After Jerry Kill retired for health reasons on Oct. 28, this sentiment lingered in the air: Tracy Claeys was taking over as Gophers football head coach, but really he was just occupying the seat in the program Kill was trying to build.

Limited in his options, Claeys on Sunday took the boldest and surest route to carving out his own identity: He fired offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover, a man he had coached alongside essentially as an equal for most of 16 years.

He might not have done it for power, but this was a power move. Claeys made it very clear this is his team, not Kill's.

a good one The consensus in both Las Vegas and at fivethirtyeight.com is that Sunday's game between the Seahawks and Vikings is a tossup.

anniversary Monday marked the nine-year anniversary of Dan Monson resigning as Gophers coach after losing to Clemson at Williams Arena.