DETROIT — Two key Gophers players will sit out the Quick Lane Bowl against Bowling Green at Ford Field.

Safety Tyler Nubin and tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford have been with the team since they arrived in Michigan on Friday, but won’t play in the game on Tuesday.

Both seniors are candidates to be selected in the NFL Draft in April and have been invited to compete in the Senior Bowl showcase for top pro prospects on Feb. 3 in Mobile, Ala.

Nubin was named first-team all-Big Ten in 2023 with 53 tackles and five interceptions in all 12 games. He set a program record with 13 career INTs.

Spann-Ford, who has honorable mention all-Big Ten, was third on the team with 25 receptions for 239 yards and two touchdowns in 12 regular-season games in 2023.

Last season, Gophers center John Michael Schmitz opted out of the Pinstripe Bowl before being drafted by the New York Giants. Two years ago, defensive end Boye Mafe played in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl before being taken by the Seattle Seahawks. And in 2018, linebacker Blake Cashman opted out of the Quick Lane Bowl before being drafted by the New York Jets.

Injuries hitting D

The Gophers defense will be shorthanded at all three levels against Bowling Green, according to the U’s status report released two hours before kickoff.

Two linebackers — Devon Williams and Maverick Baranowski — are out, but Cody Lindenberg is not on the status report.

On top of Nubin, safety Darius Green is also out, and while he’s not listed Aidan Gousby is also out.

It appears true freshman Kerry Brown will get his first career start; he has played in four games as a reserve.

Cornerback Tre’Von Jones is questionable after leaving the Wisconsin loss with an upper-body injury.

Defensive line is the healthiest position group, with only backup rush end Chris Collins listed as out.

On offense, seventh-year senior Chris Autman-Bell is out. Autman-Bell, the last remaining player fro head coach P.J. Fleck’s first recruiting class in 2017, has dealt with injures the last two seasons.

Autman-Bell eclipsed the 2,000-yard mark this year, coming back from a season-ending knee injury in 2022. He had six receptions for 88 yards and one touchdown this season and finished his career with 131 receptions for 2,058 yards and 14 touchdowns.

The U also listed five reserve players as out: Jack Tinnen, Jackson Powers, Zander Rockow, Lucas Finnessy and Karter Shaw.

Related Articles

Gophers lineman Aireontae Ersery, a role model, with wit

Gophers football getting outspent as coordinators head elsewhere

Gophers football vs. Bowling Green: Keys to bowl game, how to watch, who has edge

Running back Darius Taylor on returning to the Gophers: ‘I love it here’

Former Gophers coach Jerry Kill steps down at New Mexico State

Dustin Hopkins made a 34-yard field goal with 32 seconds to play to lift the Cleveland Browns to a 20-17 victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday.

The Bears defense disrupted Browns quarterback Joe Flacco all day, including interceptions by Eddie Jackson, Tremaine Edmunds and Tyrique Stevenson.

But Flacco came through when it mattered most.

His 51-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper tied the game at 17-17 with 3 minutes, 18 seconds to play. Flacco threw a perfect pass between three Bears defenders to Cooper, who ran 25 yards down the right sideline to score.

After the Bears offense had to punt on the following drive, Flacco threw two big passes to tight end David Njoku, the first a 31-yarder to get to the Bears 48-yard line. Then on third-and-15, Flacco hit Njoku with a 34-yard pass to the Bears 19.

When Hopkins’ field goal sailed through the uprights, it stopped the Bears (5-9) from nabbing their first three-game winning streak since December 2020.

Flacco completed 28 of 44 passes for 374 yards with two touchdowns and the three interceptions.

Bears quarterback Justin Fields completed 19 of 40 passes for 166 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, both on Hail Marys to end a half.

Fields completed a 30-yard pass to Tyler Scott to get the Bears to the Browns 45 with 20 seconds to play and then threw two incompletions. On a Hail Mary pass to end the game, wide receiver Darnell Mooney had the ball in his hands in the end zone, but it popped out and D’Anthony Bell grabbed it out of the air to seal the victory for the Browns (9-5).

The Bears took a 10-point lead in the third quarter.

After a 7-7 halftime tie, Edmunds’ first career pick-six came after T.J. Edwards hit wide receiver Cedric Tillman as the ball was coming at him. Edmunds grabbed it out of the air and ran 45 yards for the touchdown and a 14-7 Bears lead. Edmunds has four interceptions this year, including three in the last four games.

Cairo Santos made a 41-yard field goal to give the Bears a 17-7 lead with 7:07 to play in the third quarter.

Late in the third quarter, the Bears came up with a defensive stop, but returner Trent Taylor muffed the punt. The Browns recovered at the Bears 20.

