Updated Minnesota bowl projections after 27-14 loss to California
The Minnesota Golden Gophers, for the first time in the 2025 season, found themselves on the wrong side of the scoreboard with a 27-14 loss to the California Golden Bears. With the loss plus an eventful week three in college football, the bowl projections have been shaken up quite a bit.
So where are the Golden Gophers projected to play this postseason? Here is where some of the nation’s top bowl experts are projecting Minnesota to play this fall.
On3 (McMurphy):
McMurphy projects Minnesota to the Frisco Bowl in Frisco, Texas, with a matchup against the SEC’s Arkansas Razorbacks.
Athlon (Lassan)
Lassan projects the Golden Gophers to play in the Music City Bowl against the SEC’s South Carolina Gamecocks.
CBS Sports
CBS Sports’s bowl projections, like Athlon Sports, have the Gophers headed to Nashville for the Music City Bowl. Instead of South Carolina, CBS Sports has the Gophers facing Arkansas.
ESPN (Bonagura):
ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura also has the Golden Gophers headed to the Music City Bowl, but this time the projected opponent is the Auburn Tigers. Who the Gophers of course beat in the 2019 Outback Bowl.
ESPN (Schlabach):
The loss to California has Schlabach down on the Gophers. In this week’s projections, Schlabach does not have the Gophers projected to a bowl game.
If the Gophers were to miss a bowl game, it would be their first missed postseason in a full season since the 2017 season, P.J. Fleck’s first with the program. The Gophers have made a bowl game in four straight seasons since 2020 and in six straight full seasons dating back to the 2018 season. The Gophers are 6-0 under Fleck in bowl games.
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