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PICK 144 - NCAAF - Minnesota vs Virginia Tech - The Duke's Mayo Bowl

Jan 03, 2025 - 05:37 PM

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The Minnesota Golden Gophers vs. the Virginia Tech Hokies

In The Duke’s Mayo Bowl

Friday, January 3, 2025

Released to our subscribers on Wednesday, January 1, 2025

First, I need to get something off my chest.

During bowl season we obviously try to determine who cares more and how a team will play with optouts and transfers, but it's a little disconcerting to see so many analysts make selections using analytics based on personnel that are not playing, and using ill-conceived trends based on only 10 games which is not an adequate sample size.

Anyway, Minnesota had a surprisingly difficult strength of schedule this season, ranked 36th.

Virginia Tech usually plays tougher competition. This season they only ranked 44th. The Golden Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck recently called this “pre-spring ball". That feels accurate for this year’s bowl contests.

Virginia Tech will be without:

Quarterback Kyron Drones (injured), the backup has been OK in limited action...
Running Back Bhayshul Tuten (opt out), He’s the Top running back...backups could be OK...
Wide Receiver Da'Quan Felton (opt out), One of 2 top Wide Receivers...
Wide Receiver Jaylin Lane (opt out), One of 2 top Wide Receivers...
Left Tackle Xavier Chaplin (portal), Very good...
Center Braelin Moore (portal), Very good and probably going to the SEC...
Offensive Guard Kaden Moore (opt out), Very Good, backups probably not good yet...
Defensive End Antwaun Powell-Ryland, Lots of tackles...
Defensive Tackle Aeneas Peebles, Lots of tackles...
Star, Keonta Jenkins, Lots of tackles...
Cornerback Dorian Strong, Lots of tackles...
Cornerback Mansoor Delane, Lots of tackles...
Safety Jaylen Jones (injury), Lots of tackles...
Safety Mose Phillips (portal), Lots of tackles...

There are more…

To keep it simple, you'll be seeing a new team.

Minnesota's list may end up being bigger than we think, but according to The Minnesota Star Tribune, the likely Golden Gophers to miss this game are Left Tackle Aireontae Ersey (a likely first round pick), Linebacker Cody Lindenberg, Defensive End Jah Joyner, and Cornerback Justin Walley. Lindenberg did Tweet "See you in Charlotte".

I guess there's a chance he's just standing on the sidelines, but perhaps he plays.

This is Minnesota’s fourth consecutive bowl contest. P.J. Fleck takes these games seriously. His bowl game record as a head coach is 5 and 0. Minnesota finished in the middle of the pack in their conference, but they played well this season. They lost close games to Penn State and Michigan. Their signature win was on the road against then, number 17 Illinois.

For Virginia Tech, it was a season of “what might have been”. They beat Stanford, Boston College and Georgia Tech midseason, but then did not play as well.

As indicated above, most of the players during that winning streak will not be playing.

The Hokies could cover and even win if their young unproven players perform well, but I don’t think that happens.

I like The Minnesota Golden Gophers -9

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