I can't remember when a Vikings offensive line was in such bad shape as it is going into Sunday's game against Buffalo. You wonder what interim coach Leslie Frazier will do now that All-Pro left guard Steve Hutchinson might be out because of a broken thumb.

Hutchinson, being the competitor he is, said he hopes he can play, but he wore a big cast on his arm Wednesday and appears likely not only to miss this game but others to follow as well.

Hutchinson's injury follows the season-ending loss last week of starting right guard Anthony Herrera, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee Nov. 21 and will need surgery.

The only real offensive lineman with lot of experience who will start Sunday is left tackle Bryant McKinnie. Center John Sullivan has had problems with his calf all season and left in the first quarter against the Bears on Nov. 14. He did play the entire game at Washington on Sunday.

The Vikings are not deep on the offensive line, and it has been a problem all year. You wonder how the rest of the offensive line will operate. Right tackle Phil Loadholt has continued to start, though he doesn't seem to be as effective this year as he was in his rookie season. Ryan Cook is now at right guard after previously having started at center and right tackle. If Hutchinson can't go, fifth-round draft pick Chris DeGeare will get his first NFL start.

The other offensive linemen who might be see time are Jon Cooper, who has played some at center in place of Sullivan, and Pat Brown, who was recently promoted from the practice squad.

And with Adrian Peterson sporting a bum ankle and defensive end Ray Edwards also a question mark for Sunday, the Vikings are rough shape health-wise vs. the Bills.

Holtz has great year Skip Holtz, in his first year as the coach at South Florida, has posted a 7-4 record, and he no doubt cost Randy Shannon his job as the coach at Miami when the Bulls beat the Hurricanes 23-20 in overtime Saturday in Miami.

At Southern California, the Trojans have Lane Kiffin as coach and his father, Monte, as defensive coordinator. A Skip-Lou Holtz combination would be great for the Gophers, but Skip, who joined South Florida after five successful years at East Carolina, would probably not leave his new job after one year. And with the great number of recruits available in the state and the area, South Florida might be a better job than Minnesota. But it would be a great combination and something for Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi to think about.

If Maturi has talked to Montreal Alouettes coach Marc Trestman, neither Maturi nor Trestman will say it. I don't know if Trestman -- a St. Louis Park High School product and former Gophers quarterback -- would be interested in the Gophers job. But he has coached the Alouettes for three years now, winning the Grey Cup the past two years after losing in the final his first year. For a long time, Bud Grant dominated the Canadian Football League and now it's the 54-year-old Trestman, an assistant coach for some 25 seasons before getting a head coaching opportunity with Montreal. Grant describes Trestman as one of the smartest football coaches he has ever been associated with. When speculation over Trestman coming to Minnesota came up after the Gophers fired Tim Brewster in October, Alouettes President Larry Smith said the team expected Trestman to honor his contract through the end of 2012.

JottingsFormer Vikings coach Brad Childress is in Florida. Childress was on the telephone Wednesday saying how happy he was to see the Vikings beat Washington. "I'm happy for the guys," said Childress, now on his first break from coaching either in college or in the pros in a long time.

All the Vikings assistants have one more year on their contracts, and that includes Frazier. They all got an extension when Childress got his contract his in November 2009.

As for the Gophers assistant coaches, they will get paid until Feb. 15, but they have to spend only a couple days a week in the office until their contracts expire -- unless the new coach hires them. Interim coach Jeff Horton has scheduled the only recruiting weekend Dec. 10-11 until the new coach is named. ... Attendance at TCF Bank Stadium this year totaled 346,593, an average of 49,513. When the Gophers stadium opened in 2009, it was a little higher at 355,635, an average of 50,635. Student tickets dropped quite a bit, averaging 8,421 this year compared with 10,420 in 2009.

Randy Moss caught three passes for 23 yards in Tennessee's 20-0 loss to Houston on Sunday. In three games with the Titans, he has only four catches for 49 yards and no touchdowns. On the season, he has 26 receptions for 362 yards and five TDs between the Titans, Vikings and Patriots.

In his first seven seasons in the NBA, Darko Milicic had only four games where he scored 20 points or more. But the Timberwolves center entered Wednesday with three already this season. Over the same period, Milicic averaged nine games per season in which he had three or more blocked shots, but he had 12 such games in the Wolves' first 17 games of the season. Milicic entered Wednesday night's game at Dallas with at least three blocks in his previous seven games, matching the longest such streak in franchise history, set by the late Eddie Griffin in January 2005.

Two former Gophers defensive coordinators could find themselves in BCS bowl games this January. Ted Roof, who was with the Gophers in 2008 under Brewster before taking the same position with Auburn under Gene Chizik last year, is in line to coach in the national championship game if the Tigers win the SEC championship over South Carolina. Greg Hudson, a Gophers assistant under Glen Mason from 2001 to '04, coached with Skip Holtz for five years at East Carolina and now is the assistant head coach for defense and the linebackers coach under new Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher, whose Seminoles play Virginia Tech for the ACC title on Saturday.

It appears that Chaska basketball standout Ross Travis is headed for Penn State, while Hawks teammate Jacob White will also play Division I basketball at Wichita State. Both are 6-7 forwards.

Jim Molinari, who coached the Gophers in 2006-07 after Dan Monson took a buyout, is in his third year with Western Illinois and has the Leathernecks off to a 2-3 start heading into Thursday's game vs. Oral Roberts.

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