LSJ Blogs: Hey, Joe

Hello from the coolest stadium in the Big Ten

Look, nothing can top Ohio Stadium for overall atmosphere, but TCF Bank Stadium is everything I'd heard and more. What a great venue. We'll see if the crowd can do its part for the Gophers on a clear night. It's 38 degrees with 12 mph winds, less gusty than earlier in the day. Now to the game:

Scrambled dregs

Good afternoon from chilly-but-not-as-arctic-as-you-might-think Minneapolis. No precipitation projected for tonight. A thought occurred to me this week -- eight of the 11 programs in the Big Ten are "young" programs in their fifth year or earlier, and the other three are battling for the championship. MSU and the other seven pups have a lot to play for in the final four weekends of the season.

Cleaning up

Hoops season is obviously here. First, more on MSU's favorite Payne. Here's a look at the polls, where MSU has its highest preseason ranking in school history. The Spartans were preseason No. 3 in 1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2003-04. And here's Chris Solari from Chicago on the men's and women's teams at Big Ten media day. Interesting that the women are going back to 16 games.

Payne: 'People say I play like Kevin Garnett'

Adreian Payne gave MSU his verbal commitment last night, announced it today on a taped segment on ESPNU (to run at 5:30 p.m.) and talked with the State Journal this afternoon about the decision.

Spartans picked 1, 2

Here's the latest from our Chris Solari in Chicago:

MSU short two running backs

MSU announced Wednesday that Caulton Ray and Andre Anderson are no longer on the team's active roster. Here's the release from associate athletic director John Lewandowski:

Iowa film notes

This was done around 1 a.m. Tuesday, so I went in and added a few notes from Mark Dantonio's Tuesday presser where applicable. Going through this whole thing would be like finishing the Old 96er, gristle included.

Gopher update

Dan Kilbridge here with a quick afternoon update. Minnesota's Eric Decker will miss the rest of the regular season, according to the Associated Press.

Full report:

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Minnesota star wide receiver Eric Decker will miss the rest of the regular season because of a foot injury.

Gophers coach Tim Brewster said Tuesday that Decker may need surgery to fix the arch he sprained in last week's game at Ohio State. If he doesn't need surgery, he might be able to play in a bowl game.

Either way, the loss of the senior captain and leading receiver is a devastating blow for an offense that has struggled this month. The Gophers have only managed seven total points in consecutive losses at Penn State and Ohio State.

Tender feet, psyches

Here's where the Spartans are, and here's why the Gophers are worried. Interesting note at the bottom of that story on MarQueis Gray possibly alternating series with Adam Weber. I thought Gray looked promising for stretches of the Ohio State game, but he's young.

'They did what we wanted them to do'

Telling quote from Ricky Stanzi on the final play, in this look at Iowa's latest, greatest escape: "We knew they were going to bring pressure, so we brought Tony (in motion to the right) and got them moving to the other side, got them going one way and got the focus on Tony and got a one-on-one situation on the backside," Stanzi said. "They did what we wanted them to do in that situation for that play."