2008 Insight Bowl
Minnesota (7-5) vs. Kansas (7-5)
Dec. 31, 8:00 p.m. ET, NFL
Network
Payout:
$1.2 million Location: Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe AZ
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2008 Insight
Bowl
Player Profiles, Histories, & More
 |
|
National
Rankings |
|
Minnesota |
Kansas |
|
Total Offense |
|
91st 322.25 ypg |
22nd 431.25 ypg |
|
Total Defense |
|
74th 378.42 ypg |
93rd 402.17 ypg |
|
Scoring Offense |
|
82nd 23.42 ppg |
27th 32.67 ppg |
|
Scoring Defense |
|
49th 23.33 ppg |
87th 29.50 ppg |
|
Run Offense |
|
104th 105.83 ypg |
80th 128.92 ypg |
|
Run Defense |
|
70th 146.83 ypg |
32nd 126.67 ypg |
|
Pass Offense |
|
57th 216.42 ypg |
8th 302.33 ypg |
|
Pass Defense |
|
88th 231.58 ypg |
113th 275.5ypg |
|
Turnover Margin |
|
10th 1.00 |
46th 0.25 |
|
Minnesota
N Illinois W 31-27
at B Green W 42-17
Montana St W 35-23
Fla Atlantic W 37-3
at Ohio St L 34-21
Indiana W 16-7
at Illinois W 27-20
at Purdue W 17-6
Nwestern L 24-17
Michigan L 29-6
at Wisc. L 35-32
Iowa L 55-0 |
Kansas
Florida Int'l W 40-10
La Tech W 29-0
at USF L 37-34
SHSU W 38-14
at Iowa St W 35-33
Colorado W 30-14
at Oklahoma L 45-31
Texas Tech L 63-21
Kansas St W 52-31
at Nebraska L 45-35
Texas L 35-7
Missouri W 40-37 |
|
Position
Ratings
relative to each
other |
|
M |
5
highest
1 lowest |
K |
|
4 |
Quarterbacks |
5 |
|
2.5 |
RBs |
3 |
|
3.5 |
Receivers |
4 |
|
2.5 |
O
Line |
3 |
|
3.5 |
D
Line |
4 |
|
3.5 |
Linebackers |
4 |
|
3 |
Secondary |
2.5 |
|
4 |
Spec
Teams |
3 |
|
3.5 |
Coaching |
4.5 |
|
By
Pete Fiutak
The last time Minnesota played
in a bowl game,
Texas Tech staged the greatest
comeback in bowl history to win
44-41 in overtime. The collapse
turned out to spark a complete
change in Golden Gopher football
with head coach Glen Mason being
fired and Tim Brewster being
brought in.
Mason came to Minnesota from
Kansas, where he sparked a few
successful years of KU football,
but there was nothing like last
year’s 12-1 breakout season
complete with an Orange Bowl win
over Virginia Tech.
Mark Mangino’s team wasn’t able
to build on the momentum with a
disappointing 7-5 season, but
for a program that’s not used to
having a ton of success, going
to bowl games is still big.
The 2007 Jayhawks were nearly
flawless. Outside of a rough
first half against Missouri, KU
seemed to make every big play,
answer every challenge, and do
everything right. This year’s
team wasn’t nearly as tight,
didn’t have anywhere near the
same running game, and failed to
show the same magic … until the
Missouri game.
Coming full circle from a year
before, the Jayhawks came though
in the clutch when it couldn’t
in the 2007 loss, beating the
Tigers in a 40-37 last second
thriller. It was a vital capper
to an ugly second half of the
season when the program got put
in its place in losses to
Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Nebraska
and Texas. KU had an easy
schedule in 2007, and it had to
pay the piper this year getting
the three killer teams from the
South along with the road trip
to Lincoln, and while the
non-conference schedule,
overall, wasn’t that bad, the
one big chance against a name
team, a trip to South Florida,
ended in a disastrous 37-34
loss.
Kansas might have had a rough
second half of the year, but
that was nothing compared to the
problems Minnesota had. Nearly
flawless over the first half of
the year on the way to a
stunning 7-1 start, the Gophers
were leading the nation in
turnover margin thanks to an
ultra-aggressive, big-hitting
defense and a tight offense that
took advantage of everything
chance. With three home games in
the final four, the opportunity
was there for an epic year,
there was even an article or two
written about a possible Rose
Bowl trip, and then came the
throw.
In the final minute or
regulation in a 17-17 battle
against Northwestern, Minnesota
chose to push the ball down the
field rather than play it safe
and go into overtime. An Adam
Weber pass went off Eric
Decker’s hands and into the arms
of Northwestern’s Brendan Smith,
who weaved his way to a 48-yard
pick six with 12 seconds to
play. In one horrendous play,
Minnesota went from being a
mistake-free team that managed
to make almost all the big
plays, to the 2007 version that
went 2-10 and couldn’t do
anything right. However, at
least last year’s team was
competitive in the losses.
