Minnesota Gophers in National Funding Holiday Bowl

The Minnesota Golden Gophers are in their first California Bowl game since they appeared in the Rose Bowl in 1960.

Yesterday, right after I learned Minnesota was heading to sunny San Diego, I purchased my tickets at Qualcomm Stadium, home of the San Diego Chargers.

The Gophers opponent is Washington State in the National Funding Holiday Bowl.

The Cougars play in the Pac-12 Conference and finished second in the North Division a game behind Washington. The Huskies are in the national semifinals and will play top-ranked Alabama on New Year's Eve while Clemson tangles with Ohio State in the other semifinal game.

Both Minnesota and Washington State finished with 8-4 records. If you put any stock in statistics this should be an interesting game.

The Cougars ranked third in the nation in passing, averaging 371 yards through the air and 15th in total offense.

Minnesota ranks 23rd in total defense. The only problem is the Gophers pass defense ranks 68th while their run defense is 19th in NCAA Division I.

Washington State lost their first two games to Eastern Washington and Boise before winning eight straight. Included in that streak were victories over Stanford, Oregon, UCLA and the Arizona schools while they lost their final two games of the season to Washington and Colorado.

I hate to say this being a Gopher fan, but I don't know if Minnesota can hang with this team offensively. They have scored a lot of points, even in their losses they scored. The fewest points came in their last game against Washington (17).

Minnesota ranks 106th in total offense: 54th in rushing offense, averaging 186 yards a game, and 108th in passing with 177 yards a game.

The most famous University of Washington graduate is probably Edward R. Murrow.

Sunny San Diego to finish out the year sounds like a pretty good plan to me. The game is at 7PM our time on Tuesday, December 27.