable but understandable as Gould has done a fantastic job coaching Cal's backs.

With the Minnesota Vikings in obvious need of a receiver to take pressure off of Percy Harvin I can't help but notice some of the college players scattered across the land. I've seen enough of Cal's Keenan Allen to know that I'd be smiling with him on the field with Harvin. I wish that USC's Marqise Lee was a senior, or even a junior. No matter what year Lee enters the NFL Draft the Vikings would need a top-5 pick to get him. I've recently become curious about Baylor senior receiver Terrence Williams. I foolishly forgot about Baylor after Robert Griffin III and Kendall Wright left. I gasped when I saw the stats that Williams has piled up this season. In a five game stretch from 9/29-11/3, he totaled 54 catches for 987 yards and 6 TDs. His 17 catch, 314 yard, 2TD game against West Virginia to start that streak should be measured lightly. West Virginia hasn't played defense all year. The only stat that really gives me pause is that Williams will be 24 at the start of the next season. He's only a year younger than Percy Harvin and Harvin will be starting his fifth NFL season next year.

The Vikings really need Harvin back on the field. Hopefully that happens next week against the Bears.

It's amazing that the New England Patriots have not lost in the second half of the regular season since the last game of 2009. 8-0 in 2010. Same in 2011. They are 3-0 so far this season. Amazing.

There was a time when John Unitas' 48 consecutive games with a touchdown pass was thought to be an untouchable NFL record. Drew Brees took it down this year. His streak ended at 54 when he went without a touchdown pass against the Atlanta Falcons this past Thursday. It's a remarkable record but the passing that we see today makes every passing record touchable.

Personally, I think that Paul Krause's 81 career interceptions is the closest to untouchable that we have in the books.

In reality, all records are there to be broken.

Go Vikings!!!!