Unsurprisingly, the outside sports world isn’t too thrilled by the upcoming Gophers-Bowling Green Quick Lane Bowl matchup.
Yahoo! Sports ranked all 41 bowl games and the Quick Lane Bowl was listed as the worst of the lot. Here’s what Yahoo’s Nick Bromberg said about Gophers’ fifth bowl game in the PJ Fleck era:
Minnesota is the only sub-.500 team in a bowl game thanks to its Academic Progress Rate. The Gophers will play without QB Athan Kaliakmanis after he entered the transfer portal. Minnesota averages just 303 yards a game and gives up six yards a play. Bowling Green won five of its last six to get bowl eligible and its only loss in that span came to Toledo as the Rockets got a 59-yard TD to go ahead with 1:45 to go.
Minnesota has won the Quick Lane Bowl twice before in school history. The first time in 2015 when Mitch Leidner led the Gophers to a 21-14 win over Central Michigan and again in 2018 when Mo Ibrahim ran for 224 yards and two touchdowns in a 34-10 win over Georgia Tech.
Under Fleck, the Gophers are 4-0 in bowl games but will have a tall task ahead of them after a number of players have decided to enter the transfer portal, including starting QB Athan Kaliakmanis.
The Quick Lane Bowl will kick off at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 26 at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan.
Seven other Big Ten teams will take part in bowl games over the next month. Here’s how those seven games placed in Yahoo’s rankings.
29. Rutgers vs Miami Pinstripe Bowl
27. Northwestern vs Utah Las Vegas Bowl
18. Maryland vs Auburn Music City Bowl
17. Wisconsin vs LSU ReliaQuest Bowl
7. Iowa vs Tennessee Citrus Bowl
4. Missouri vs Ohio State Cotton Bowl
1. Michigan vs Alabama Rose Bowl
