.png&width=42&height=42&type=webp)
University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Preparing for Insight Bowl
12/21/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Minnesota Game Notes - Insight Bowl vs. Kansas
The University of Minnesota football team has finished its pre-Christmas preparations for the Insight Bowl. The squad practiced Sunday at the Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex. The Gophers are now off until Christmas Day, when they will travel to Tempe, Ariz. to continue bowl practices. Minnesota will resume practices on Dec. 26 at Corona del Sol High School in Tempe. The Gophers will spend a week in the Valley of the Sun, practicing Dec. 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30. The Insight Bowl matchup vs. Kansas will take place at 4 p.m. MST (5 p.m. CST) Dec. 31 at Sun Devil Stadium on the campus of Arizona State University.
GOPHERS, JAYHAWKS EARN INVITATION TO INSIGHT BOWL
The Minnesota Golden Gophers will play their first bowl game under second-year head coach Tim Brewster on New Year’s Eve. Minnesota will face the Kansas Jayhawks in the Insight Bowl. It is the eighth bowl appearance in the last 10 years for the Gophers.
Minnesota is coming off a 55-0 loss to Iowa in the team’s final appearance at the Metrodome. Kansas won its regular-season finale, taking a 40-37, rivalry-game victory over Missouri at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. The Gophers are 5-7 all-time in bowl games, with their last appearance coming in a 44-41 loss to Texas Tech at the 2006 Insight Bowl. KU is making its first-ever back-to-back bowl appearances. The Jayhawks won the 2007 Orange Bowl, 24-21 over Virginia Tech.
The Insight Bowl will be televised by the NFL Network. Paul Burmeister and Mike Mayock will be in the booth, while Lindsay Soto will report from the sidelines.
QUICK HITTERS
> Minnesota has improved its win total by six games over the 2007 season, when the Gophers went 1-11. No team in NCAA Division I FBS has had a bigger turnaround this season.
> The Golden Gophers are tied for No. 11 in the nation in turnover margin with an average turnover margin of +1.0 per game.
> Minnesota ranks 49th in the NCAA in scoring defense (23.3 points allowed per game). The Gophers ranked 109th in scoring defense (36.7 ppg) in 2007.
> The Gophers are No. 23 in the NCAA in tackles for loss (6.75 TFL per game).
> CB Traye Simmons is No. 7 in the nation in passes defended (1.42 per game).
> WR Eric Decker has broken his own school record for single-season receptions (76).
THE KANSAS SERIES
The Insight Bowl will mark the seventh gridiron meeting between the University of Minnesota and the University of Kansas. The series is tied 3-3.
The Gophers and Jayhawks haven’t met since 1973. The first two meetings between Minnesota and Kansas were played in the 1890s, while the last three contests were all played in the 1970s.
MINNESOTA BOWL HISTORY
Minnesota is making its 13th bowl-game appearance. This is the first bowl game for Minnesota under second-year head coach Tim Brewster.
Minnesota lost its first-ever bowl game, falling 17-7 to Washington in the 1961 Rose Bowl. The Gophers had already been crowned national champions for the 1960 season prior to that game. Minnesota would rebound for a 21-3 win over UCLA in the Rose Bowl the next season.
Minnesota did not return to a bowl game until 1977, falling to Maryland by a 17-7 count in the Hall of Fame Bowl in Birmingham, Ala. Minnesota returned to bowl action in 1985, defeating Clemson 20-13 at the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La. The Gophers’ first back-to-back bowl appearances since the 1960 and ’61 seasons came in 1986, when Minnesota dropped a 21-14 decision to Tennessee at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tenn.
The Gophers didn’t return to another bowl game until 1999, dropping a 24-20 decision to Oregon at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. Minnesota advanced to the postseason in 2000, taking part in the Micronpc.com Bowl and falling to North Carolina State 38-30. The Gophers’ first bowl victory since 1985 was a 29-14 win over Arkansas in the 2002 Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn.
In 2003, Minnesota put together its first-ever back-to-back bowl victories with a 31-30 win over Oregon at the Sun Bowl. The Gophers picked up another bowl victory in 2004, stopping Alabama 20-16 at the Music City Bowl. Virginia defeated Minnesota in the 2005 Music City Bowl, 34-31. The most recent bowl appearance for the Gophers was in the 2006 Insight Bowl, where they dropped a 44-41 decision to Texas Tech.
PROVING THE EXPERTS WRONG
The Big Ten Conference does not release a preseason ranking of all 11 teams. However, numerous well-respected national publications and websites ranked the conference prior to the season.
Not one of the 15 preseason publications and websites polled had Minnesota finishing higher than a tie for ninth. The Gophers finished in a tie for sixth place in the Big Ten.
BAKING TURNOVERS
Minnesota defenders have been busier than pastry chefs this season. The Gopher defense has baked up 30 turnovers in 2008, which ranks No. 5 in the nation. Meanwhile, Minnesota has been pretty good at maintaining possession of the ball. The Gophers have coughed it up 18 times. All that leads to an average turnover margin of +1.00 per game, which is No. 11 in the nation.
Of Minnesota’s 30 takeaways, the Gophers have converted 18 into points, for a success rate of 60 percent. Thirteen of those scores have been touchdowns. Minnesota scored 41 points off just 14 turnovers during the entire 2007 campaign. The Gophers have 106 points off takeaways in 12 games this season.
BEHIND ENEMY LINES
Minnesota ranks No. 3 in the Big Ten and No. 23 in the nation in tackles for loss with 81 this season (6.75 per game). The Gophers are also No. 4 in the conference and tied for No. 27 in the nation in sacks 2.50 per game. Both totals are vast improvements.
Minnesota had just 11 sacks and 62 tackles for-loss all of last season. The Gophers had already more-than-doubled their sack total from 2007 and topped their tackle for loss total from last season with three games left to play in the regular season.
STACKING THE DECK
Junior wide receiver Eric Decker was a consensus First-Team All-Big Ten selection by both the coaches and the media. He is leading the Big Ten in receptions per contest (6.91) and is No. 2 in receiving yards per game (84.1). Decker led the Big Ten for much of the season in both categories and was ranked No. 1 in the nation in receptions per game earlier in the season. But he suffered an ankle injury vs. Northwestern on Nov. 1 and struggled with that injury for the rest of the month. Decker’s 76 receptions represents a new Minnesota single-season record.
He accomplished all that after missing spring football to play baseball. Decker was the Gophers’ starter in left field and batted .329 with 11 doubles, four triples and three home runs last season.
VANGUARD VANDESTEEG
Senior defensive end Willie VanDeSteeg was a First-Team All-Big Ten selection by the media, (2nd Team Coaches). VanDeSteeg has taken over the top spot on Minnesota’s career tackle-for-loss chart. He now has a total of 43.5 stops behind the line of scrimmage topping John Schlecht (1998-2000), who had 43 in his Gopher career.
-UM-
