While he won't be with the team and calling plays, new Minnesota offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarocca (who served as the team's OC as recently as 2019) spent the regular season as an offensive analyst with...West Virginia. So the Gophers will have an excellent idea of what West Virginia is trying to do on offense, and the Mountaineers will be without their best offensive weapon in Leddie Brown.

GUARANTEED RATE BOWL -- Good luck, West Virginia offense, you’ll need it. The focal point of the Mountaineers’ offense was RB Leddie Brown, but he has taken the opt-out route with the 2022 NFL Draft in mind. Minnesota’s defense, which yields just 18.3 points per game., should achieve multiple three-and-outs. The Golden Gophers clearly were better this season and thrive in bowls, having won four in a row straight-up — the last two under coach P.J. Fleck.

Guaranteed Rate Bowl -- I liked Minnesota in this game regardless, but now that West Virginia star running back Leddie Brown (nearly 1,300 yards from scrimmage, 14 TDs) is skipping the bowl, well, this number is only going to go up. When he rushed for 100 yards this year, WVU was 5-0. Unlike in the NFL with injury/COVID, these bowl spreads won't change immediately so you can still get them if you pounce quickly.