For the first time since 1962, Gopher fans will be able to escape the Minnesota winter for a bowl game in California.
Minnesota will be heading to San Diego for the Holiday Bowl, where it will face off against Washington State on Dec. 27.
The Gophers finished 8-4, winning at least eight games in a season for the third time in past four years after doing it just three times since the late 1960s. Their success was quiet, as they racked up few impressive wins, counting only two against Big Ten teams that reached bowl eligibility, Northwestern and Maryland, teams that finished with 6-6 records.
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This is Minnesota's fifth consecutive bowl appearance and the program's 14th in the past 18 seasons.
Washington State also finished the season with an 8-4 record out in the Pac-12 and had an eight-game winning streak in the middle of the season before losing its final two games to the two teams that played in the Pac-12 title game, Washington and Colorado.
These two programs have met five previous times, all in regular-season games in Minneapolis. But the last one came way back in 1988. Minnesota is 2-3 against Washington State all-time.