Key moments in WSU’s 17-12 defeat to Minnesota in Holiday Bowl

Few could have envisioned this. That allowed Gopher RB Shannon Brooks to race under the batted ball to score a TD. Gophers running back Rodney Smith’s 9-yard touchdown run two minutes later provided a 17-6 lead. “Matt Leidner hadn’t played (much) all year”. He finished the season with two straight games under the 300-yard mark after hitting the number in nine of his first 11 games. It was a nice way to end his career. The Cougars scored with 19 seconds on an eight-yard pass from Luke Falk to Kyle Sweet for the final margin. Minnesota rushed for 151 yards, giving the Gophers just 280 yards in total offense. Minnesota was called for six false-start penalties. Duke McGhee got whistled for targeting, his third of the season.

But with what Minnesota has been through the past two weeks – 10 players suspended amid controversy and their teammates threatening to boycott the game over it – the Golden Gophers will take boring.

On the football field, Minnesota led for almost the entire second half and thwarted a Washington State offense that had dominated Pac-12 competition through the air. Wazzu had no big plays and could sustain little vs. Minnesota.

“We made them throw the short ball and didn’t let them get the deep ball”, said Minnesota safety Damarius Travis. The Golden Gophers went only 15 yards to set up Emmit Carpenter, who was fourth in scoring in the Big Ten this year, for a 43-yard field goal.

In fact, the Demon Deacons (7-6) ripped off a 31-0 first half run, turning a Temple fumble and interception inside its own territory into a pair of touchdowns to build the 24-point lead. Minnesota’s porous secondary won’t be able to handle the Cougars’ passing attack – if they can’t force some action on the ground early on, expect Washington State to pull away easily. I’m not going to elaborate on it because in this setting it’s just all about me trying to contradict something that Minnesota did and that’s up to Minnesota how they handled that situation, and ultimately if I have a boycott I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Will there be any fallout from the player boycott? Without injured starting wide receiver River Cracraft, I don’t like Washington State to cover tonight as a favorite of over a touchdown.