The Minnesota Golden Gophers Football program will be finishing its 2022 season on December 29 in the Bronx. On Sunday afternoon, Brett McMurphy of the Action Network reported that the Gophers will be taking part in this year's Pinstripe Bowl, taking on the ACC's Syracuse Orange.
The Gophers will enter the Pinstripe Bowl with an 8-4 record on the season and winners of four of their last five games. P.J. Fleck's program finished off their 2022 regular season last Saturday with a 23-16 win over the Wisconsin Badgers in the battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe.
The Gophers this season started off strong winning each of their first four games before losing three straight to Purdue, Illinois, and Penn State. Their only other loss of the season came in their penultimate game to Iowa, 13-10.
The matchup between the Gophers and Orange will be the sixth matchup all-time and the first since 2013. In 2013, the Orange defeated the Gophers 21-17 in the 2013 Texas Bowl. The programs also faced each other in 1995, 1996, 2009, and 2012.
Under head coach P.J. Fleck, the Gophers are 3-0 in bowl games with wins over Georgia Tech, Auburn, and West Virginia. Last season, the Gophers defeated the West Virginia Mountaineers 18-6 in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl.
It will be the 23rd bowl game in Minnesota history with the Gophers owning a 10-12 record over their first 22 bowl games.
What to know about Syracuse:
The Orange started this season under Dino Babers hot, winning each of their first six games including wins over Louisville, Purdue, Virginia, and North Carolina State. However, a late October matchup with Clemson would begin a five-game skid for the Orange before they finished their regular season off with a 32-23 win over Boston College.
Offensively, the Orange are averaging 28.3 points and 365 yards per game this season. They experience most of their success through the air, averaging 223.8 yards per game while averaging just 142.1 yards on the ground. Quarterback Garrett Shrader, a Mississippi State transfer has had a solid year, completing 65% of his passes for 2,310 yards, 17 touchdowns, and six interceptions. Their most impactful player, however, is running back Sean Tucker who totaled 1,314 yards and 13 touchdowns from scrimmage this season.
Defensively, the Oranges are solid, allowing just 22.7 points per game this season. Opposing offenses have had a tough time running the ball against them, allowing just 3.8 yards per carry. Against the pass, they'll allow a high percentage of passes to be completed (66.6%) but only allow 188.8 yards per game. They've done a quality job as well of causing chaos with 19 forced turnovers on the season.
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