Childress put faith in Webb, and it pays

For the critics of Brad Childress before and after he got fired, the former Vikings coach should be credited with, among other things, at least one great move: trading backup quarterback Sage Rosenfels to the Giants so that the team could keep sixth-round draft choice Joe Webb on the roster.

Even some members of Childress' coaching staff didn't agree with the trade of Rosenfels, but Childress was determined not to keep four quarterbacks on the roster. And he wasn't going to take a chance and ask waivers on Webb and lose him like the Vikings did in 2007 when they lost Tyler Thigpen. Thigpen had put in a great training camp and was thought to have a great future as a quarterback.

Thigpen hasn't done that well since then, however, going to Kansas City -- where he didn't play much -- and then to Miami, where he has been filling in for the depleted Dolphins quarterback group.

If Rosenfels had stayed with the Vikings, he certainly would have replaced injured Brett Favre and Tarvaris Jackson when they got hurt, and Webb certainly would never have gotten the opportunity he has received when he sparked the club to that big victory over the Eagles last week.

The Vikings had drafted Webb as a wide receiver, even though he was a quarterback at Alabama-Birmingham. But I recall Childress after a practice how he was raving about the great arm that Webb had, and that from that day on Webb was going to be a quarterback.

Childress said Saturday that he's happy to see Webb doing well, but the rookie still has a ways to go. "It will be interesting to see how well he does against Detroit," Childress said.

The jury is still out on Webb after only one great performance, but the Vikings' quarterback problem is not quite as serious with Webb on the roster. It would have been a disaster, with the Vikings badly in need of a quarterback, if Childress had decided to take the gamble of asking waivers on Webb, having some team claim him and Webb proving he could play in the NFL.

It turns out that the Lions, who watched Webb on film as they prepared for Sunday's game with the Vikings, were very impressed with the young quarterback, who threw for 195 yards and ran for 31 yards and a touchdown against the Eagles.

"Another Michael Vick, that's what I've seen," Lions safety Amari Spievey told the Detroit Free Press. "They were talking about how they were like the same speed coming out [of college]. I think I heard that on TV."

Well, let's not compare Webb with Vick after one great performance. But thanks to that great decision by Childress, Webb is wearing the purple.

Yes, Webb is slated to start Sunday, but there could be another Favre miracle like in the Bears game. The Vikings had the Lions guessing all week, and they expect Favre to start. And who knows? This is his last game, and he is going to make every effort to start.

State players in bowlsAccording to Minnesota SportsOnline,at least 36 football players from Minnesota were playing in bowl games, including eight who played for Wisconsin in Saturday's 21-19 Rose Bowl loss to TCU. They are Beau Allen of Minnetonka, Isaac Anderson of Blake, Casey Dehn of Owatonna, David Gilreath of Robbinsdale Armstrong, Brendan Kelly of Holy Angels, James McGuire of Cretin-Derham Hall, Blake Sorensen of Eden Prairie and Nate Tice of Edina. Cretin-Derham Hall has nine players in bowl games, including redshirt freshman Justin Trejo, an offensive guard on the TCU roster. Fritz Rock of Wayzata, whom the Gophers recruited and then dropped, played for Illinois in the Texas Bowl. The Sun Bowl had three Cretin-Derham Hall players on the rosters, including Michael Floyd and Joe Marek for Notre Dame and Seantrel Henderson for Miami. And Matt Slater, another Cretin-Derham Hall player, started for Boise State in the Maaco Bowl.

Former St. Thomas Academy standout Conor McFadden is traveling with Stanford to the Orange Bowl on Monday.

Former Eden Prairie standout Bryce McNaul had one tackle in Northwestern's 45-38 loss to Texas Tech on Saturday. McNaul, a junior linebacker, finished the season with 62 tackles, fifth-most on the Wildcats, and had one sack and one forced fumble.

Karl Klug, a senior defensive lineman for Iowa who graduated from Caledonia High School, had five tackles and one sack in the Hawkeyes' 27-24 victory over Missouri in the Insight Bowl on Wednesday. Klug finished the season as the Hawkeyes' eighth-leading tackler.

JottingsGophers basketball coach Tubby Smith would be the last to complain, but how can the Big Ten schedule a team against three contenders with a Tuesday game at Wisconsin, a Friday game the same week at Michigan State and a game the following week at Ohio State?

The word is that Gary Patterson, the coach of the great TCU team, was offered the Gophers job before Tim Brewster was hired, but he turned it down. However, Patterson called back after changing his mind, saying he had interest, but the job was no longer available.

Nine of the Gophers' football opponents last season will have played in a bowl game this year, and it could have been 10 had Southern California been eligible to play in a bowl. This is an indication of how tough the Gophers' schedule was. Seven former Gophers football captains, led by organizer Ray Hitchcock, met this past week with new football coach Jerry Kill to offer their help in any way to the football program.

North Dakota State and South Dakota State will be on the Gophers' basketball schedule next season.

Former Gophers men's hockey captain Gino Guyer is playing for Lillehammer IK in the GET-ligaen, the premier Norwegian hockey league, and is leading the league in scoring with 44 points through 27 games. Guyer is a former graduate of Greenway High School and played for the Gophers from 2002-2006.

Gopher men's hockey goaltending recruit Joel Vienneau is having a rough year for the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL, where he is 9-8. His 3.57 goals-against average is 23rd in the league.

Cory Joseph, the brother of Gophers guard Devoe Joseph, is starting to play well in his freshman season as the starting point guard for the Texas Longhorns. Through his first eight games, Cory Joseph was averaging 9.1 points per game, but in his past five games -- all victories for Texas -- he is averaging 15.8 points.

On the season, Joseph is tied for third on the team in scoring at 11.7 points per game, first in minutes per game at 31.9, first in assists per game at 3.1 and fourth in rebounds per game with 3.8.

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