Gopher Bowl Predictions: New Years in Florida or Christmas in Texas?
By Frank Bi
With two regular season games remaining on the Gopher football schedule, let’s talk about which bowl game Minnesota could play in at the end of the year.
The Gophers’ 8-2 overall record and 4-2 conference record is good enough for fourth place in the Big Ten, which would likely place the Gophers in the Gator Bowl on New Year’s Day at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Fla. This is currently the consensus among predictions from ESPN, Yahoo Sports and CBS Sports. Minnesota’s opponent, according to this group, would be an SEC school likely between Missouri, Georgia or Ole Miss.
Meanwhile, the Big Ten Network is straying from the pack and predicting that the Gophers will play in the Texas Bowl on Dec. 27 against Texas Tech — a foe the Gophers are very familiar with in postseason matchups having lost to the Red Raiders last year in the same bowl game. The two teams also played each other in the 2006 Insight Bowl.
So what will it be — Houston post-Christmas or New Years in Jacksonville?