Minnesota Football: Which Bowl Will the Gophers Go To?

With their fourth straight B1G victory Minnesota has now assured themselves no worse than a .500 finish in the Big Ten and eight wins on the season. That's a two-game improvement in both categories over last season, and there's still two games remaining.

Between now and early December when the selections are made we'll take a weekly look at which bowl Minnesota is projected to play in and we'll give you as many different opinions as we can find on the interwebs. If I've missed one or if there's a site with projections you enjoy that I haven't listed, let me know and I'll add it next week. Before we get to the projections, here's the B1G's bowl partner's order of selection (all times Central):

Rose Bowl Presented by VIZIO, Jan. 1
Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA, 4pm, E!SPN
B1G Champ vs Pac 12 Champ
Selects Big Ten champion unless the champion finishes No. 1 or No. 2 in the final BCS standings

Capital One Bowl, Jan. 1
Florida Citrus Bowl, Orlando, FL, 12PM, ABC
B1G #2 vs SEC #2
Bowl may select any eligible team after Rose Bowl Game/BCS except a team that has two fewer wins or two more losses (in all games) than another eligible team. This rule applies whether there are one or two Big Ten teams in BCS bowls.

Outback Bowl, Jan 1
Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, FL, 12pm E!SPN
B1G #3 vs SEC #3
Bowl may select any eligible team after Rose Bowl Game/BCS except a team that has two fewer wins or two more losses (in all games) than another eligible team. This rule applies whether there are one or two Big Ten teams in BCS bowls.

Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, Dec 28
Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, AZ, 9:15pm E!SPN:
B1G #4 vs Big 12 #4
May select any eligible team after Outback Bowl

TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl, Jan 1
Everbank Field, Jacksonville, FL, 11am E!SPN2
B1G #5 vs SEC #6
May select any eligible team after Insight BWW Bowl

Texas Bowl, Dec 27
Reliant Stadium, Houston, TX, 5pm E!SPN
B1G #6 vs Big 12 #6
May select any eligible team after TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl

Heart of Dallas Bowl, Jan 1
Cotton Bowl, Dallas, TX, 11am, E!SPNU
B1G #7 vs C-USA
May select any eligible team after Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas Bowl

Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, Dec 26
Ford Field, Detroit, MI, 5pm E!SPN
B1G #8 vs MAC #2
May select any eligible team

The Rules of Selection are per Adam Rittenberg of the ESPN.com B1G blog:

It's important to note that the bowls that make their selections after Outback have very few restrictions in picking eligible Big Ten teams. It's conceivable that a 6-6 team could go to the Insight Bowl or Gator Bowl ahead of an 8-4 team.

Emphasis mine, because this is exactly the situation Minnesota could be facing if they don't win either of their two remaining games. This is the last year of the current structure of bowl selection before new rules are implemented next season, but for this year it's conceivable they could get passed up by a team with a worse record like Iowa or Michigan. Both of those schools are currently at six wins, and while it's certainly plausible both could not win another game, because they play each other Nov 23rd, one of them will get to at least seven wins, meaning in all likelihood that team will be taken ahead of Minnesota. Possibly.

Still, a lot can and will happen in the remaining weeks, and as you'll see from the various projections, it's far from a certainty Minnesota can't or won't make a New Years Day Bowl. Here's 15 projections for Week 11:

BTN: Texas Bowl vs Texas Tech

CBS Sports: Texas Bowl vs K-State

College Football News/Scout: Texas Bowl vs Texas Tech

ESPN Brad Edwards- BWW vs Oklahoma
Mark Schlabach- Gator vs LSU

ESPN.com B1G Blog: Texas Bowl

National Football Post: Gator Bowl vs Georgia

NFL.com: Gator Bowl vs LSU

Off Tackle Empire: Heart of Dallas Bowl vs North Texas (It should be noted this one is written by an Iowa fan so take it with a gigantic grain of salt)

Phil Steele: Texas Bowl vs Texas Tech

SB Nation: Gator Bowl vs Ole Miss

Sports Illustrated: Texas Bowl vs K-State

The Sporting News: Texas Bowl vs K-State

USA Today: Texas Bowl vs K-State

Yahoo!: Gator Bowl vs Georgia

Minnesota's Week 11 "Consensus" Bowl? Texas Bowl

Texas (8 votes)
Gator (5 votes)
BWW (1 vote)
Heart of Dallas (1 vote- from an Iowa fan)