The Minnesota Golden Gophers are boycotting their bowl game after 10 players were suspended. The Holiday Bowl committee stated they’re monitoring it closely
Before bowl season begins, we’ve already had two high-profile controversies. The first was WakeyLeaks, in which Wake Forest’s radio announcer revealed the team’s game plan to their opponents. The other came from Minnesota, who had 10 players suspended due to allegations of sexual assault stemming back from last year.
The remaining Gophers players have threatened to boycott their bowl game against Washington State. A lot of people are wondering if the Holiday Bowl will actually let them go through with this. In their first public statement since the boycott, this is what they had to say:
"We are continuing to prepare for the National Funding Holiday Bowl on December 27, however, we are aware of the situation at the University of Minnesota and are monitoring it closely."
As of now, we don’t know if they’re going to sanction the Gophers over this, or if they’ll simply award the trophy to Washington State outright. But this is far from an ideal situation, and one that neither the Holiday Bowl or first-year coach Tracy Claeys wants to deal with.
Both the Gophers and Cougars are 8-4, and emerged as surprise contenders in their respective conferences. It would’ve been an entertaining bowl game, but for now, it’s been put on hold because of off-the-field issues. A lot of college football fans feel as though there are too many bowl games, but this probably wasn’t how they wanted to see one of them get scrapped.
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This situation has proven to be a headache for everyone involved, and it looks like it’ll linger long after than the Holiday Bowl. As of now, five players are facing expulsion, four are facing a one-year suspension and one could be facing probation. All told, this is not the type of start to his tenure that Tracy Claeys envisioned.