Minnesota Gophers Football Projected For Pinstripe Bowl
As a University of Minnesota fan, I really hope that The Sporting News is dead wrong. The publication says the Golden Gophers football team will be bound for New York and the Pinstripe Bowl at the end of the upcoming season.
Gophers football team will play in Pinstripe Bowl vs. Virginia Tech at Yankee Stadium on Dec. 26, the Sporting News projects.
— Charley Walters (@Charley_Walters) June 29, 2015
Getting to play in Yankee Stadium would be very cool, but that is about where the coolness factor wears off. It would definitely be a step back for the program that should be going in the opposite direction.
Let’s just look at the rankings of bowl games. NFL.com ranked the bowl games from a year ago and had the Gophers’ in the 10th best bowl of the year in the Citrus Bowl against Missouri.
Last season the Pinstripe Bowl was ranked 29th out of 38 bowls. Last season the game saw Boston College and Penn State face off in the Bronx.
The game would be a step up for Virginia Tech. The Hookies were in the 34th ranked Military Bowl against Cincinnati.
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The day of the game is the obvious step back. The better the bowl, the further away from Christmas Day it is and, as you can see, the Pinstripe Bowl is the day after Christmas. Compared to last season when the Gophers played on the desired, penultimate New Year’s Day date.
Football is not a walk in the park, but it is hard to imagine the Gophers taking a huge step backwards. Jerry Kill is just getting settled into the job and ready to take another step forward.