PHOENIX — Opting out has become the in thing to do.
Every year, players regularly choose not to play in bowl games, some wary of injuries affecting their pro prospects, others leaving for another school or sitingt out after a coaching change.
Entire teams even opt out.
Minnesota still finds plenty of reasons to embrace the bowl experience, even when the chase for a national championship ended long before the postseason starts.
The Gophers are pretty good at it, too, heading into Friday's Rate Bowl against New Mexico on an eight-game bowl winning streak. That's the FBS' longest active streak, the longest ever by a Big Ten Conference team and fourth longest in college football history, three behind Florida State's record of 11 from 1985-95.
''Our players take the bowl games very, very seriously. They love football, and they want to play football,'' said coach P.J. Fleck, who is 6-0 in bowl games and in his ninth season with the Gophers. ''We take a lot of pride in developing that type of mindset here at the University of Minnesota. I just respect the game wholeheartedly. You want to coach players who respect the game.''
The majority of bowl games this century have long been second-tier events, and the advent of the 12-team College Football Playoff has further cemented that status. The constant December upheaval around the game with coaching staff changes and transfer-portal entries has made the bowls even more of an afterthought.
But not if the Gophers can help it.
