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In the ninth annual Quick Lane Bowl, both teams should know their way around Ford Field in Detroit.
The matchup for the Dec. 26 bowl, announced Sunday afternoon, features Minnesota against Bowling Green, with both schools having appeared in the bowl previously. The Golden Gophers and Falcons are set to kick off at 2 p.m. the day after Christmas, with ESPN televising the game.
The Falcons, who went 7-5 in the MAC this season under coach Scot Loeffler — a former Lions assistant coach — lost last season’s Quick Lane Bowl, 24-19 to New Mexico State.
Head coach P.J. Fleck of the Minnesota Golden Gophers looks on in the second quarter against the Michigan State Spartans at Huntington Bank Stadium on October 28, 2023 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
LAST YEAR’S BOWL: New Mexico State holds off Bowling Green, 24-19
The Golden Gophers haven’t appeared in Detroit quite that recently — it’s the third Ford Field appearance for the Golden Gophers, as well as their second under head coach P.J. Fleck, but their first since 2018. That year, Minnesota beat Georgia Tech, 34-10. The Golden Gophers also beat Central Michigan, 21-14, in 2015.
The bowl is also a chance for the Gophers to avenge one of their more embarassing losses, as Bowling Green beat Fleck’s squad, 14-10, on Sept. 25, 2021, in Minneapolis.
Bowling Green struggled this season in its only game against a Big Ten squad; the Falcons held Michigan to seven first-half points in September in Ann Arbor, but scored just six themselves as injuries depleted their quarterbacks corps. Connor Bazelak, formerly of Missouri and Indiana, finished the season going 148-for-242 (61.2%) for 1,709 yards, 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions. After the loss to the Wolverines, BGSU went 6-3 with an upset of Power Five school Georgia Tech to end September.
Minnesota had its own issues with…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/2023-quick-lane-bowl-pairs-223206977.html
Author : Detroit Free Press
Publish date : 2023-12-03 22:32:06
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