Gophers have been selected to face off against Washington State in this years Holiday Bowl!
The Bowl takes place in San Diego, California on December 27th. Media met with Coach Tracy Claeys and WR Drew Wolitarsky briefly tonight to get their opinions on the bowl.
Drew Wolitarsky commented on being excited to go back to his home state and hopefully be able to play for a great crowd of family and friends. When asked about what it would mean for recruiting in both the state of California and a higher caliber bowl in general Drew mentioned the determination in the locker room was high all year for a big bowl and they’re excited to face a good power-5 team.
I was able to ask Coach Claeys questions about how different it is preparing for a Pac-12 opponent after being in a more crash-and-bang style of the Big Ten:
“We played Oregon State earlier this year, they spread the field out on us. It’s a little different philosophy out there…That’s what’s neat about bowl games. You get to play someone you don’t normally play and the contrast in styles and just see what happens.”
And about what it would mean to this program’s growth to win back-to-back bowl games:
“Anytime you accomplish something that hasn’t been done in a while I think it continues to show progress and success moving forward…get nine wins is something we haven’t done here yet…I think this is our best group of players we have had back.”
Coach even made great points on fan expectations:
“Better off to have a fan base that’s disappointed you don’t win those [Wisconsin, Penn State] and care then 5 years ago when everyone was excited to be 6-6 going to a bowl game. I am ok with those expectations. We have a great history and tradition here and we are doing everything to get it back to that level.”
Gophers will go to San Diego looking to reach 9 wins for the first time since 2003.