The Minnesota Gophers finished the season at 9-4, beating the Syracuse Orange 28-20 to win the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl in New York City! RB Mo Ibrahim played his final game in the Maroon & Gold tallying 71 yards and a TD. He finished his Gopher career with 4,668 yards and 53 rushing touchdowns (both school records) in 40 games since joining the team as a 2-star recruit from Baltimore. Pretty impressive! QB Athan Kaliakmanis started the game, but left due to an injury. But Tanner Morgan stepped in brilliantly, throwing 2 TDs to WR Daniel Jackson. DB Coleman Bryson also had a 70 yard pick-6 to help lead the Gophers to an exciting season finale victory.
The 2023 season will be much tougher with UNC, Ohio State, and Michigan all on the schedule. There will also be a lot of new faces as many of the players we saw play forever for the Gophers (mainly due to the free Covid season) departed to the NFL or just graduated. The good news is PJ Fleck is building a legitimate program that has now won 9+ games in the last 3 full seasons. We are now seeing a program that can reload year to year, instead of having to rebuild like we had seen so much of in the last 6 decades. 2023 is going to hinge largely on how good Athan Kaliakmanis can be. DC Joe Rossi has established himself as one of the best DC in the nation, so if Athan can lead the offense to news heights... ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE! GO GOPHERS!
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