Minnesota vs. Syracuse 12/29/22 - College Football Picks & Predictions

On Thursday December 29th, the Syracuse Orange play the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York. Syracuse finished the regular season 7-5 overall and 4-4 in ACC action. The Orange ended the regular season with a 32-23 victory over the Boston College Eagles which snapped a five-game losing skid for Syracuse. 

Syracuse quarterback Garrett Shrader finished the regular season with 2,310 yards passing, 17 touchdowns and six interceptions, The leading rusher with Sean Tucker with 1,060 yards and 11 touchdowns, while the leading receiver was Oronde Gadsden II with 891 yards and six touchdowns receptions. On defense, linebacker Marlowe Wax was the leading tackler with 86. Syracuse finished with 31 quarterback sacks and 10 interceptions.

Minnesota completed its regular season 8-4 overall and 5-4 in Big Ten play following its 23-16 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers. Minnesota was victorious in four of its final five games of the regular season with only a loss to Iowa of 13-10 during that span; included in those four victories were wins over Rutgers, Nebraska, Northwestern and Wisconsin.

Quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis has taken over the starting job for Minnesota and has 866 yards passing with three touchdowns and four interceptions. The leading rusher is Mohamed Ibrahim with 1,594 yards and 19 touchdowns, while the leading receiver is Daniel Jackson with 484 yards and three touchdown receptions and the second-leading receiver is Brevyn Spann-Ford with 481 yards and two touchdown receptions.