What the game means depends on where the player stands.
Take Willie VanDeSteeg, the Gophers senior defensive end. He was leaning against a wall at the Gibson-Nagurski complex Sunday, reacting to the news that the Gophers will play Kansas in the Insight Bowl in Tempe, Ariz., on New Year’s Eve.
For VanDeSteeg it’s an opportunity to end his college career on a high note. “It will be good to go down to Arizona and play my last college football game as a Gopher,” he said. “It’s something I’ll never forget.”
A few feet away stood quarterback Adam Weber, a sophomore. His take was a little different. “It’s the start of next season,” he said. “It’s important for us to go into 2009 on a good note.”
So the Gophers will head south with the same goal, but for many reasons. But here’s one thing everyone can agree on: This game is a chance to forget how the regular season ended. The Gophers started 7-1, then finished 0-4, with a 55-0 loss to Iowa in the season finale.
“We’re happy we have one more chance to end this on a good note, to play a good team like Kansas,” Weber said.
It will be Minnesota’s second trip to the Insight Bowl in three seasons. In 2006, the Gophers blew a 38-7 halftime lead in a 44-41 overtime loss to Texas Tech, which pulled off the biggest come-from-behind victory in Division I bowl football history. Coach Glen Mason was fired in the wake of the loss.
Kansas started fast, winning five of its first six games, but ended up losing four of its last six.
The Jayhawks finished eighth in the nation in passing offense and junior quarterback Todd Reesing finished seventh in the country in passing yards per game (297.9) and 21st in passing efficiency. Receiver Dezmon Briscoe finished ninth in the country with 1,206 receiving yards.
“I think it’s a great matchup,” Gophers coach Tim Brewster said. “I think the Big Ten vs. the Big 12, it’s a natural.”
Gophers’ new-look offense
After the Iowa loss, offensive line coach Phil Meyer resigned. Brewster hired Tim Davis as line coach and running game coordinator.
“It will give us the opportunity to be more downhill, a bit more balanced in our approach,” Weber said of Brewster’s plan to mix a more physical running game — one that has linemen in three-point stances and the quarterback under center — with offensive coordinator Mike Dunbar’s spread attack. “It will be interesting to see how we blend it together.”
The Gophers will get 15 practices before the Insight Bowl and will begin workouts on Wednesday. Brewster said the team will practice until Dec. 21. After a break, the Gophers will fly to Phoenix on Christmas night and resume practice in Tempe on Dec. 26.
The goal: Erase the memory of the way the regular season ended, particularly the Iowa game.
“That wasn’t our best football,” VanDeSteeg said. “I look at it like we looked at last season, when we went 1-11. It left a bitter taste in our mouth and we came out in the beginning of this year swinging. I think that’s what we’ll do in this bowl game. That way we can send our seniors off the right way.”
