Sid Hartman: Regardless of QB, Vikings need to win

Darren Sharper spent eight seasons at Green Bay with only one quarterback starting for the Packers in Brett Favre. Now in his fourth season with the Vikings, he will see the team go with its sixth starting QB over that period today, with Gus Frerotte joining Daunte Culpepper, Brad Johnson, Tarvaris Jackson, Kelly Holcomb and Brooks Bollinger.

Sharper pointed to one of the few quarterback changes that made a big difference right away, when Tom Brady replaced injured Drew Bledsoe with New England in 2001 and the first of three Super Bowl championships soon followed.

How the substitution of Frerotte for Jackson will fare, time will tell.

But regardless of who the quarterback is today, Sharper said it is of the utmost importance for the Vikings to beat Carolina.

"It's pivotal, to get this victory [today]," he said. "I think it will be the time for us to get our swagger back, get our confidence going and playing great football. We haven't been blown out, but we haven't won. At the end of the day they look at the record, if someone goes 16-0, who cares that they won all their games by one point. You care if they won the game. It's all about winning, you know that."

Sharper is convinced that the 0-2 record doesn't kill the Vikings' chances to win the NFC North with 14 games still to play.

"I've been on teams that have been 0-4, 1-3, and won six, seven games in a row, ended up winning the division. So it can be done," Sharper said.

Despite the benching, Sharper believes that Jackson has a fine future in the NFL.

"T-Jack is a mature kid, and he understands that there are going to be bumps in the road," Sharper said. "He has a long career ahead of him, and he's still going to be a quality quarterback in this league. He needs to keep that mind frame, 'I'm going to keep working and prove to everybody that I can be a starting quarterback in this league.' If he continues to do that, everything will work out for him.

"He does have that potential. People have to remember this is still only his third year and he has a long, long time left to play. ... We understand this is a business and things like that are going to happen, there are going to be position changes. You just have to continue to play and support whoever is at the quarterback position. You never get caught up in rooting for one guy over the other, because we're all a team and everybody wants each player to play well -- that's going to help us win."

Young team develops The Gophers started three seniors on Saturday in the 37-3 victory over Florida Atlantic -- tight end Jack Simmons on offense and defensive end Willie VanDeSteeg and linebacker Deon Hightower on defense. And the second team had one senior on offense in quarterback Tony Mortensen and two on defense in defensive end William Brody and linebacker Steve Davis.

"I believe we are the youngest college team in the country," coach Tim Brewster said.

The three points for Florida Atlantic was the lowest total for a Gophers opponent since Sept. 16, 2006, when they beat a pitiful Temple team 62-0.

"I couldn't be more pleased with our defense. Our defense today and all season long has been very opportunistic," Brewster said. "They're making plays. We limited a very good quarterback. Rusty Smith is an excellent quarterback but never got in any rhythm today. Our defensive front did a great job getting around his feet and taking him off his rhythm. We knew that was going to be critical."

Smith completed 27 of 44 passes for 463 yards and five touchdowns and no interceptions a year ago against the Gophers in a 42-39 Owls victory in Miami. Smith, who went on to earn Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year honors last season, had a much tougher time vs. the Gophers this year, completing 17 of 34 passes for 153 yards, no touchdowns and four interceptions. Smith ended up getting replaced in the fourth quarter.

"Minnesota will be good in the Big Ten," said Smith, whose team lost 17-0 at Michigan State last week.

Gophers receiver Eric Decker, who had another big day with seven receptions for 122 yards and one touchdown along with two carries for 14 yards, described the game as one big for momentum, as the team enters conference play 4-0. "Our defense played great," he said. "We're not going to get any more out of them. On offense, we still have some things to fix up. We have confidence going into next week. ... If we do what the coach tells us to do, we can be successful."

The Gophers defense forced four turnovers this week, three last week against Montana State and five against Bowling Green two weeks ago. New defensive coordinator Ted Roof must have something to do with turning what was the worst defense in the nation a year ago into one that can compete.

Jottings The Vikings managed to sell out this week's game against Carolina, getting the game televised on local television. But they might have trouble with their next two home games, vs. Detroit and Houston, where the team still has about 7,000 tickets to sell.

Once nearly 3,000 more season tickets are sold, the new Gophers football stadium will be assured of a sellout for every home game next year.

Former Gophers running back Gary Russell was released by the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday. Russell hadn't played this season after playing in three games a year ago, getting seven carries for 21 yards.

The Gophers had several blue-chip recruits watching Saturday's game, including running back Hasan Lipscomb of Cypress Ridge High School in Houston; he has verbally committed. Artice Kellam and Frank Crawford are two very highly recruited players from Gulliver Preparatory School in suburban Miami who want to go to college together.

Also on the sidelines Saturday was highly recruited Minneapolis Washburn tight end Ra'Shede Hageman. He said the Gophers are still on his list but will visit Ohio State and Wisconsin and maybe Florida before he makes a decision.