Minnesota Football: Three keys to beating Syracuse and how to watch Pinstripe Bowl

One last game for the 2022 season and one final opportunity to watch some elite Gophers who have been here a long time.

How to Watch

TV: ESPN
Time: 1:00
Stream: ESPN app

3 KEYS

• Pass defense - The Orange will be without their NFL caliber running back who finished 2nd in the ACC in rushing. They will be relying heavily on their quarterback Garrett Shrader who had a great first half of the year and an injury-hampered second. But an elite Gopher pass defense will go a long way to a Gopher win.
• Run the ball all day long - One final game to watch Mohamed Ibrahim and one final game where his impressive running ability will be the absolute key to the Gopher offense. Part of this is owning the line of scrimmage, part of this will be well-timed play-action calls, but mostly it comes down to Ibrahim taking over this game.
• Win turnover battle - Uncertainty about who will play at quarterback, change at both coordinator positions for Syracuse, and portal transfer galore. There are a lot of unknowns for this game, don’t help out the opponent.

OPPOSING PLAYERS TO WATCH

• #6 QB - Garrett Shrader - Which Shrader will show up today?
• #93 DE - Caleb Okechukwu - a major force in offensive backfields. The Gopher OL was better than expected this year, but once in a while an opposing DL would make too many plays in the backfield.

PREDICTION

PJ Fleck has always done a great job of navigating the changes between end of season and bowl games. He gets his team ready to play and they play engaged. So many bowl games go sideways for teams where they really don’t seem to care how this glorified exhibition game turns out. But Fleck seems to push the right buttons.

I think he does so again and the Gophers ride Ibrahim to a win.

Minnesota - 31
Syracuse - 24