Report: Minnesota could be without several players for bowl game
Georgia Tech's chances to win coach Paul Johnson's final game with the Yellow Jackets appear to have improved. Minnesota, Tech's opponent in the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit, could be without at least six team members who have violated team rules, according to a report Tuesday by the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. According to the report, the players have been held out of practice and may also miss the Dec. 26 bowl game. The number of players being disciplined could be as many as eight players.
Further, Minnesota linebacker Blake Cashman, who is tied for fifth in the Big Ten in tackles, may not play in the game to begin his NFL draft preparations. Cashman was named second-team All-Big Ten by media and third-team All-Big Ten by coaches. Cashman made the announcement Tuesday.
Tech is a six-point favorite to win the game. ESPN’s Power Football Index gives the Jackets a 61 percent chance of winning the game.
“They’re like a lot of teams that, they played some really good games and had some games where they struggled,” Johnson said Tuesday of Minnesota. “If you turn on (the Purdue game), they got after them. They waxed Wisconsin. They played Ohio State really close, and then there’s games where they struggled, like ours. They’ve got athletes. They’re a power-five team, and they’ve got some good players.”
About the Author
Ken Sugiura is a sports columnist at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Formerly the Georgia Tech beat reporter, Sugiura started at the AJC in 1998 and has covered a variety of beats, mostly within sports.
