Preview: Neal Brown Gives Some Insight on the Minnesota Golden Gophers

The West Virginia Mountaineers will have their first-ever meeting against the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl on Tuesday, December 28 at 10:15 pm on ESPN.

Minnesota head coach PJ Fleck is nearing the end of his fifth season at the helm. He is 34-23 during that span and quickly reaching heights that have not been seen in decades at Minnesota. The Golden Gophers' eight wins on the season marked the second in three years, a feat that has only been accomplished three times since 1960-61. Additionally, the 6-2 conference record was the ninth time Minnesota has produced an above .500 conference record in the last 50 years, an accomplishment that has not been achieved going back to Murray Warmath was leading the program in the '60s.

"A lot of respect for what PJ Fleck has done not only at Minnesota but also at Western Michigan," said West Virginia head coach Neal Brown. "When you watch them, they're a really good football team. They're 8-4, could easily probably 10-2. They're a team that their physicality and their toughness is what stands out to you."

The Golden Gophers were 2-2 in September with an opening season loss to then third-ranked Ohio State and lost their Heisman contending running back Mohamed Ibrahim to a season-ending injury after rushing for 163 yards and two touchdowns against the Buckeyes. Minnesota capped off the month losing at home to Bowling Green before going 4-0 in October, notching notable wins over Nebraska and on the road at Purdue. They closed out the final month of the season, suffering losses to Illinois and Iowa, then finished the regular season with a win over Indiana and rival Wisconsin.

"They're a team built around great defense, and then, the strength of their football team offensively is in the offensive line," said Brown. "They've ran the ball against everybody they've played, and I think that's a testament to the offensive line. They're big at tight end –they're physical, and they've lost several running backs as they've gone through the season. I think they probably have at minimum three NFL players on their offensive line."

Despite losing Ibrahim for the season, Minnesota continued to heavily lean on the running game, with 69.5% of the play selection coming on the ground despite losing sophomore backup running back Trey Potts to a season-ending injury in October. Still, behind five 2021 All-Big Ten offensive lineman honorees, the Gophers continued to rack up the rushing yards, ranking third in the Big Ten at 193.8 yards per game with a pair of freshmen carrying the load. Ky Thomas led the team in rushing with 680 yards and five touchdowns, with most of the production coming in the back half of the season, and Mar'Kiesee Irving averaged 5.0 yards per carry and went over the 100-yard mark against Northwestern and Maryland.

Quarterback Tanner Morgan holds the Minnesota program record in wins with 26 and sits atop the career record books in winning percentage (.684), pass efficiency rating (151.43) and completion percentage (61.3%). He had a career season in 2019, throwing for 3,253 yards and 30 touchdowns, both program records, averaging a program-best 250.2 passing yards per game.

"He's a guy that's played a ton of football, and he's won a lot of games," said Brown. "If you look back at his career at Minnesota, he's played extremely, extremely well. He's somebody I'm really familiar with that I've been watching from afar, cheering for him. He's from Hazard (KY), right across the border, and finished his high school career up at northern Kentucky at Ryle High School. He came to our youth camp at the University of Kentucky, and so, really happy for him that he's progressed and playing at a high level."

Minnesota will also tab sophomore quarterback Cole Kramer to run the Wildcat offense.

Chris Autman-Bell leads the team in receiving with 35 receptions for 490 yards and six touchdowns. For his career, he's hauled in 111 passes for 1,692 yards and 12 touchdowns, averaging 15.2 yards per reception. In addition, tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford's role has increased in the passing game, bringing in 12 of his 23 catches in the season's final four games for 184 yards.

The Golden Gophers defense comes into the bowl season ranked fourth nationally in total defense, allowing just 284.8 yards per game, boasting a top 10 rushing (100.2 ypg) and passing (184.7 ypg) defense. In nine of their last 10 games, the Minnesota defense has held its opponents below their season average.

"If you look at their last six games, nobody's had more than 300 yards against them. I don't remember the last time I've played an opponent that had gone on a stretch like that," said Brown. "The whole group is a veteran group – nine seniors, one junior in that starting 11," later added Brown, "So, a group that has not only been really successful but really experienced as well."

"I think their defensive coordinator (Joe Rossi) has done a really good job of – their fundamentals are really, really good. They don't do a ton defensively until you get to third down, but fundamentally, they're really sound, and you can tell they put an emphasis on tackling. They tackle extremely, extremely well at all three levels."

"I think it starts up front. They play three guys that are all really talented in the interior of their defensive line. They've got two defensive ends (Boye Mafe, Esezi Otomewo), both of them of senior bowl invitations."

Mafe leads the team in sacks with 6.0 and edge rusher Thomas Rush is second with 5.5 sacks while linebackers Jack Gibbens and Mariano Sori-Marin have combined for 168 tackles and 9.5 tackles for a loss, and Tyler Nubin leads the secondary with three interceptions.

In bowl games, Minnesota is 9-12 all-time, including winning the last four and 2-0 under PJ Fleck.

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