Big Ten kicks off their bowl season with a pair of losses
The Minnesota Golden Gophers and the Purdue Boilermakers kicked off the Big Ten’s bowl season last night and did so in an interesting way. The Purdue vs. Maryland matchup in the Champs Sports Bowl was rather dull and boring thanks to Maryland building a 21-7 lead by the half. In the seond half only a Maryland FG appeared on the scoreboard as the Terrapins cruised to an easy bowl win leaving Purdue 8-6 on the season. In the Insight Bowl matchup of Texas Tech and Minnesota, the 12 people that have the NFL Network witnessed the greatest comeback in the history of college football bowl games. After Minnesota built a 38-7 lead in the 3rd Quarter, the Gophers defense fell apart allowing Texas Tech to score 31 straight points to force OT. Then, in overtime, Texas Tech followed a Minnesota FG with a game-winning TD for the 44-41 victory. The loss drops Minnesota to 6-7 on the season and ends their 3-game winning streak which made the Golden Gophers bowl-eligible.