What We Learned About the Minnesota Gophers in Yet Another PJ Fleck Bowl Game Victory

By Eric Strack |

Updated: Jan 4, 2025

PJ Fleck covered in Mayo: Duke's Mayo Bowl - Minnesota Gophers vs Virginia Tech Hokies — Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Prior to Friday’s Duke’s Mayo Bowl matchup vs the Virginia Tech Hokies, it had been over 40 calendar days since the last Minnesota Gophers football game. Rest or rust? Both teams were going to put that sports tried and true sports question to the test.

Oddsmakers put their belief in the Gophers, who entered the Mayo Bowl as -10 point favorites. It did take a bit for Minnesota to shake off that aforementioned rust, but the Golden Gophers eventually returned the dominant bowl game team they usually are under PJ Fleck.

QB Max Brosmer didn’t win over any of the NFL scouts, in attendance tonight, completing 18-of-29 passes (62%) for 211 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. It’s only the third time in Max’s last eight games that he has finished with a completion percentage lower than 65%.

What We Learned: Minnesota Gophers vs Virginia Tech Hokies

But for most of the evening, the Gopher offense didn’t need Brosmer. Instead, they turned back to clock to a an offense that looked much more like what we have seen from Fleck’s Gophers, prior to the grad transfer QB’s arrival. And it worked.

Throw in another great performance from a Minnesota Gophers defense (that was missing a handful of important pieces), and it was the maroon and gold who took home the Duke’s Mayo Bowl victory, moving PJ Fleck’s Bowl Game record at the University of Minnesota to 6-0. So… here is what we learned from the final Gopher football game of the 2024-25 season.

Darius Taylor is still him

It’s been an up and down season for Darius Taylor. He came into his sophomore season as the sole superstar-type talent on that side of the ball, after a freshman season that included three Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors and even more injuries.

Quickly, however, we all learned that the 2024 Minnesota Gophers offense was going to look completely different than offenses of Gophers past. After running the ball 71 times in the first two weeks, and averaging a brutal 2.75 yards per carry, PJ Fleck and Greg Harbaugh mostly abandoned the run for the rest of the season.

But not on Friday night vs Virginia Tech, where the Gophers turned back the clock and leaned into their phenom sophomore running back, Darius Taylor, handing him the ball 20 times, which he took for 113 yards (5.7 YPC) and a touchdown.

Darius Taylor TD
pic.twitter.com/q6whvJ448W
— Pick 6 Pack (@Pick6PackFB) January 4, 2025

Michigan State transfer Jared Mangham, who hasn’t seen a lot of run all year, got 9 carries too. He took those carries for an impressive 57 yards (6.3 YPC) against a depleted Hokies front-seven that never really stood a chance, even with the Gophers offensive line missing their own key pieces on the offensive line.

But Darius Taylor does a lot more than run the football. His 4 receptions and 7 targets were both second on the team behind only WR Elijah Spencer, who had 6 receptions on 9 targets. Oh, and Taylor — who has already committed to returning to Minnesota next season — threw a touchdown, too. Because why not?

Darius Taylor did it all in @GopherFootball’s Mayo Bowl win 💪#B1GFootball pic.twitter.com/5sH9reXMB6
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) January 4, 2025

Taylor was injured for the Gophers first game of the season, vs UNC, but in the four games that followed, he never once topped 14 carries. Still, there were a few games this season where the offense leaned on him in a major way.

Oct 5 vs USC: 25 carries, 144 yards
Nov 2 vs Illinois: 22 carries, 131 yards, TD
Nov 29 vs Wisconsin: 32 carries, 143 yards

And whatever Darius Taylor didn’t get in carries, this year, he made up for with receptions. Brosmer found him 21 times in those four September games where he never reached 14 carries.

That included 10 receptions on September 29 vs Michigan. On the season, Taylor totalled 54 receptions and 350 yards receiving on the year, to go along with his 986 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns.

Minnesota defense dominant again

What is there to say about the Minnesota Gophers defense? They lost their longtime defensive coordinator in the offseason, and never blinked. Friday night, Virginia Tech posted just 223 yards in total offense (149 pass, 74 rush) and ZERO 2nd half points.

Sure, the Hokie offense was missing a lot of players, but so was the Gopher defense, including starters (CB) Justin Walley, (LB) Cody Lindenberg (DL) Jah Joyner, and (S) Darius Green. But it didn’t really matter. Once Minnesota figured out what Va Tech was trying to do, the night was pretty much over.

Gophers defense gets the pick back on 4th and goal pic.twitter.com/ZKSlNKVUIF
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) January 4, 2025

None of this is new, though. The 2024 Minnesota Gophers have been one of the best in PJ Fleck’s coaching tenure at the U of M, and that is saying something because defense has been this program’s staple attribute since Joe Rossi took it over during the 2018 season.

There are still a few bowl games left to play. But as of Saturday morning, the Minnesota defense ranks 9th nationally in points allowed (16.9), 5th in total yards allowed (285.7), 12th in rush yards allowed (109.6) and 10th in pass yards allowed (176.1). That’s top 12 in every major defensive statistic on the books. They also ranked 29th in turnovers created per game (1.6).

It was very concerning when Joe Rossi left for Michigan State. Before he took over, Robb Smith was fired for giving up nearly 40 points per game. If the Minnesota Gophers defense reverted back to that in 2024, they may not have won a game. Instead, in Corey Hetherman’s debut DC season, the defense never skipped a beat.

PJ Fleck mayo bath was as good as advertised

Finally, let’s get to what really matters. Everyone watching on Friday night wanted one thing (even the Virginia Tech fans I bet). We all wanted to see PJ Fleck take a Duke’s Mayo bath. The Hokies are dealing with all sorts of problems.

I can’t even tell you what their coach’s name is. But everyone knows and has an opinion on Fleck. So you’re damn right that’s the coach everyone wanted to see doused in tangy mayonaise. And when the clock expired and the Minnesota Gophers were 21-10 winners on the scoreboard, we all got what we came for.

And it was everything we could have imagined… and more. We even got Flava Flav, and a PJ Fleck “Yeeeeeaaaaahhh Boooiiiii” right before the vat of mayo was dumped onto his smooth, bald head.

The Duke's Mayo celebrity mascot is — Flava Flav.

Flava Flav: FLAVA FLAV IN THE BUILDING AT THE DUKE'S MAYO BOWL. Welcome champions.

P.J. Fleck: IT'S FLAVA FLAV! HOLY CRAP. pic.twitter.com/GPMLWWdRrn
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 4, 2025