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The Missouri Tigers and the Minnesota Golden Gophers square off in the 2014 Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl.
Missouri comes into the game ranked 16th in the country and off of a loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship Game. Gary Pinkel made it to Atlanta for the second straight year, but came up short once again.
Quarterback Maty Mauk leads the offense, although his play has been inconsistent all season. Mauk completed just 52.9 percent of his passes this season for 2,551 yards, with 23 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
Mauk’s primary target through the air is Bud Sasser, who caught 70 passes for 935 yards and 10 scores. The backfield tandem of Russell Hansbrough (970 yards, nine touchdowns) and Marcus Murphy (767 yards, four touchdowns) carry the load on the ground for the Tigers (10-3).
Minnesota was one of the big surprises of the 2014 college football season. Head coach Jerry Kill had his team in contention in the Big Ten until the final game of the regular season. The Gophers finished 8-4, with three of those losses coming at the hands of ranked teams.
The Minnesota offense is fairly one-dimensional, but that one dimension is running back David Cobb, who rushed for 1,548 yards and 13 touchdowns this season.
Quarterback Mitch Leidner is more of a running threat that a passing one. Leidner rushed for 462 yards and 10 scores this season, while passing for 1,540 yards with 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
Minnesota beats opponents by running the ball and playing great defense. Ironically, that’s exactly how Missouri likes to beat opponents as well, so the team that can throw it a little bit might have an advantage in this game.
Final score prediction: Missouri 27, Minnesota 21
Tim Letcher is a contributing writer for www.RantSports.com and a member of the Football Writers Association of America. Follow him on Twitter @TimLetcher , on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
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