The (8-4, 5-4) Minnesota Gophers will travel to New York City on Dec. 29 to play the (7-5, 4-4) Syracuse Orange from the ACC Conference. The game will be televised on ESPN at 1 p.m. CST. Here is how both teams stack up against each other.

Offense
Both teams own different situations pertaining to their starting quarterbacks. For Minnesota, they have the decision to start either sixth-year stalwart Tanner Morgan or redshirt-freshman Athan Kaliakmanis, who recently threw for 319 yards and two touchdowns en route to secure Paul Bunyan’s Axe from Wisconsin for the second year in a row. It remains unclear if Morgan will be healthy due to the upper-body injury he sustained against Illinois.

For the Orange, Mississippi State transfer Garrett Shrader will take the reins under center. Shrader has started 11 games for the Orange, missing one due to a shoulder injury that left him out versus Pittsburgh and limited in contests versus Notre Dame and Florida State.

At running back (RB) and offensive line, the Gophers have an obvious advantage with Rimington Award finalist and center John Michael Schmitz and Doak Walker semifinalist RB Mohamed Ibrahim. RB Sean Tucker for Syracuse on nearly 100 less carries had around 500 less yards than Ibrahim. Tucker still averaged 5.1 yards per carry in 2022 and was one of the better backs in the ACC, earning second team conference honors.

Syracuse’s largest advantage on offense is in the form of a receiving threat. Oronde Gadsden II has torched opposing ACC defenses this year for 891 yards and six touchdowns on 54 catches (6th highest yardage in the conference). Outside of Gadsden II, the Orange have a corral of receivers who are middle of the road. Luckily for the Gophers, receivers Daniel Jackson and Dylan Wright both had identically impressive showings in Madison, both catching five passes for 86 yards and finally finding chemistry with young gun Kaliakmanis.

The Gophers also have a much better receiving threat at tight end than the Orange. Brevyn Spann-Ford was another name who lit up the Badgers secondary for seven receptions, totalling 95 yards.

Defense
Minnesota’s biggest strength last season was its defensive line; this year it was its biggest weakness with it’s leading tackler, Kyler Baugh, only accruing 33 total tackles. Yet, the Gophers make up for that with a hard hitting secondary led by defensive backs Jordan Howden and Tyler Nubin, who both have accumulated over 50 tackles on the year and six takeaways between the two. The heart of the Minnesota defense lies in Mariano Sori-Marin, who leads the team in tackles with 78.

Syracuse on the other hand has two moguls as linebackers. Marlowe Wax and Mikel Jones both wrapped up more than 80 tackles on the year and have at least one forced fumble and fumble recovery to their names. The Orange overall have higher tackling numbers than Minnesota, leading 826-627.

Syracuse supplies a deep front seven that can sub players in and out on a whim, but its secondary hasn’t generated as many takeaways as the Gophers. It will be interesting to see if the Gophers want to spam Ibrahim against this impressive rush defense, or if they want to let Kaliakmanis cook like he did in Madison. Wisconsin had very similar defensive attributes.

Special Teams
Both teams’ kickers have been 100% on the season for extra points. Minnesota’s Matthew Trickett is 42/42, while Andre Szmyt is 38/38. The difference lies in their field goal opportunities. Trickett has hit 15/18 field goals with his season-long being 50 yards. Szmyt on the other hand is 18/24 with his season-long being 54 yards. Trickett is 1/1 from 50+; Szmyt is 2/4.

At punter, Gophers’ Mark Crawford and Orange’s Max Von Marburg both average 40 yards per punt, placing themselves as middle of the road in the country. On returns, Minnesota averages 21.3 yards per kickoff return and 6.3 yards per punt return. Syracuse averages 26.6 yards per kickoff return and 7.5 yards per punt return.

“We talk about bowl experiences … one of my top three favorite bowl experiences was in New York,” said Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck, who coached on Rutgers’ staff when the Scarlet Knights defeated the Iowa State Cyclones 27-13 in the 2011 Pinstripe Bowl. “It’s so different from other bowl experiences, some are ‘here’s the beach see you in five days.’ This is something that’s really in-depth with the culture, the excitement, Times Square, being in Manhattan.”