The Northwestern loss was
followed up by a bizarre 29-6
loss to Michigan, a hard-fought
35-32 loss to Wisconsin, and one
of the worst games every played
by a Big Ten team in a 55-0 home
loss to Iowa with 101 yards of
total offense. With a new
stadium next year and a
still-improving team, a win over
Kansas would go a long way to
healing the November wounds
while allowing the program to
start anew.
Last year’s Insight Bowl was a
dud, Oklahoma State blew away
Indiana, but three of the
previous four had been decided
by a touchdown or less. If
Minnesota is the Minnesota that
lost its mojo after the
Northwestern loss, then get the
remote ready for the other bowl
games coming up later in the
day. If KU comes in
overconfident and starts
sputtering, then this might be
one of the bigger shockers for
anyone who saw the
Iowa-Minnesota game.
Players to watch:
While Jake Sharp has done
a good job of carrying the
Kansas running game on his
shoulders, the offense has
revolved around junior QB
Todd Reesing. As he goes, so
go the Jayhawks. Banged up late,
he gutted it out against
Missouri to throw for 375 yards
and four touchdowns in the fun
shootout, but he also threw two
interceptions. Having to press
more this season, he threw 12
interceptions after giving away
just seven in 2007. Five came in
back-to-back losses to Oklahoma
and Texas Tech, but he wasn’t
always as sharp throughout the
year as he needed to be. Against
a Minnesota defense that lives
on coming up with big plays,
Reesing has to take the plays
that are there and he can’t
force his throws. If he doesn’t
throw any interceptions, Kansas
will win.
On the season-turning pass play
against Northwestern, Eric
Decker injured his ankle and
was never right for the rest of
the regular season. He tried to
play through it, but he was a
shadow of his former self after
dominating for the first two
months of the year with three
grabs in the final three games.
A great baseball player, he has
a decision to make this
off-season on whether or not he
wants to devote himself
full-time to football, because
his worth to the Gopher offense
is immeasurable. With 73 catches
for 895 yards and six touchdowns
over the first nine games of the
year, he made plays short, deep
and everywhere in between. There
wasn’t anyone to step up and
replace his lost production.
The star of the Gopher defense
is pass rushing terror Willie
VanDeSteeg, a relentless
playmaker who cranked out 9.5
sacks, 18 tackles for loss and
49 tackles. He was one of the
few players who did a good job
during the November slide, and
it’ll be his job to make sure
Reesing has to hurry his throws.
The KU pass protection is
sketchy, at best, so this could
be a big showcase for the
senior.
While Reesing has been the
Kansas offense, he wouldn’t have
had the season he’s had without
the help of a former
quarterback. Three years ago, KU
had a big-time battle for the
starting quarterback gig with
Kerry Meier throwing for 13
touchdowns, 10 interceptions,
and running for five scores in
2006. Reesing took over the job
going into 2007, and the rest is
history. Meier became a wide
receiver/tight end with 26
catches for 274 yards and two
scores last year, and then he
blew up this year as he became
more polished and more vital
with 87 grabs for 932 yards and
seven touchdowns. He fought
through injuries to catch 14
passes for 106 yards and two
touchdowns, including the
game-winner, against Missouri.
Kansas will win if...
there aren’t any big turnovers.
Minnesota picked off 14 passes
in the first nine games, and
didn’t come up with an
interception in the final three
losses. The defense forced 12
fumbles in the first eight
games, and four in the final
four, all losses. It’s no
coincidence that three of the
four forced fumbles came against
Wisconsin, a tight 35-32 loss.
Kansas hasn’t been bad when it
comes to giving up the ball and
it can’t give Minnesota any easy
chances. If the turnover margin
is even, Kansas shouldn’t have
too much of a problem; it has
more offensive firepower.
Minnesota will win if...
Decker gets on a roll. Minnesota
doesn’t have a running game, at
least it didn’t at the end of
the year, and there’s no need to
pretend there will be any
semblance of balance in this
game. The KU secondary has given
up a ton of yards, allowing over
275 per game, and it can be
dinked and dunked on to death.
Weber is a nice runner, but he
scaled things back a bit after
trying to do everything as a
freshman. He needs to hit Decker
early and often to keep the
chains moving, show that the
Iowa game, and all of November,
was an aberration. The offense
has to prove it can keep up with
KU.
What will happen:
Minnesota will play better than
it had over the final few weeks
of the season, but it won’t be
nearly enough. The Kansas
offense will get Sharp and the
running game going early and
Reesing to be efficient
throughout. Decker will catch 10
passes, but the lack of a Gopher
running game will prove costly.
Line: Kansas -10
... CFN Prediction:
Kansas 38 … Minnesota 17
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2008 Insight
Bowl
Player Profiles, Histories, & More