ESPN: Big Ten bowl projections: Week 14 (Gophs in Meineke Car Care Bowl)

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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But for now, we're sticking with our projection of Nebraska as Big Ten champion, though we reserve the right to change our mind before our official Big Ten title game picks later this week. So the bowl lineup looks like this:

Rose Bowl, Jan. 1: Nebraska
Capital One Bowl, Jan. 1: Michigan
Outback Bowl, Jan. 1: Northwestern
Gator Bowl, Jan. 1: Wisconsin
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, Dec. 29: Michigan State
Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas, Dec. 28: Minnesota
Heart of Dallas Bowl, Jan. 1: Purdue
Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, Dec. 26: At large (will not filled by Big Ten)

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/66245/big-ten-bowl-projections-week-14-4

Go Gophers!!
 



Please don't be WVU. Please don't be WVU. Please don't be WVU. I wish Ohio State and Penn State were eligible. Ohio State would be going to the national title. Penn State to the Gator Bowl, and we'd get a nice winnable game in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. The Big Ten would look light years better in the public eye. Instead, every bowl win in the conference will be an upset (except maybe the Huskers).
 





Gophers will probably be picked after Purdue, as Purdue has momentum, at least they did until Hope was fired. And if we play against a team that can run the ball, we will be in trouble. A passing team though gives us a chance for a competitive match-up. Especially if our line heals up.

Sent from my PLAYSTATION PHONE using tapatalk
 

GopherInPittsburgh said:
The Big 12 blog has WVU being the team we'd face. That game could get ugly.

http://espn.go.com/blog/big12/post/_/id/60326/big-12-bowl-projections-week-14-3
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Glancing at their stats it seems like they do most of their damage through the air which is the one thing we do an okay job against defensively. Compared to Iowa State the WVU defense is far weaker. Clearly ISU is the better overall matchup since they are very average across the board but man would that have the potential to be a really really really boring game.
 



Would prefer the Cyclones. Haven't seen WV play too much this year, but Geno Smith is very good. I would hate to see what he would do against our defense. On the other hand, their defense is pretty much non-existent. I still think we would have a better shot against IS. Maybe some payback for our bowl matchup a few years ago. Stanford got theirs. IS is next.
 

We do have a month before the bowl game. There are a lot of injuries now, but I wonder what the injury situation will be like for our bowl game. Some injuries may not be much better off, other players may be ready to go. Does anyone have an estimate?
 

No idea. It will be very interesting to see who we pull for the bowl. As much as I hated to see the Gophers lose yesterday (didn't help that we had an obnoxious MSU fan in our section), it may be in our best interest. This team isn't ready for an upper half SEC/Big 12 team. MSU outplayed us in every aspect of the game. They will be a MUCH better matchup for one of those teams.
 

Dilemina said:
Gophers will probably be picked after Purdue, as Purdue has momentum, at least they did until Hope was fired. And if we play against a team that can run the ball, we will be in trouble. A passing team though gives us a chance for a competitive match-up. Especially if our line heals up.

Sent from my PLAYSTATION PHONE using tapatalk
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I think the coach's firing ensured the Gophers being picked before them. Besides Gophers beat Purdue as well.
 



Anyway, at this stage I am just glad they got a bowl game and the extra time practicing. Though obviously I want them to win the game, at this stage in development, not as concerned about that as I am about them getting the extra time.
 

I think the Gophers get picked before Purdue due to the coaching change. Can't agree with those hoping for the easier match up as the Gophers could lose that too. I still remember them fumbling away an "easy" win over Iowa State a few years ago. I'd really rather not see the Gophers lose to both Iowa teams again, that sucked. If they do play ISU, it will be an interesting game because they were a solid team despite being unable to settle on a QB all year. Their team speed really stood out against Iowa.

One other thing to keep in mind, a lot of teams don't come to these minor bowls ready to play. Minnesota could theoretically beat a WVU team that is disappointed to end up in a minor bowl.
 

EG#9 said:
I think the Gophers get picked before Purdue due to the coaching change. Can't agree with those hoping for the easier match up as the Gophers could lose that too. I still remember them fumbling away an "easy" win over Iowa State a few years ago. I'd really rather not see the Gophers lose to both Iowa teams again, that sucked. If they do play ISU, it will be an interesting game because they were a solid team despite being unable to settle on a QB all year. Their team speed really stood out against Iowa.

One other thing to keep in mind, a lot of teams don't come to these minor bowls ready to play. Minnesota could theoretically beat a WVU team that is disappointed to end up in a minor bowl.
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I was at the game. If I remember right, right before we fumbled my only concern was that we were going to get stopped and have to kick the FG too early and ISU would have time to respond.
 

CBS has us playing Baylor. Now that would be UGLY.


Meineke Car Care Dec. 28 Houston, Tex. Big 12 No. 6 vs. Big Ten No. 6 Baylor vs. Minnesota
 

It's hard to say. The firing at Purdue makes it seem that the Gophers might be picked over them. But they might not be too interested in the Gophers' offense, people might be less inclined to turn the channel if the bring in a team with more offensive punch. The injury situation may be improved by the time of the bowl, but that's hard to predict.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Glancing at their stats it seems like they do most of their damage through the air which is the one thing we do an okay job against defensively. Compared to Iowa State the WVU defense is far weaker. Clearly ISU is the better overall matchup since they are very average across the board but man would that have the potential to be a really really really boring game.
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As long as their defense gets to line up 11 guys, it'll be a challenge for us.

A lot depends on the perception of which team's fan base "travels" better. If they think more Purdue fans will show up than Minnesota fans, it's a pretty easy choice for the Meineke folks.
 

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