How long has it been since the Gophers won a bowl game?
All you really need to know is that the win came against the Alabama Crimson Tide.
That’s the same SEC team that have won three of the last four national championships, have lost just five games in that stretch, and have produced 11 first-round picks in the last three years.
Sorry Gopher fans, there’s no competing with that if your program has had massive success, let alone the level of success Minnesota has had.
Needless to say, the 2004 Alabama team that went down to the Gophers in the Music City Bowl 20-16 on Dec. 31 of that year isn’t the same same program they are now. Nick Saban came along in 2007, and the rest is history.
As for the Gophers, they have lost five consecutive bowl games since that win, some in spectacular fashion (2006 Insight Bowl below), others in one-sided affairs (see 2008 Insight Bowl loss to Kansas).
Today may not seem like a big day for the Gophers since their bowl is being played on Dec. 27 against a six-win Syracuse team, but just for the sake of saying they’ve won a postseason game since Alabama became Alabama, it’s bigger than you think.
