License to Kill....Gophers

The Motor City Bowl will wrap up the BG season.  Our opponent will be the Gophers of Minnesota

This is part of the wild world that is college sports...and one that will apparently just get wilder.

So you play a bowl game.  One of the teams has a losing record--the only team with a losing record in a bowl game.  Both have lost players since the last game of the regular season.  It is, in some ways, a whole new start.  No point in doing the whole scouting thing given that.  So let's just hit some high points.

The Series is Tied 2-2

BG has lost twice to Minnesota, once in the Ankney era and once at the Doyt under Gregg Brandon.  BG won under Brandon in Minnesota (think Sheehan to Barnes in the corner for a winning 2-pt) and then in Loeffler's 3rd year with a win that is as improbable as any win we've ever had.

Different Trajectories

BG comes into the game having won 5 of its last 6, while Minnesota lost its last 4...Illinois. Purdue, OSU and Wisconsin for the bloody ax or some shit.

Tell-Tale Opponents

Minnesota beat EMU 25-6 and lost to UM 52-10, a 17-point worse margin of victory against Michigan than BG had.

Terion Stewart

Coach said he was a game-time decision, which is what he always says.  He went on to talk about Patterson, Johnson and Wimberly carrying the load.  I don't expect Stewart to play, and of course, Keith is in the portal.

Gopher QB

The Gophers had to scramble to have a QB.  They had 3 scholarship QBs on the roster and two of them went into the portal.  Cole Kramer had decided he was going to skip the whole affair and move to Arizona to a house he owns and start his life.  Word is the Gophers paid him $30,000 in NIL to make one last appearance.

He played only 6 snaps this year.  This is his first start and he was the wildcat QB in 2021.

Four Gophers All-Big Ten

First team 

Tyler Nubin, DB

Dragan Kesich, K.  (Special Teams Player of the year).

Second-team

WR : Daniel Jackson, Minnesota

OT : Aireontae Ersery, Minnesota

Fleck Is Minnesota-Successful

We all like to joke about Fleck.  Doesn't seem to bother him.  He puts himself out there.  It is an elite thing to do.  And we know what he did at WMU.  In 7 years at Minnesota, he has won 59% of his games, the best winning percentage for a Minnesota coach since Bernie Bierman, who coached on both sides of World War II.

Fleck threw an INT in the Gameday game at the Doyt.

Running Gophers

They run the ball on 61% of their plays.  I'd expect to see that even more.  However, they averaged only 3.9 yards per carry.  The good news is that the portal-holes in the d-backfield may not make too big a difference.

Healthy again?

Both teams should be healthy again.  This will also make it interesting.  I'm especially looking forward to seeing a healthy Hilaire running around one last time for the Falcons.  Would also love to see the Bazelak from the first half of the Toledo game.

Vegas?

As of the weekend, Minnesota is favored by 3.5, which has been bet down from a 5.5 open. ESPN gives the Gophers a 60% chance of winning.

I'm looking forward to it.  I'd like us to finish strong, 8 wins would be great and there are no insignificant wins over Big 10 teams when you are in the MAC.

That's all she wrote.