Big Ten Bowl Preview: 2018 Quick Lane Bowl

The 2018 Big Ten bowl slate opens with the Minnesota Golden Gophers duking it out against the ACC’s Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit.

In what could be one of the most rapidly-played bowl games of the year, the nation’s number one rushing offense, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets will go up against the nation’s number 71st-ranked rushing offense.  The teams average a combined 36.5 pass attempts per game – combined!  So, passing could be at a premium in this game.

A victory in the Quick Lane Bowl will give Minnesota Head Coach PJ Fleck his first winning season, and it will give the Golden Gophers their first bowl win since defeating Washington State in the 2016 Holiday Bowl.

To earn that elusive win, Minnesota will have to defeat the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

For Georgia Tech, a victory in the Quick Lane Bowl will give the Yellow Jackets an eight-win season for the first time since they won nine games in 2016.  However, a Georgia Tech victory would allow head coach Paul Johnson to ride off into the sunset of retirement with one last victory.  After the December 26 bowl game, Johnson is hanging up the coaching whistle after 11 seasons at the helm of the Georgia Tech program, and his players would love nothing better than to send him out a winner.

“I guess it’ll hit you when you’re out there (that it’s the last game),” Johnson said. “You don’t really think about it. My big focus on this game is it’s about the players. It’s not about me. And everything I want to do, I want to do about the players. They’re the ones who got here. They’re the ones who won six of the last eight games,” Johnson told the Gwinnett Daily Post.

Game: Quick Lane Bowl
Teams: Minnesota Golden Gophers (6-6, 3-6 Big Ten) vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (7-5, 5-3 ACC)
Time: December 26, 5:15 PM
Location: Ford Field; Detroit, Michigan
TV: ESPN

Minnesota

After three straight wins to open the season, Minnesota followed that by losing four consecutive games.  After alternating between wins and losses in their last five contests, including a colossal win in their year-ending rivalry with Wisconsin, the Golden Gophers became bowl-eligible, and also re-captured possession of the coveted Paul Bunyan’s Axe Trophy for the first time since 2003.

In a year that could have easily been derailed by the season-ending knee injury of All-Big Ten running back Rodney Smith, the Golden Gophers rode the legs of two dynamic freshmen, Bryce Williams and Mohamed Ibrahim.  Both Williams and Ibrahim combined for 1436 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns.  However, it was Ibrahim that began to steal the show late in the season.  In his last four contests he averaged over 100 yards rushing per game and scored at least once in three out of four games.  In the eight contests where Ibrahim was the main ball carrier, he has averaged over 20 touches per game.  To defeat Georgia Tech, Minnesota must control the ball and the clock, and that means Ibrahim has to touch the ball early and often, as well as being effective.

Defensively, the Golden Gophers will need to find a way to slow down the vaunted Georgia Tech running attack.  Unlike most teams where you have to determine how they are going to attack you, the Yellow Jackets make no bones about their desire to run the ball right at you with their triple option offense.  At issue for Minnesota is their inability to limit the opposition’s run game.  This season the Golden Gophers allowed 5.22 yards per rush.  Only Rutgers and Illinois were worse in the Big Ten.  Expect the team’s leading tackler, senior linebacker Blake Cashman (104 tackles), to be busy along with senior defensive back Jacob Huff (85 tackles).

Georgia Tech

The Yellow Jackets opened the season with a 41-0 shutout of Alcorn State, a team that recently played in the Celebration Bowl – the HBC championship game.  Following the win, Georgia Tech lost their next three games.  After having lost to eventual Coastal Division champions Pittsburgh and Atlantic Division champions Clemson in back-to-back weeks, the Ramblin Wreck had hit a crossroads in their season.  They decided to hitch their season to the legs of quarterback TaQuon Marshall, and went on to win six of their last eight games, punctuated with wins against Virginia Tech and Miami.

Georgia Tech is a solid one-dimensional offense.  Ever since Paul Johnson arrived on Atlanta campus 11 years ago, the staple of the Yellow Jackets offense has been the triple option.  This season Georgia Tech led the nation in rushing yards per game (334.92 yds/game) and were the only team to rush for over 4000 team yards in the regular season.

The triple option is only as effective as the quarterback running it.  Senior TaQuon Marshall has been highly effective since taking over as the starter last season.  If he is able to rush for at least 104 yards against Minnesota, he will have amassed at least 1000 rushing yards each of the past two seasons.  However, head coach Paul Johnson has turned to freshman Tobias Oliver at times this season and the rookie has not disappointed.  According to Johnson he has a wider skill set than Marshall with his ability to throw effectively.  While Marshall has been the unquestioned leader down the home stretch, it will not be a shock to see Oliver have an impact against Minnesota.

Georgia Tech ranked in the top-four of total defense in the ACC including finishing in the top third in rush defense.  While Minnesota is not quite as run-heavy as the Yellow Jackets, they do like to run their offense through their two freshman running backs.  Georgia Tech plays a base 3-4 defensive alignment.  Look for senior defensive end Anree Saint-Amour to try and disrupt the Golden Gopher running attack.  Saint-Amour leads the defensive line in tackles (45 tackles) and tackles-for-loss (11 TFL).

Final Thoughts

Georgia Tech has the athletes to outpace Minnesota which is why the point spread for this game has slowly risen to Georgia Tech being installed as a 5.5-point favorite.  Still, Minnesota has been proving naysayers wrong all season.  When they needed a win in their finale just to become bowl eligible, and over their bitter rivals no less, the Golden Gophers played perhaps their best game of the season.

Both teams should have plenty of motivation for this game.  Minnesota would love nothing more than to finish the season with a winning record and to use their last two games to catapult them into the 2019 season, while Georgia Tech wants to send longtime head coach Paul Johnson out a winner.  New head coach Geoff Collins (formerly of Temple) will bring his own touches to the Georgia Tech program, but, for one more game, Paul Johnson is still the sheriff in town.