Sid Hartman: Lions lowly, but no pushovers

If you check the scores of last season's Vikings victories over the hapless Lions -- 12-10 at the Metrodome and 20-16 in the Motor City -- you can see why veteran offensive guard Steve Hutchinson looks for a tough game on the road Sunday even though Detroit has lost 24 of its past 25 games.

One good sign: Coach Brad Childress is 5-1 against the Lions. Another reason for a Vikings victory.

"We're coming out and working hard every day, trying to get better," Hutchinson said. "We're 1-0, and that's the way you want to start out, but we have a lot of work ahead of us."

How about playing Detroit, which the Vikings have dominated?

"I wouldn't say we have dominated them," he said. "The last couple of years, every game has come down to the wire. They play us very tough. Their record last year wasn't indicative of how they played us here or when we went there. As far as I'm concerned, we have our work cut for us.

So you look for a tough game? "Absolutely," he said.

What about their defensive line? Are they still pretty tough?

"With the exception of Grady Jackson in there, they have a handful of young players who look to be very active on film," Hutchinson said. "Guys that have high motors -- the kind of guys you want on a team."

So their record means nothing? "Absolutely," he answered.

How do you feel about the Viking offensive line?

"It's a work in progress," he said. "We have two new guys [center John Sullivan and tackle Phil Loadholt] this year. The more experience we get, the better off we will be."

How have they done so far? "Pretty good, but we all have a ways to go," he said.

What do you guys have this year that you didn't have last year, except Brett Favre?

"I think a little more experience, a little more cohesiveness," he said. "The guys have been together for a year or two now. Some guys like myself have been here since Coach Childress came in. The more continuity you can build, the better off you will be."

Can you compete with anybody in the league right now?

"I think we have a lot of work to do," he said. "Thank God we're not playing every team in the league this weekend. We have one game this weekend, one game next weekend. That's the way it goes. We have to continue to get better, and take it week to week."

Hutchinson is one of the real leaders on the Vikings. He is right: The Lions for some reason always give the Vikings a battle even though they lost 45-27 to the Saints last week.

If the Gophers are to have any chance to beat No. 8 California, a 14-point favorite in Saturday's game, the offensive line will have to play a lot better than it did in victories over Syracuse and Air Force so that quarterback Adam Weber can move the ball effectively and keep the defense off the field.

Tim Davis, the Gophers' highly touted offensive line coach -- who was involved in coaching the lines at Southern California for three years, when the Trojans won two national titles -- is hoping that left tackle Matt Stommes, who has been sidelined with ankle injury, can play.

"As far as potential, body size and those type of things he has that part," said Davis about Stommes, whom Davis believes could have played on the good USC lines he coached. "Dominic Alford has come in and done a nice job. Stommes will play when he gets back and gets to full speed."

Davis said that left guard Chris Bunders, a 324-pound redshirt freshman from Maple Grove, ended up grading out the best of any offensive lineman last week.

"[Bunders] did a nice job, and he continues to improve," said Davis. "[Center] Jeff Tow-Arnett knows what to do and how to do it -- he is going to show that this week. Matt Carufel continues to develop as a leader and then the right tackle, Jeff Wills, he gets better, too. We are taking steps in progress every week."

Davis has a lot of respect for Cal coach Jeff Tedford, who was at Cal when Davis was in the Pac-10 at USC.

"Every year it was tough -- it was a hard, hard game. In fact, they beat us my first year in Berkeley in triple overtime, and continually, he is a great coach and hires real good guys and his kids play tough," Davis said.

"They play a pro system, they play the West Coast offense," he added. "They will throw, play-action game, a good run game, good hard-nosed defense, you will get everything from them, when they come. Absolutely, [it will be a tough test], and we aren't expecting anything less.

''[Tedford] is a very good coach, an excellent coach for what he does, since he has been there. I grew up right next to Berkeley, in Castro Valley, so we grew up watching Berkeley play and he is by far been the most positive thing about Berkeley these days.''

Even though California is a big favorite to roll over the Gophers, the one hope is that the Golden Bears have lost eight of their past nine games on the road, and four in a row going back to last year, when they lost at Maryland, USC, Arizona and Oregon State.

Cameron Jordan, the 6-4, 287-pound California defensive end, is the son of former Vikings Pro Bowl tight end Steve Jordan. In an article in Cal's Kickoff game magazine, young Jordan told how his dad got him interested in football when he was in eighth grade.

"My dad threw me a football. He was like, 'I don't want to be that dad, but I am going to have to be that dad. You are 13 now. It's time to see if you like the sport or not. All I am asking is that you do the sport one year and try it.' The rest is history. Jordan earned all-state honors at Chandler High School in Arizona and enrolled at Cal as a highly recruited player."

Will Kapp, son of former Vikings quarterback and California coach Joe Kapp, plays fullback for the Golden Bears. The elder Kapp led the Golden Bears to their last Rose Bowl appearance in 1959.

The Twins rank fifth in attendance in the American League behind the Yankees, who are first, followed by the Angels, Red Sox and Tigers. After 75 games, the Twins have drawn 2,109,761 fans. The average of 28,130, compares with 2,069,791 a year ago, an average of 27,597 in the same number of games.

Jake Mauer, brother of Twins catcher Joe, was named manager of the year in the Gulf Coast League even though the Twins' minor league team didn't win the league title. It was won by the Nationals' farm team.

Center Elliott Eliason of Chadron, Neb., has announced that he has committed to Minnesota after visiting the campus last week.

Although he comes from a small community, the 6-11 Eliason was offered scholarships by Nebraska, Washington State, Colorado State, Creighton and Stanford.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO AM-830 at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. • shartman@startribune.com