The Texas Tech Red Raiders (7-5) of the Big-12 Conference and Minnesota Golden Gophers (6-6) of the Big-10 square off tonight in the Insight Bowl from Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona with kickoff at 8 p.m. (EST).
The Red Raiders, playing in their second Insight Bowl, have gone bowling in all of Mike Leach’s seven years at the helm of the Texas Tech program. Entering the Insight Bowl, Leach has led the Red Raiders to 55 wins in his seven seasons, matching the best seven-season total in school history. This will be the first ever meeting between Texas Tech and Minnesota.
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Glen Mason took over the Golden Gopher football program as head coach in 1997 and has guided the team to five consecutive bowl games and seven in the past eight years. This is the first ever visit to the Insight Bowl. In his coaching career spanning two decades, Mason has coached in eight bowl games with his teams winning five of them. Mason has a career record of 123 wins to 120 losses.
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The Red Raiders finished the 2006 regular season with a 7-5 overall record and 4-4 mark in Big 12 Conference play. Tech opened the season with a 4-1 mark, before dropping back-to-back games for the first time since the 2003 season. Tech bounced back with three wins in the last five games, while the two losses to Texas and Oklahoma were by four and 10 points, respectively.
Tech is led offensively by sophomore quarterback Graham Harrell and wide receiver Joel Filani. Harrell has connected with Filani for twelve touchdowns this season. Filani enters the Insight Bowl meeting with Minnesota on the tail end of what could eventually be the most prolific receiving season in Texas Tech history. The All-Big 12 first team selection’s 1,138 receiving yards through 12 regular-season games is currently the fourth highest single-season total in school history.
Minnesota is known for its smash mouth style of play by using the run to set up the pass. Senior quarterback Bryan Cupito leads the charge with backfield mate, junior running back Amir Pinnix. Cupito completed 195 passes of 328 attempts for 2,556 yards and 19 touchdowns. Cupito’s favorite targets through the air are Maxwell award finalist, senior tight end Matt Spaeth and senior wide receiver Logan Payne. Pinnix gained 1,093 yards on 218 rushes and scored nine touchdowns.
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Minnesota won its final three regular-season games to finish 6-6 and qualify for the postseason for the fifth consecutive year. The Golden Gophers have won three of their last four bowl games, including their most recent win in the 2004 Music City Bowl over Alabama.
Texas Tech is favored to win the game by a -7 point chalk with the game total set at 65 points. The Red Raiders were not a good bet in 2006 only covering against the spread in 5-of-11 games. The OVER was a most reliable bet in Red Raider’s games cashing in 7-of-11 games they played.
The Golden Gophers were even less reliable ATS than was the Red Raiders by covering in 4-of-10 games with the OVER cashing six times.
