Washington State vs. Minnesota, Holiday Bowl 2016: Schedule, scores, and more

The university discipline process is more or less complete for those 10 Minnesota players who were suspended in December amid a school sexual assault investigation. Half have since been reinstated, three have already left, and two more could decide to contest the school’s decision elsewhere.

Days before 2016’s Holiday Bowl against Washington State, the Gophers announced they’d boycott the game unless the suspended 10 were reinstated and given what the team felt to be a fair hearing. The team dropped the boycott after reading the school’s horrifying incident report. Head coach Tracy Claeys, who’d unconditionally announced his support for his players in a too-brief statement, was fired weeks later.

We all understand that bowl season is a bit more volatile than the regular season. Here’s one way of illustrating that.

Over the last six weeks of the regular season, about 18 percent of games were decided within 3.5 points of the spread, and about 25 percent were decided 21 points or further from it.

Just as we all expected, a Minnesota team that boycotted team activities two weeks ago and was missing 10 of its players because of suspension held Mike Leach’s vaunted passing attack in check most of the night. The Golden Gophers won the Holiday Bowl, 17-12.

In fact, until the latest stages of the game, the Cougars were in danger of this being only the third time a Mike Leach team had thrown for under 200 in the air raid maestro’s entire head coaching career. It would have been the first time it happened since Leach’s first season at Texas Tech in 2000.

The Minnesota Golden Gophers were really struggling to throw the ball during the 2016 Holiday Bowl. It turns out, it’s a lot easier to throw touchdowns when the defense helps out with the assist.

That throw was bad. Three defenders were covering just one receiver. The throw was also a few feet away from where the receiver would have had a chance to catch the ball — that is, without the assist from Marcellus Pippins. Pippins had a great chance at an interception. At a minimum, the play should have been an easy pass defended.

Minnesota will take on Washington State in this year’s Holiday Bowl and for a minute, we weren’t even sure if this game would happen. On Thursday, Dec. 15, the Minnesota football team announced a football boycott. The decision was in protest of the suspensions of 10 players following a sexual assault investigation by the school. The players even said they would boycott the game if “need be.”

On Saturday morning however, the players announced that they would be ending the boycott, and practice resumed on Sunday afternoon per usual. The 10 players remain suspended from the team.

A group of “citizens of Minnesota and other concerned citizens” is petitioning the University of Minnesota to fire head football coach Tracy Claeys for his public support of a bowl boycott threatened by players. Those players were threatening to skip Minnesota’s bowl game over a lack of due process for a group of teammates who’d been suspended after a school investigation into an alleged sexual assault.

As of Monday evening, the petition on MoveOn.org had gotten more than 400 of a sought 500 signatures, to be delivered to university president Eric Kaler.

Both sides are right. Bowls are a cynical money-making exercise, an excuse for ESPN inventory, and an outdated way for all the wrong people to maintain some semblance of control over college football. They’re also happy, bonus football.

We are at both extremes in 2016. We once again had 80 bowl bids to give out and fewer than 80 bowl-eligible teams, a sure sign of bloat and excess. We’re also loaded with perhaps more interesting bowl matchups than we’ve ever seen.

Minnesota players ended their football boycott on Saturday and will play in the Holiday Bowl against Washington State. Head coach Tracy Claeys spoke on Sunday, saying his players believed their suspended teammates were denied due process, which he said was “pretty easy” to support them on.

Players boycotted after 10 teammates were suspended in connection to a school investigation into an alleged sexual assault. They demanded and got a meeting with school president Eric Kaler. But it turns out players apparently decided to boycott without being aware of the woman’s description of the incident:

In the days following Minnesota football players leading and subsequently ending a boycott in protest to 10 players being suspended from the team following a sexual assault investigation by the school, head coach Tracy Claeys has spoken. His team announced the football boycott on Thursday evening, but then announced an end to it on Saturday morning.

Claeys, who was called into a players-only meeting Thursday prior to the boycott announcement, said via ESPN in a recent interview with WCCO Radio that he informed his players of the ramifications of a boycott, including that it would be viewed as “pro-sexual assault.”

The Minnesota football boycott is over.

According to the statement, the players’ stated demand to get the suspension of 10 teammates overturned would not be met by the school. After a meeting Friday night with the university’s president however, the players felt that the 10 would be given a fair hearing. The players also say they will use their platform to bring more exposure to the issue of sexual harassment and violence against women on campus, but they will specifically announce how they will do so “at a later time.”

Minnesota players are boycotting all team activities in protest of 10 players being suspended, some connected to a sexual assault case. But with only 11 days left before the bowl games, one of the sides to this story is whether the Golden Gopher players will boycott their bowl game, as well.

If they do, a quick contingency plan would have to be put in place. And it may involve Northern Illinois, according to ESPN.

The Minnesota football team has announced a boycott of football following the suspension of 10 Gophers, some of whom were previously suspended this season after a sexual assault investigation.

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, players threatened to boycott the Dec. 27 Holiday Bowl against Washington State in protest of the 10 players being suspended. The team held a players-only meeting and later brought in head coach Tracy Claeys, informing him of their plans. Afterward, they announced the football boycott to reporters.

All wagers at -110 odds unless otherwise noted. Visit Odds Shark for updated lines throughout each game week.

College football bowl games are a different beast for bettors. Sure, the typical handicapping elements apply. Offense and defense matter. But there are some key elements at play that don’t apply as much during the regular season.

Minnesota has indefinitely suspended 10 football players in the run-up to the Gophers’ Holiday Bowl appearance later this month, multiple local outlets reported Tuesday night. The program hasn’t said if any of the players would have their suspensions lifted for that Dec. 27 (7 p.m. ET, ESPN) game against Washington State.

The list of suspended players, via the Minneapolis Star Tribune: Ray Buford, Carlton Djam, KiAnte Hardin, Dior Johnson, Tamarion Johnson, Antonio Shenault, Kobe McCrary, Mark Williams, Seth Green, and Antoine Winfield Jr.

College football’s bowl season is upon us. A full schedule is here.

There are 40 bowl games spread from Dec. 17 to Jan. 2, with the National Championship on Jan. 9. Unless you’re watching on multiple monitors and are really committed, you won’t catch all of them. (If that is your plan, more power to you.)

Also, head over here for the fully updated bowl season calendar as it fills in, from the New Orleans Bowl through the Rose Bowl. We’ll also add picks, scores, and more to that calendar over time.

The Holiday Bowl has a long history of fun games, and hopefully this year will be no different. Now known fully as the National Funding Holiday Bowl, it takes the stage in prime time on Tuesday night. This year, it features Washington State from the Pac-12 and Minnesota from the Big Ten.