An offensive role for Gophers defensive back Koi Perich was a major storyline before the 2025 season. The experiment was seemingly over until he played more offensive snaps in Minnesota’s Rate Bowl win over New Mexico than the entire regular season combined. Let’s take a deeper look at every position Perich lined up at against the Lobos.

Defense (69 snaps)

Positional breakdown: via Pro Football Focus (PFF)

• FS: 20 snaps
• ILB: 20 snaps
• Slot CB: 16 snaps
• SS: 10 snaps
• OLB: 3 snaps

Defensive production

• 69.7 PFF grade
• 5 total tackles

Subscribe: Sign up to receive the free Gophers On SI newsletter

Perich’s defensive production took a slight step back in 2025, but his 69.7 PFF grade in the Rate Bowl against New Mexico was his third-highest of the season. It marked only the fourth time this season that he had one missed tackle or fewer.

Offense (22 snaps)

Positional breakdown

• Slot WR: 12 snaps
• Outside WR: 10 snaps

Offensive production

• 4 receptions, 34 yards
• 2 carries, 7 yards

Friday was Perich’s best offensive game of his college career. It might’ve taken five wide receivers to enter the transfer portal and Le’Meke Brockington opting out of the game, but he essentially acted as their No. 3 wide receiver.

His previous career high for offensive snaps came in Week 1 against Buffalo when he saw the field seven times. He also had his most productive game against the Lobos with four receptions for 34 yards, which was the second most on the team. When Minnesota wanted Perich to play offense, you’d have to assume Friday’s game was how they wanted it to look.

Special teams

• One punt return, four yards

Perich played his normal special teams role against New Mexico, as Minnesota’s primary punt returner and kick returner, but he only had one punt return for four yards.

A handful of transfer portal entries and bowl game opt outs opened the window for Minnesota to revisit the Perich experiement on offense, and it was sucesful. It will be an interesting storyline to follow whether or not it was just bowl game theatrics or a look into a true two-way role in 2026.

Gophers news, rumors and analysis

The most important college football games of the season are still to come, but there is a fair case to be made that Saturday’s New Mexico Bowl, which pits San Diego State against North Texas, is the most interesting contest of the entire campaign.

There may be no bigger stylistic contrast in college football than between the Mean Green and the Aztecs. It’s a classic battle between an unstoppable force and an immovable object.

What’s more is that both of these teams were among the most impressive in the Group of 5 this season, and narrowly missed out on being in the mix for the playoff bids that eventually went to Tulane and James Madison.

North Texas saw its dream come crashing down in the AAC Championship against the Green Wave, while San Diego State had its season derailed by an overtime loss to New Mexico in the final week of the campaign.

The odds make this game even more compelling, as the bookies are having a tough time separating these two teams. North Texas (11-2) is a 3.5-point favorite over San Diego State (9-3).

The tale of the tape for the New Mexico Bowl is an absolute beauty.

San Diego State vs. North Texas odds, prediction

Only four teams in college football allowed fewer points per game than San Diego State, which also ranked fifth overall in yards per play and first in FBS in yards allowed per pass attempt.

The Aztecs held seven different opponents (including Boise State and California) to single digits in 2025.

San Diego State’s offensive numbers are vanilla at best, but the Aztecs rarely needed to light up the scoreboard to get results. When your defense is allowing 12.6 points per game, you can afford to plod your way down the field.

And now for something completely different.

No team scored more points than North Texas this season. In fact, only one team (Texas Tech) came within 30 points of the Mean Green by season’s end.

North Texas averaged six touchdowns per game, scored 45-plus points in nine of its 13 contests and hit the 30-point mark in every game except for the AAC Championship against Tulane.

On paper, this sets up for a classic. Styles make fights, as they say.

But this is 2025, so there will be some homework to do before this tilt.

Betting on College Football?

