ESPN’s experts both have the Gophers playing in the New Year’s Day Outback Bowl, with one pitting the Gophers against Alabama and the other offering Tennessee as the opponent.
Jerry Palm of CBS Sports has Minnesota playing in the Citrus Bowl against Alabama. That game would also be played on New Year’s Day.
Brett McMurphy of Stadium.com also has the Outback Bowl as the destination for the Gophers and Alabama.
247 Sports likes the Gophers in the Gator Bowl against Auburn, and they’re explanation for why Minnesota might not get to meet Alabama makes quite a bit of sense. As they explain further below, the Citrus Bowl gets first pick of an SEC team that doesn’t get invited to a New Year’s Six bowl, and the obvious choice, they say, is Alabama.
“An interesting note to the Citrus Bowl’s preferred teams — final rankings won’t matter. The Citrus could take Auburn over Alabama, but that seems unlikely. Minnesota could be the Big Ten’s highest-ranked team following New Year’s Six selections, but the Gophers weren’t a big enough draw in Orlando to end the 2014 season (loss to Mizzou).”
A Minnesota-Auburn game would be really entertaining, but it’s not quite the same as drawing Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide.
