FanHouse gathers around the TV to bring you insights from Bowl Season '08.This isn't going well for the Big Ten.
Sadly, the worst may be yet to come.
The maligned league fell to 0-3 in bowl games Wednesday, as the Minnesota Gophers overcame a good start to get blown out by Kansas in the Insight Bowl. Minnesota led 14-7 after their offense got rolling out of the gates, but lost 42-21 thanks in large part to KU junior quarterback Todd Reesing.
He got help from receivers Dezmond Briscoe (14 catches, 201 yards, three scores) and Kerry Meier (10 catches, 113 yards, one score) in making the Gophers look stupid, but Reesing was his usual steady, accurate self. He missed on only eight of 35 passes, throwing for over 300 yards and four touchdowns.
The Gophers just didn't have an answer for Reesing, Briscoe, and Meier. It started on the game's first play, when Reesing hooked up with Briscoe for a 60-yard catch and run.
Even though the Gophers answered with consecutive touchdowns, both short Jon Hoese runs, they never appeared to be in the game once Kansas got the lead back.
Minnesota's spread offense looked ragged most of the night, especially on the ground. Kansas held the Gophers to just 80 rushing yards on 38 attempts, and with the ground game stalled, sophomore quarterback Adam Weber really struggled to get into a rhythm.
Kansas couldn't be knocked off of theirs. They've now won 20 games in the last two years, a great accomplishment for head coach Mark Mangino.
Speaking of nice accomplishments, yes the Minnesota Gophers lost their last five games. But Tim Brewster and his team have some positives to build off of, thanks to a seven-win season in his second year on the job. The way the season ended made it clear that the Gophers have a long way to go, but they're clearly on the right track.
Unfortunately for the Big Ten, the league's member schools continue to struggle in bowl games. I'm not a fan of gauging a conference's overall strength by how they perform in bowl games, but 0-3 is tough to make a lot of arguments against, especially when two of the three losses were lopsided.
Worse yet, matchups like Michigan State-Georgia, Penn State-USC, and Ohio State-Texas don't show much promise for Big Ten victory. Iowa (against South Carolina) is probably the Big Ten's best shot at a bowl winner. Ouch.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sorry Ciskie, but Reesing is only a junior.
Sorry Wade, but he DOES mention Reesing being a Junior. Read much?
Sec is 6-12 against other major conferences this year. Where are those facts?
THE MATCHUPS ARE DECEIVING IN THESE BIG TEN BOWL GAMES- OTHER THAN IOWA, THERE WAS NOT ONE BIG TEN TEAM THAT WAS NOT AT LEAST A 10 POINT UNDERDOG TO IT'S HIGHER RATED OPPONENT.