It was no different against the Gophers

Source: Dataquest 2008 About Titan Property and Casualty Insurance CompanyIllinois based Titan Property and Casualty supports small town businesses withcost-effective and quality insurance coverage. The company offers a wide rangeof products under its Artisan and Business Owners insurance policies. 3i Infotech Inc.Vice President - Insurance PracticeSukirat Kochar, Copyright Business Wire 2009. After touching base with the quarterbacks , running backs , and wide receivers for this week, we end Week 11's rankings with the tight ends:1 Dallas Clark BAL 2 Antonio Gates DEN 3 Tony Gonzalez NYG 4 Vernon Davis GB 5 Brent Celek CHI 6 Kellen Winslow vs NO 7 Jason Witten vs WAS 8 Greg Olsen vs PHI 9 John Carlson MN 10 Jeremy Shockey TB 11 Visanthe Shiancoe vs SEA 12 Heath Miller KC 13 Dustin Keller NE 14 Kevin Boss vs ATL (Sit ) 15 Zach Miller vs CIN 17 Fred Davis DAL 18 James Casey vs TEN 19 Brandon Pettigrew vs CLE 20 Marcedes Lewis vs. BUF Notes: Tony Gonzalez should be a bit more active than usual, and regardless of the Giants defensive history over the past few years, they simply aren't an elite unit right now. He gets the nod over Vernon Davis by a hair due to Green Bay's ability to stop tight ends this year.

John Carlson and Visanthe Shiancoe will be playing in the same game, and both could have solid days. Carlson caught his first touchdown last week in what seems like forever, and he's facing a Minnesota defense that gives up points to tight ends. Seattle, on the other hand, has given up an average of seven catches per game to tight ends through their last three games. James Casey is our darkhorse at tight end this week, as he returns from minor knee surgery to attempt to take over for Owen Daniels. He won't be starting, but head coach Gary Kubiak voiced his pleasure with Casey, and said he'll be a big part of the offense going forward. Look for him to do some damage as Tennesseeconcentrates on Andre Johnson.For more player analysis, check out this week's Fantasy Player Breakdowns at NFLSoup . Cant you just picture defensive coordinator Norm Parker making like Sandy, the head greens keeper from Caddyshack in the pregame speech to his defense Assistant greens keeper, Carl Spackler of course would be the Iowa defenselets say played by senior linebacker Pat Angerer. Perhaps the exchange was similar to this one from the all-time great movie: Sandy : I want you to kill every gopher on the golf course!Carl Spackler : Correct me if I'm wrong Sandy, but if I kill all the golfers, they're gonna lock me up and throw away the key.Sandy : Not golfers, you great fool! Gophers! The little brown, furry rodents!Carl Spackler : We can do that; we don't even have to have a reason.

All right, lets do the same thing, but with gophers!Well, whatever Parker said or did to rev up his defense, it certainly worked on Saturday against the little brown, furry rodents. A stout defense was able to bail out an anemic offense time after time, as the Hawkeyes notched back-to-back shutouts of the Gophers for the first time since 1955-56. Iowa has racked up a total of 10 wins this regular season for only the fourth time in school history. Not a single one of those wins came easy. It was no different against the Gophers.The win ugly formula has worked all year for Iowa. What may seem ugly to us, Im sure is a thing of beauty to Coach Ferentz. This car that isnt the most shinny on the lot has continued to be a very reliable form of transportation this season.On a day filled with tremendous defensive play from start to finish, perhaps their finest hour came when Minnesota was set up for 1st -and-goal on the Iowa two-yard line following a pass interference penalty in the end zone.Two rushing plays up the middle are both stuffed by Pat Angerer and the d-line. An incomplete pass on 3rd down brought up 4th and goal. Down 12-0, it was a no-brainer to go for it. Minnesota quarterback Adam Weber set up in the shotgun, but had no time to find an open receiver as Broderick Binns drew pressure and the sack was finished by Binns line mates Adrian Clayborn and Christian Ballard. If the Gophers couldnt punch it across in that situation, they had little hope of crossing the goal line, period. The Iowa offense, on the other hand has its share of struggles. Quarterback James Vandenberg took his lumps. Frequent well-timed blitzes by the Minnesota secondary stalled drive after drive and didnt allow Iowa to get into much of an offensive rhythm. Minnesotas best scoring chance was set up on a fumbled center-quarterback exchange on the Iowa 29-yard line. Vandenberg finished the day 11 of 24 for 117 yards, one interception, zero touchdowns. He was sacked four times.The running game was practically nonexistent after starting running back Adam Robinson left the game in the 2nd quarter after aggravating an ankle injury suffered a few weeks ago at Michigan St.Throw in a blocked extra point on the only touchdown of the game, and it was very obvious to all that the Iowa defense is what brought home the baconerrbronze on this day. Floyd will reside yet another year in the atrium of the Jacobson Football Complex. The Hawkeyes have held up their end of the bargain and done all they can to secure the best bowl possible. Iowas final bowl destination will now be determined based upon factors that are completely out of their hands. There will be plenty of time to speculate on where they will end up. For now, lets just sit back, have a little turkey this week, and enjoy the tremendous season that was.. Saturday's stunning loss to UConn hassealed the fate of Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis, who has likely coached his last home game for the Irish.Despite a show of support for their coach by the seniors prior to the game, Weis will be gone following the season."It was an idea that myself and two other guys had," quarterback Jimmy Clausen said. "It was Senior Day, but coach Weis has gone through a lot, and we're behind him 110 percent. And that's what we were trying to do today."Weis had nothing to gain by beating UConn, really. But by losing, for the third straight week and for the second consecutive year to a Big East team on Senior Day, he surrendered all chance of returning for a sixth season.As ESPN hasreported, Unlike previous difficult losses, athletic director Jack Swarbrick didn't come into the media room after the game to answer questions There was no need.

Swarbrick has insisted that he will evaluate Weis at the end of the season and won't make any announcements until after next week's season finale at Stanford But there is nothing left to evaluate. The Irish will be heavy underdogs to Stanford, and a defeat will guarantee a third straight non-winning regular season.As usual, Weis deflected any questions about his own status, saying only that he felt "absolutely miserable" for the seniors. "Today's not the day for me to reflect on things like that," he said. "I'll worry about me tomorrow."In a strange, convoluted way, as in how a train wreck is tragic yet you can't turn your eyes away, the end of the Weis era will be a sad moment for the program.