It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t pretty, but that’s pretty much been the story for P.J. Fleck’s Gophers all season. In the end, it’s a victory over Syracuse in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl in Yankee Stadium.
It was quite a going out party for Gopher Senior running back Mo Ibrahim. One year after tearing his Achilles and missing most of the 2021 season, Ibrahim returned to Minnesota and proceeded to rewrite the record books and he used the bowl game to finish it off.
Needing 57 yards in the Pinstripe Bowl, the All-American Ibrahim rushed for 67 yards in the first half to break Darrell Thomson’s school record for career rushing yards of 4,654 set run in 1989.
Ibrahim had a chance to break four school records during the game and he managed to hit all of them in the first half. He set the season rushing record eclipsing David Cobb’s record set in 2014. Ibrahim also now holds the career and season rushing touchdown records for the Gophers. Ibrahim now really owns the program record books in his time at Minnesota.
In the second half, the Gophers didn’t use Ibrahim at all, likely protecting him from injury after breaking the records and getting set for the NFL Draft. He finished the game with 16 carries for 71 yards and a TD.
After missing most of the last five games, sixth-year senior QB Tanner Morgan watched the start of the game from the sidelines despite being cleared medically after a midseason concussion. Redshirt freshman QB Athan Kaliakmanis started and played well for the Gophers, showing off his cannon arm and growing experience.
But in the second quarter, Kaliakmanis took a shot to his lower body and needed to be helped from the field. He wouldn’t return.
Morgan came in and quickly threw a touchdown pass to Daniel Jackson that gave the Gophers a 14-0 lead. Syracuse would add a late TD to get to 14-7 at halftime.
With a quick-strike passing game, Syracuse would make it 10 straight points with a field goal to open the third quarter and then quickly forced a Gopher punt.
With the Gopher offense struggling a bit, it was the Gopher defense that stepped up. Leading 14-10, freshman Coleman Bryson picked off Syracuse and took it back 70 yards for a TD to turn the tide and make it 21-10.
Syracuse added another field goal to make it 21-13.
But it was another quick strike from the Gophers that blew the game open. An 80-yard kickoff return from Quentin Redding set up Daniel Jackson’s second TD of the game to go up 28-13 going to the fourth quarter.
Syracuse would then go on a long, time-consuming march down by 15 but the Gophers stiffened and held the Orange on fourth down to get the ball back with just under six minutes left in the game.
But the Orange wouldn’t go away. The game looked over after a Syracuse fumble late in the fourth quarter but an official’s review determined the Gophers defense had 12 men on the field giving the ball back to the offense. Eventually, Syracuse QB Garrett Schrader would run it into the end zone on fourth down to pull within one score at 28-20.
With 2:30 left in the game, an onside kick was recovered by Gopher tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford. With Syracuse out of timeouts, the Gopher ran out the clock (thanks to an incredibly undisciplined unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Syracuse).
That put the winningest quarterback in Minnesota history, Tanner Morgan, under center taking the last snap of the game once again. He was joined in the backfield on the very last play by Mo Ibrahim, his only play of the second half as the two seniors said goodbye to the Gopher program in a victory formation, something they've been a part of more than any duo in school history.
Morgan finished the game 4 of 7 for 58 yards and two TDs.
The Gophers ended up being significantly outgained by Syracuse (477-213) and did next to nothing the entire second half offensively.
But its points that matter. The Gophers put the ball in the end zone whether it was the offense, defense or set up by the special teams. The Gopher defense bent, and didn’t break, mostly held Syracuse to field goals and making the Orange have to work hard for yards and points.
That adds up to the Gophers winning their sixth consecutive bowl game and fourth straight since Fleck came to Minnesota.
INJURIES: In addition to Kaliakmanis, there was also a substantial defensive loss for the Gophers with linebacker Cody Lindenberg going down in the third quarter. During a blitz, he was hit low and needed to be helped off the field.
OFFENSE STRUGGLES: It was not a good game offensively for the Gophers and especially once Ibrahim sat down. Back-to-back TD drives in the first half went 62 yards. Then the Gophers only other scoring drive came after an 80 yard kickoff return (the other TD was scored by the defense). Trey Potts and Bryce Williams combined for 12 carries and 33 yards total. The Gophers as a team ran for only 75 yards, their second lowest total of the season (Purdue).
FIELD CONDITIONS: It was a sloppy game early at the Pinstripe Bowl, which is played in a baseball park, Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. In spots, the field was coming up in chunks which led to some ugly plays. Gopher coach P.J. Fleck told the ESPN broadcast that many players changed spikes at halftime after a lot of slipping and sliding in the first half.
OPT-OUTS: Minnesota’s All-America center John Michael Schmitz decided to opt-out of the bowl game. Expected to be a high NFL draft pick in April, Schmitz took the safe route after being hurt in last year’s Guaranteed Rate Bowl victory. It was noticeable too, with a first quarter bad snap on third down forcing a punt, and a couple of blown blocking assignments leading to Syracuse sacks. The offensive line certainly didn't dominate like they had at times in 2022.
Syracuse was also without a number of players who either opted-out or were injured, something which has become increasingly common in the lower-tier bowls. That includes their running back and an All-American in 2021, Sean Tucker.
ANOTHER 9-WIN SEASON: The win gave the Gophers a nine win season for the fourth time since 2016, something they had only done one other time (2003) since 1905. That comes with the caveat that they didn’t play more than eight games in many of those years the Gophers were at their peak. It still speaks to the improvement the program has been seeing since Jerry Kill, Tracey Claeys, and now P.J. Fleck have taken over the Gopher program and have consistently put winning teams on the field.
BOWL STREAKING: The sixth consecutive bowl win for Minnesota is the second longest streak in the country behind Alabama who has won seven (not counting national championship appearances which are not classified as bowl games). That moves Minnesota to 11-12 all-time in bowl games. Fleck is now 4-0 in bowl games at Minnesota. By the way, this streak of six in a row comes after a streak of seven losses in a row in bowl games. Which followed three straight wins, after three straight losses. These seem to come in streaks.
STILL A DISAPPOINTING SEASON? While they did reach nine wins and a bowl victory, it was still a bit of a disappointment. In what ended up being a down year in the Big Ten West, with Wisconsin and Iowa struggling at times, the door looked wide open for Minnesota.
But, losses to Purdue and Iowa at home, coupled with losses at Illinois and Penn State, were big missed opportunities for Minnesota to win the West and finally make to the Big Ten Championship game. They rebounded by winning at Wisconsin in the last game of the regular season, but the chances were there for the Gophers to make it a truly historic season.
2023 looks like a tougher run too, with both Michigan and Ohio State on the schedule. and with UCLA and USC joining the Big Ten looming in 2024 and beyond. It's not going to get any easier than it was in 2022.
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