Key Highlights
- Finding a 10th win would be a massive victory for this program, and the momentum is heading in the right direction for a team that won six games and probably should’ve featured in the Mountain West championship game if we lived in a just society. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNew Mexico vs Minnesota best bet: New Mexico +2.5 (-110)Much has been made about the fact that the Minnesota Golden Gophers are 6-0 in bowl games under PJ Fleck.
- That’s all well and good — and it is of importance whether or not a coach has a reason to motivate his team in the wild era of current bowl games — but it’s not the only handicapping factor. What stands out most to me is that Minnesota wasn’t a very good football team in 2025. They had a young quarterback, injured running backs, uninspiring wide receivers, a terrible offensive line, and a bad defense that allowed far too many crippling big plays.
- Even though they finished 7-5, the Gophers ranked outside the Top 90 in EPA per play on both sides of the ball and needed great fortune to go bowling. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Gophers were also dreadful away from Minneapolis, losing all five games by an average margin of 24.4 points.
- They weren’t even competitive. The New Mexico Lobos finished the season with six consecutive wins, building significant momentum in Year 1 of the Jason Eck era.
- He’s truly revitalized this program, and they’d love nothing better than to put an exclamation point on the season by toppling a very beatable Power Conference opponent. Now that is motivation. The Lobos have better metrics on both sides of the ball and are stout in the trenches (12th in stuff rate offensively, 19th defensively) — a necessary component when stepping up in competition.