Earlier this month, it was announced that North Texas head coach Eric Morris was hired to replace Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State. The rest of the Mean Green’s staff would be in place for the bowl game, so you’d think Morris’ departure wouldn’t be a huge deal, save for one thing: There’s a lot of noise that his quarterback, Drew Mestemaker, would be hitting the portal after the bowl game.

Mestemaker, a freshman who walked onto the team in 2024, led the nation with 4,129 passing yards and finished third with 31 touchdown passes. The AAC Offensive Player of the Year has been adamant that he won’t decide on transferring until after the bowl game.

We’ll take Mestemaker at his word, but it did seem peculiar that he and his teammates put forth their worst effort in their most recent game, which was when rumors about the quarterback’s intentions really started to percolate. It was already announced that his head coach was headed to Oklahoma State, and many pundits were beginning to connect the dots.

Against other defenses, North Texas could win despite a distracted performance from Mestemaker and the rest of the offense, but the Mean Green will not be able to get away with it against San Diego State.

I expect this game to be played on the Aztecs’ terms, and that should spell doom for North Texas and any punter looking to back the Mean Green on Saturday.

The Play: San Diego State moneyline (+145, BetMGM)

Why Trust New York Post Betting

Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.

The Minnesota Golden Gophers just win bowl games.

Drake Lindsey connected on a 12-yard pass to Jalen Smith in overtime to give Minnesota a thrilling 20-17 win over New Mexico in the Rate Bowl at Chase Field on Dec. 26.

It is Minnesota’s ninth straight bowl victory. It is 7-0 in bowl games under coach P.J. Fleck.

New Mexico took a 17-14 lead in overtime after Luke Drzewiecki hit a 36-yard field goal, but Minnesota was able to top that with a 4-play, 25-yard drive, culminating with the Smith touchdown reception, his second of the game.

“It was a concept we ran all year,” Jalen Smith, who was named the Offensive Player of the Game, said. “The offensive line held up. It was just me doing the easy part.”

It was the third overtime game in Rate Bowl history.

The game didn’t feature a lot of scoring through the first three quarters, with Minnesota taking a 7-6 lead into halftime, getting its first-half touchdown on a 10-yard pass from Lindsey to Smith late in the second quarter.

It remained that way until the fourth quarter, when Minnesota extended its lead to 14-6 on a 5-yard run from Darius Taylor with 13:30 left in the fourth.

But New Mexico got back into the game just 12 seconds later on a 100-yard kickoff return from Damon Bankston, the longest in Rate Bowl history. Jack Layne tied the game with a pass to Keagan Johnson on the two-point conversion.

Minnesota DL Anthony Smith was the defensive player of the game after recording six tackles, four of which were for a loss, and two sacks.

“I wouldn’t want to be on any other team,” Smith said. “And that is why I am coming back for my fifth year. I love these guys.”

Lindsey went 18-for-28 for 147 yards, with two touchdown passes.

Jalen Smith had six catches for 64 yards, with two touchdown receptions.

Darius Taylor rushed the ball 24 times for 116 yards and a touchdown.

Fleck lauded the Rate Bowl after his team’s win.

“What an elite experience,” the Minnesota head coach said after the game. “There are a lot of bowls out there, but they know how to do it first class.”

Jack Layne finished the game 14-for 25 passing for New Mexico, with 88 yards passing and one pass intercepted.

Bankston rushed 10 times for 57 yards for the Lobos.

Minnesota had 252 total yards, while New Mexico had 204.

It was New Mexico’s first bowl appearance since 2016. The Lobos finished the year 9-4 under first-year coach Jason Eck.

“I thought we fought our tail off today,” Eck said. “We just came up a little bit short. I thought we particularly played well on defense … We were struggling to move the ball, it really didn’t end up hurting up because our defense did a great job.”

The Golden Gophers ended the year with an 8-5 record.

Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.

Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today. Sign up for azcentral Preps Now. And be sure to subscribe to our daily sports newsletters so you don’t miss a thing.