Minnesota Walks It Off for 20-17 Guaranteed Rate Bowl Win over New Mexico

New Mexico and Minnesota are two out of state programs that have some of the most Arizona HS football alumni on their current and future rosters, so it is only fitting that the 9-3 Lobos faced the 7-5 Golden Gophers in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl at Chase Field in Phoenix.

In what almost felt like a home game for New Mexico, the Lobos and Gophers had answer for each other for the entire game.

After each team punted on their first drives, New Mexico made a 15-play, 66-yard drive that drained 8:35 and got all the way inside the 5 yard line before they settled for a 31-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead with 1:41 remaining in the first quarter.

After another Minnesota punt on their next drive, the Gophers got their first momentum of the game with an interception on their own 46-yard line to set their offense up to potentially tie or take the lead.

However, the Gophes only managed 4 yards in 4 plays and New Mexico recovered the 4th down fumble to take over in great field position with 12:31 remaining in the 2nd quarter.

Another long New Mexico drive went 11 plays for 34 yards and 5:57 of game clock before they kicked a 29-yard field goal to extend their lead to 6-0.

The following drive was when Minnesota's offense finally got going. It began with a 38-yard run by Darius Taylor before Drake Lindsey capped off the 9-play, 75-yard drive with a 10-yard TD pass to Jalen Smith to give the Gophers a 7-6 lead with 1:53 remaining in the half.

New Mexico drained the clock and took the 7-6 deficit into halftime.

Starting off slow offensively like they did in the first half, each team punted on their first drives of the 3rd quarter.

The first score of the second half didn't happen until Darius Taylor's 5-yard TD run with 13:30 remaining in the 4th quarter to cap off an 80-yard drive that began late in the 3rd to extend Minnesota's lead to 14-6.

Just when it looked like the game might be slipping away from New Mexico, Damon Blankston had an immediate answer with an electric 100-yard kick return TD followed by Keagan Johnson's 2-point conversion to tie the game with 13:18 remaining.

Neither team would score for the remainder of regulation, sending the game to overtime.

On their drive of the first overtime, New Mexico's drive stalled at the 19-yard line and forced them to settle for a 36-yard field goal.

Then, after taking a first down sack, Minnesota was looking at a 3rd & 8 at the 12 yard line. That is when Drake Lindsey found Jalen Smith in the middle of the end zone between defenders for the Gopher touchdown that made them the Guaranteed Rate Bowl Champions.

The win improved head coach PJ Fleck to 7-0 in bowl games since taking over the program in 2017. The Gophers had 7 total bowl game wins in program history, spanning from 1961-2016 before Fleck took over.

Getting the win in front of a Phoenix crowd was big for the Gophers as they continue to build their pipeline of AZHSFB recruits, and a going toe-to-toe with a Big Ten opponent was huge for a New Mexico program that signed 5 AZHSFB seniors heading into their second year under HC Jason Eck.

AHSFB Alums on current rosters + signing classes

New Mexico

SO - #8 RB Deshaun Buchanan (Basha)

JR - #14 WR Shaun Miller (Saguaro)

FR - #21 WR Deriece Brown (Verrado)

RS FR - #55 DT Sa'Kylee Woodard (CDO)

FR - #57 OL Jonny Shively (Higley)

FR - #95 DT James Marshall V (Westwood)

Signee - OL Braden Chick (ALA Queen Creek)

Signee - LB Eli Cramer-Cronin (Basha)

Signee - ATH Jaron Liles (Queen Creek)

Signee - OL Ty Gates (Centennial)

Signee - DB Xavier Rivera-Rogers (Basha)

Minnesota

FR - #77 OL Nick Spence (Liberty)

SO - #80 LS Alan Soukup (Pinnacle)

Signee - OL Aaron Thomas (Mountain Pointe)

Signee - LB Hudson Dunn (Liberty)

Signee - WR Rico Blassingame (Tolleson)