Not only has Troy Stoudermire become the first Gopher honored this season as a Big Ten player of the week -- he earned the special-teams honor this week for his 90-yard kickoff return that set up a critical fourth-quarter Gophers touchdown -- but he's finally claimed the league's career record as his own. For awhile, anyway.
Stoudermire is 54 yards ahead of Robbinsdale Armstrong grad David Gilreath, Wisconsin's all-time kickoff-return leader, 2,920 yards to 2,866. But Gilreath should reclaim the mark by season's end; Wisconsin has two games and a bowl game remaining this season, while Stoudermire has only the Nov. 27 game against Iowa to add to his total.
Gilreath is a senior, however, while Stoudermire can return next year for one more season of kick returns, which could put the record out of reach.
- Not much to report on the coaching search front, which isn't a surprise. The Gophers have been doing their homework on the various candidates, but actually contacting coaches and doing interviews must wait until the regular season ends Dec. 4.
- The Gophers still have roughly 1,500 seats remaining for the Iowa game, which they will put on sale Thursday at 9 a.m. Tickets are $60 each and are mostly located in the east end zone. They can be purchased at the Mariucci Arena box office, over the phone at 1-800-U-Gopher, or online at mygophersports.com.
