Quick Lane Bowl Pick & Prediction: Central Michigan vs

Minnesota has stumbled its way into a bowl game this year after only winning 5 games. They then reeled off wins in five of their last six games, finishing 7-5 on the year with a bid to play in the Quick Lane Bowl, staying in their own backyard. The Golden Gophers are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games after accumulating less than 100 yards rushing in their previous game and are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games following a straight up loss while the over is 6-1 in Golden Gophers last 7 games on fieldturf.

The defense of Central Michigan is surprisingly solid against both the run and the pass, but Minnesota needs to be able to run early to open up the pass game for Mitch Leidner.

This is just the second year for the Quick Lane Bowl but the Chippewas are no strangers to playing bowl games in Detroit. Tracy Claeys took over as Minnesota’s coach in October after Jerry Kill resigned for health reasons….

The Central Michigan Chippewas (6-5) are searching for another bowl game win. The Chippewas played a memorable 2008 Motor City Bowl against Purdue but came up on the wrong end of a 51-48 final score.

While the Gophers were keeping it close against Ohio State in a 28-14 loss on November 7, the Chippewas were competitive in a 30-10 loss to Michigan State. Junior Cooper Rush is the quarterback, and he has compiled 3,703 passing yards with 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Rush has passed for more than 300 yards in six of his last seven starts, including 349 yards against Toledo and 391 in the season finale against Eastern Michigan. The Gophers are not known to have a fan base that travels well, even though the game is not too far away. Despite its record, Minnesota is still a five-point favorite over Central Michigan, who enters this game at 7-5. The key matchup will be whether or not Rush can beat Minnesota’s highly touted secondary. They do have an explosive offense, scoring 62 points in their last two games.