Article Written By: Justin Pollock
When: Friday, December 27, 6 p.m ET
Where: Reliant Stadium, HOUSTON, TX
Watch: ESPN
Over/Under: 47.5 points
Spread: Minnesota (-4.5)
| SYR | MINN | |
|---|---|---|
| W-L | 6-6 | 8-4 |
| Avg Points | 22.8 | 26.4 |
| Avg Points Allowed | 26.1 | 22.3 |
| Home Record | 4-2 | 5-2 |
| Road Record | 2-4 | 3-2 |
| Division Record | 4-2 | 2-3 |
| Conference Record | 4-4 | 4-4 |
The Lone Star State is going to be place for the war between two historical programs (6-6, 4-4 ACC) Syracuse Orange and (8-4, 4-4 Big Ten) Minnesota Golden Gophers.
History
The Golden Gophers had a “golden” season not many were thinking they would have this season. When they started 4-0, many people started to take notice and took them seriously. They continued the streak into the B1G Ten beating the Nebraska Cornhuskers who were huge favorites going into TCF Bank Stadium.
The Gophers eventually ended the season going 4-2 including a big win over Penn State and a defensive battle with the Spartans the last week of the season . Minnesota had a scary moment in the season as head coach Jerry Kill had a seizure heading into halftime of the Iowa game and took a lot of media heat from it after it was his fifth since becoming head coach in 2011. Jerry Kill’s overall record since becoming head coach of the Golden Gophers is 17-20(.459) and 0-1 in bowl games.
The Orange started the season off with a loss to Penn State at home 23-17, which Minnesota happened to beat Penn State 24-10. Syracuse also loss to Northwestern 48-27 and again Minnesota beat Northwestern 20-17. The Orange’s worst loss had to be against Georgia Tech 56-0, Syracuse edge out a bowl game the last week of the season beating Boston College 34-31 on the road. This was Sryacuse first season without QB Ryan Nassib who was drafted by the New York Giants in the 4th round with the 110th pick. They were also without old head coach Doug Marrone who left for the job up north in Buffalo to become the head coach of the Buffalo Bills.
The Gophers and the Orange meet for the 4th time in program history. The Golden Gophers lead the series with a overall record of 3-1 and are on three game winning streak against Syracuse. The last time these two schools met was last season, when the Gophers took it 17-10 at home.
The last two bowls Syracuse played in were the Pinstripe Bowl, winning both times (2010 Kansas State 36-34 and 2012 West Virginia 38-14). As for Minnesota, they are out for redemption after losing to Texas Tech last year in the Texas Bowl, they came up short losing 34-31 to add to the terrible bowl post-season play(5-10).
Impact Players
Minnesota Junior RB David Cobb and Syracuse Senior DT Jay Bromley are the two top players from each team.
Junior RB David Cobb is coming into this game with 1,000 yards rushing season and 7 touchdowns after his Sophomore season of 8 yards and 0 touchdowns. He is going to carry the load in the Texas bowl against a Syracuse D that is ranked 60th for average points allowed per game.
Senior DT Jay Bromley is an animal for the DL of the Orange. He has a total of 38 tackles this season and 117 in his career. This season, he has a career record for 3 forced fumbles and with sacks when tally up 9 of 13 in his career. He is currently projected to go in the 5th round of the upcoming draft as he is the 13th ranked DT out of 215.
Predictions
With the Minnesota Golden Gophers coming into this bowl game with a 32nd ranked rushing attack averaging 200.9 yards per game they are going to with time of possession battle and the their impressive 27th ranked D who is only allowing 22.3 points per game is going to step up big.
Minnesota: 38-24
Video by: T3SportsBigTen