Despite their 5-7 record, the Minnesota Gopher football team will play in a post-season bowl game – the Quick Lane Bowl, which is on Dec. 28 at Ford Field in Detroit.
They’ll play Central Michigan, from the MAC conference, which went 7-5 this season, according to ESPN. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. CST, and the game will be televised on ESPN2.
The #Gophers are going bowling! Minnesota will take on Central Michigan in the @QuickLaneBowl in Detroit. pic.twitter.com/hGTWfJUVJr
— Minnesota Football (@GopherFootball) December 6, 2015
The Gophers are 0-7 in bowl games over the past 11 years. Their last bowl win was in 2004, when they beat Alabama in the Music City Bowl, the Star Tribune reports.
The Gophers are one of three 5-7 teams to receive a bowl bid this year. The NCAA usually requires teams have at least six wins to get to a bowl game. But with so many bowl games – 40 this year – and 80 spots to fill, only 77 teams in the country made it to six victories, according to the Star Tribune.
The other two 5-7 teams chosen are Nebraska and San Jose State.
Some sports writers have been critical of the idea that a team with a losing record could still make it to a bowl game.
Gophers head coach Tracy Claeys said he wouldn’t decline a bowl game because it would be good experience for his young players.
Ten of the Big Ten’s 14 teams are playing in bowl games this season. The lineup of those games is here.
