Gophers run all over Georgia Tech in the Quick Lane Bowl, winning 34-10

The Gophers spoiled the final game of Georgia Tech’s longtime coach, Paul Johnson as they went out and beat his Yellow Jackets 34-10 in the Quick Lane Bowl. It was the Gophers who ran the ball with very little resistance while the Gopher defense stymied the Yellow Jacket option offense. With the bowl win, the Gophers moved to 7-6 for the season.

The Gophers started hot and absolutely dominated throughout the entire first half. Besides leading 13-3 at the break here were some very impressive stats.

• 74 yards of total offense for Georgia Tech (37 on their final drive)
• 123 yards rushing for Minnesota, 105 for Mohamed Ibrahim on his own
• +9:26 in time of possession

But the late drive by Georgia Tech to get into field goal range before the half put them on the board before the break and they were to receive the ball to start the second half.

The second half was more of the same though, Minnesota ran the ball at will and while the option offense was more effective in the second half, it was still largely shut down by the Gopher defense. This is an offense that averaged over 350 yards rushing per game and the Gopher defense held them to just 206 (just 56 at the half).

Ibrahim was the game’s MVP with 224 yards, 2 touchdowns and he crossed 1,000 yards for the season in the first half. He was absolutely a beast today, breaking tackles while running through the Georgia Tech defense.

Defensively, the MVP might have to go to Joe Rossi again. The newly minted defensive coordinator had his team prepared to face a unique and challenging offense. They were up to the challenge. Individually it is kind of cool that Jacob and Julian Huff end their Gopher careers both leading the team in tackles for the game.

A really nice win for the Gophers against a P5 team where they were not expected to win, yet beat up this ACC team. This game was really never in doubt.

Looking forward to 2019.

Thanks to the Quick Lane Bowl for hosting the Gophers. Check out QuickLaneBowl.com and @QuickLaneBowl on Twitter. Be sure to check out Quick Lane’s “Trading One Uniform for Another” program as well.