So Gopher Football under first year coach PJ Fleck has managed to get to 5 wins with two game remaining. Traditionally it takes 6 wins to get your team to be bowl eligible. And while the Gophers have a chance to earn a bowl the old fashioned way, there is an avenue to earning that 13th game.
In 2012 the NCAA relaxed bowl eligibility rules to account for the occurrences when there are not enough actual bowl eligible teams to fill the plethora of bowl games. This paid off for the Gophers in 2015 when they finished the season 5-7 but were able to secure a trip to Quick Lane Bowl.