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Minnesota-Iowa St. Preview

Dec 31, 2009 - 5:46 PM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

Minnesota (6-6) at Iowa State (6-6), 6:00 p.m. EDT

Separated by just over 200 miles, Iowa State and Minnesota will travel roughly the same distance to the Insight Bowl in Tempe, Ariz. The journey was significantly longer for the Cyclones.

One year removed from a 10-loss season, Iowa State is set to play in its first postseason game in four years when it faces the Golden Gophers at Sun Devil Stadium on Thursday.

The Cyclones (6-6) seem to be one of the more unlikely recipients of a bowl invitation following last season's debacle. Iowa State dropped its final 10 games and was outscored by an average of 19.8 points in eight Big 12 losses. Things appeared to get even worse when coach Gene Chizik left for Auburn just weeks after the season ended.

Expectations were pretty low heading into this season with Iowa State picked to finish last in the North Division. Despite all the obstacles, coach Paul Rhoads managed to get the program turned around immediately.

"That's the expectations and goals we set forth for this football team," Rhoads said. "To be sitting here right now is not a surprise because of the young men I'm surrounded by and the hard work they've put in."

The Cyclones finished fourth in the division with a 3-5 conference record, including a 9-7 win over North champion Nebraska. Their upset of the heavily favored Cornhuskers was their first victory in Lincoln since 1977.

While Iowa State is set to play in its first postseason game since losing to TCU in the 2005 Houston Bowl, Minnesota is familiar with the bowl setting, especially the one in Tempe.

The Golden Gophers (6-6) are making their third Insight Bowl appearance in four years. They lost to Kansas 42-21 last season and dropped a 44-41 overtime game to Texas Tech in 2006.

Minnesota finished eighth in the Big Ten, wrapping up its regular season with a 12-0 loss at Iowa, which is set to play in the Orange Bowl.

Iowa State also faced the Hawkeyes this season - the only common opponent between these schools - and lost 35-3.

Despite the close proximity between Iowa State and Minnesota and the intense rivalry each school has with Iowa, this will be the first meeting between these programs since the Gophers' 53-29 victory at the Metrodome in 1997. Minnesota leads the series 22-2-1 and hasn't lost to the Cyclones since 1898, yet they've only met twice since 1924.

The Gophers have struggled at times offensively this season, and most of those problems have stemmed from wide receiver Eric Decker's season-ending foot injury.

Despite missing four games, Decker, the school's all-time leading receiver, still topped Minnesota in receptions (50), receiving yards (758) and touchdown catches (five). He was named first-team all-conference.

The Gophers finished last in the Big Ten in scoring (21.6 points per game) and total offense (295.8 yards per game). Turnovers have also been a big problem for the team, with Adam Weber throwing 14 interceptions to 12 TD passes.

"We got a lot of work to do between now and the bowl game," coach Tim Brewster said.

Iowa State's offense wasn't much better.

The Cyclones were 11th in the Big 12 in scoring (21.1) and eighth in total offense (376.3).

Iowa State's win over Nebraska came without starting quarterback Austen Arnaud (injured throwing hand) and running back Alexander Robinson (sore groin). Those players have since returned from their injuries with differing results.

Arnaud has had trouble with turnovers, throwing six interceptions in the three games since getting hurt after tossing one in his previous five.

Robinson has managed to pick up where he left off prior to his injury, though, running for 245 yards in his last three games. His 1,058 yards were fourth-best in the Big 12.

Iowa State's offense is built around the run game, but it could be tough for Robinson to find openings against a Minnesota team that has given up 100 rushing yards on 63 attempts in the last two games.