The Minnesota Golden Gophers won their eighth straight bowl game on Friday night in the Duke's Mayo Bowl defeating the ACC's Virginia Tech Hokies 24-10.
The Gophers in the win were led by running back Darius Taylor who had 20 carries for 113 yards and one touchdown. He also had four receptions for 17 yards. Wide receiver Elijah Spencer had a big day with Darius Jackson opting out of the bowl game with six receptions for 81 yards and two touchdowns.
Senior quarterback Max Brosmer finished his Gophers career with a quality day completing 18-of-29 passing attempts for 211 yards and one touchdown. He also had one interception in the win.
As a whole, the Gophers offense totaled 403 yards on the evening and averaged six yards per play.
Defensively, the Gophers stifled a shorthanded Virginia Tech offense. The Hokies managed 149 passing yards while being kept to just 74 rushing yards, in part thanks to five sacks that resulted in a loss of 40 yards.
Corey Hetherman's defense also totaled nine tackles for loss, two pass breakups, two quarterback hits, one forced fumble, and one interception.
Despite the win, in a rather convincing fashion, the night did not get off to a smooth start for P.J. Fleck's squad. After Virginia Tech went three-and-out on their first series of plays, Koi Perich muffed the Hokies' punt, giving the ball back to Virginia Tech in plus territory.
The Gophers' defense would bail out Perich's mistake but the shaky start would continue with a three-and-out on their first offensive drive before Dragan Kesich missed a 33-yard field goal on their second drive of the game.
The Hokies would open the scoring on their ensuing drive after Kesich's miss to take a 7-0 lead.
After surviving the opening 15 minutes of action, Minnesota would take over the game in the second quarter with a trio of touchdowns. Elijah Spencer would be on the receiving end of the first two touchdowns of the quarter, as Darius Taylor picked up his first career passing touchdown on a trick play before Max Brosmer's lone touchdown of the game came a little over five minutes later.
Before heading to halftime, Taylor would cap off the strong second quarter with a 28-yard touchdown, giving the Gophers a commanding 21-7 lead heading into halftime.
After totaling 200 yards of offense in the second half, the Gophers offense wouldn't have nearly the same level of success in the second half, going a more conservative route with 21 rushing attempts to 11 passing attempts.
The Gophers dominated the time of possession in the second half, controlling the ball for over 20 minutes while Virginia Tech finished with just 9:57 of possession time in the second half.
While it was a quiet half for the offense, the Gophers would get on the board one last time in the fourth quarter as Dragan Kesich hit a 44-yard field goal early in the fourth to make it a two-touchdown lead over Virginia Tech.
With the win, Minnesota finishes their 2024 season with an 8-5 record, the fourth season in the P.J. Fleck era in which the Gophers have won eight more games.
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