SID's JOTTINGS

• Giants quarterback Eli Manning has thrown 15 interceptions this season, including two in each of New York's first two possessions vs. the Bears in a 27-21 loss in Week 6. The 15 interceptions put him on a pace to challenge the NFL record of 42 set by George Blanda in 1962. But how will Manning do against the leaky Vikings pass defense?

• The Vikings have given up 308 passing yards per game, 29th in the NFL, with only the Cowboys, Eagles and the Broncos ranking worse. And the Vikings have only 10 sacks this year, ahead of only the Bears, Steelers and Giants. One plus for the Vikings is that they have intercepted seven passes in five games.

• The just-released 2018 and '19 Big Ten football schedules have the Gophers closing the season against Wisconsin both years, continuing a tradition of the past. The Gophers and Badgers haven't finished the season against each other since 2007, but they will do so each of the next six years.

• Former Gophers assistants Kevin Sumlin at Texas A&M and Tony Levine at Houston are having good seasons, but both coaches suffered shootout losses Saturday. Levine, who also played for the Gophers and was an assistant to Sumlin at Houston, was unbeaten before losing 47-46 to BYU. Sumlin's Aggies fell to Auburn 45-41.

• If you recall the Gophers paid North Carolina $800,000 last year to get out of a home-and-home football series. Well, the Tar Heels are 1-5 this year. However on Thursday, unbeaten Miami had to score with 16 seconds left to beat them 27-23.

• Lefthander Craig Breslow was with the Twins in 2008 and '09 and posted a 1-4 record with a 2.89 ERA in 59 games. Now he is with Boston and was 5-2 with a 1.81 ERA in the regular season, and going into Saturday he had pitched six shutout innings with five strikeouts this postseason.