By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.

GeorgiaSportsEdition.com news services

One of the best things about the holiday season is bowl games.

We all know the prestigious bowl games are played closer to the start of the New Year like the Rose Bowl or Orange Bowl. Then we have the games that occur prior to that.

That takes us to the Quick Lane Bowl played the day after Christmas. I’ve always heard it was lovely in Detroit in late December so this is a great location.

Georgia Tech and Minnesota will square off in this game. Several Tech players felt disrespected by this bowl selection and took to social media to express that.

“Feels like a slap in the face,” offensive lineman Scott Morgan tweeted.

A-back Qua Sercy: “How do we finish FOURTH in the ACC and get the lowest bowl in the ACC!!! HOW!!!”

Quarterback TaQuon Marshall: “I’m baffled at this bowl game.”

The Belk Bowl seemed like the most likely destination since it’s played in Charlotte and they would have played an SEC team. Virginia was selected to that game despite losing to the Ramblin Wreck. They also were not picked for the Pinstripe and Military Bowl over teams they beat (Miami & Virginia Tech).

One thing that played a factor is attendance. The Yellow Jackets average home attendance (43,087) is the lowest since 2001, which was before Bobby Dodd Stadium’s capacity was expanded. It will be Tech’s first bowl game outside of the Southeast or Texas since playing in the Humanitarian Bowl in 2007 in Boise, Idaho.

This is the first game between Minnesota and Georgia Tech. The Golden Gophers (6 -6) were 3-6 in Big Ten play. This should be a good way to send Paul Johnson out with a win. The Jackets will be short one player, quarterback James Graham who is academically ineligible. He is the backup behind Marshall and No. 2 Tobias Oliver.

Tech is healthy and should have all available weapons for the bowl game.

“I’ve tried to approach it like every other game,” Johnson said. “It’s more about the players. They’re the ones who won six of the last eight games and we want to try to give them a good plan to get ready to go play and certainly (we) want to go out as a winner if we can. That’s been all my effort.”

Tech leads the nation in rushing, averaging 335 yards per game. This is the final game using the triple option so we can expect a heavy dose of the ground game. Minnesota is ranked 63^rd in total defense so I don’t expect them to stop the rushing attack.

The Gophers have some explosive weapons on offense. Wide receiver Tyler Johnson leads the team with 1,112 yards, 10 touchdowns and averages 15 yards per catch. Freshman running back Mohamed Ibrahim has 936 yards and 7 TD’s. They had an injury to starting freshman QB Zack Annexstad back in October and he was replaced by Tanner Morgan. They’re almost identical statistically, both throwing over 1,200 yards.

This should be a high scoring game but I expect Georgia Tech to win.