On the next play, Stevenson intercepted Flacco at the 1-yard line and returned it 34 yards. But the Bears couldn’t capitalize on the takeaway. Fields was stopped for no gain on fourth-and-1 at the Browns 33 when he was tripped up just short of the first down.

Hopkins made a 33-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to cut the Bears lead to 17-10. Former Bears wide receiver Marquise Goodwin got behind the defense to catch a 57-yard Flacco pass that set up Hopkins’ kick.

‘Devastating’: The Chicago Bears’ latest loss — with another blown lead in Cleveland — may cut the deepest
Darnell Mooney’s Hail Mary drop will make the Chicago Bears’ lowlight reel, but far more went wrong for the offense

Here’s how the game unfolded.

Inactives announced

Bears wide receiver DJ Moore and safety Jaquan Brisker are active Sunday at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

Moore was listed as questionable after he dealt with an ankle injury all week, but he practiced in full Friday and will play against the Browns.

Brisker dealt with groin tightness in practice Wednesday, didn’t practice Thursday and was limited Friday. He also was listed as questionable.

The Bears previously declared out linebacker Noah Sewell (knee) and wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown (pectoral). They elevated linebacker DeMarquis Gates on Saturday to take Sewell’s spot.

Safety Quindell Johnson and offensive lineman Ja’Tyre Carter are also inactive. Nathan Peterman is inactive but will serve as the emergency third quarterback.

With Yannick Ngakoue going on injured reserve with a broken ankle this week, defensive end Dominique Robinson is active for the first time since Oct. 22.

Browns cornerback Denzel Ward, who missed the last three games with a shoulder injury, is active.

The Browns previously declared out defensive end Ogbo Okoronkwo (pectoral), center Ethan Pocic (stinger) and safety Juan Thornhill (calf). Linebackers Anthony Walker and Jordan Kunaszyk, cornerback Kahlef Hailassie and defensive end Sam Kamara are also inactive.

Halftime: Big plays hard to come by in 7-7 tie

The Bears’ only touchdown drive of the first half Sunday against the Browns was a wild four-play, 1-yard possession that took 2 minutes, 23 seconds off the clock.

On a rainy afternoon at Cleveland Browns Stadium, big offensive plays were at that kind of premium as the Bears and Browns went into halftime tied 7-7.

Bears quarterback Justin Fields hit tight end Cole Kmet for a 5-yard touchdown pass to cap their strange scoring drive. It came after safety Eddie Jackson came up with his first interception of the season off Browns quarterback Joe Flacco and returned it 27 yards to the Cleveland 1.

After D’Onta Foreman lost 3 yards on a first-down carry, the Browns committed three straight penalties — two for too many men on the field and pass interference on Martin Emerson while defending DJ Moore.

After another Foreman carry was stopped for no gain, Kmet was called for a false start. But two plays later, Kmet hauled in the touchdown for a 7-0 Bears lead.

The Browns responded with a 12-play, 84-yard drive capped by Flacco’s 2-yard touchdown pass to David Njoku to tie it. Njoku jumped to grab the ball over Jaquan Brisker in the back of the end zone.

Flacco sparked the drive with a 42-yard pass to Amari Cooper with Tyrique Stevenson covering. The drive also included Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s 5-yard pass to Jerome Ford on fourth-and-2 at the Bears 19.

Fields completed 12 of 21 passes for 101 yards with the touchdown and an interception on a Hail Mary on the last pass of the half. The Bears got to the Browns 37-yard line on the last drive but couldn’t put points on the board.

Flacco completed 14 of 23 passes for 140 yards with the touchdown and the interception.

The teams combined for 40 yards on the ground.

Bears left guard Teven Jenkins left the sideline on a cart after getting shaken up on a late second-quarter play. The Bears ruled him out for the rest of the game with a concussion.

Catch up on the rest of our coverage.

5 things to watch — plus our predictions

The last time Bears quarterback Justin Fields played the Browns in the regular season was his first career start on Sept. 26, 2021. It’s an impossible one to forget.

Browns defensive end Myles Garrett recorded 4 1/2 of the Browns’ nine sacks against Fields, who completed just 6 of 20 passes for 68 yards under then-coach Matt Nagy. Fields lost 67 yards to the sacks.

As the Bears return to Cleveland, Garrett, a four-time Pro Bowl selection, still is wreaking havoc on opposing quarterbacks. He ranks seventh in the NFL with 13 sacks and is tied for fourth with 26 quarterback hits. Read more here.

Bears Q&A: When would a potential Justin Fields trade take place? How realistic are their playoff chances?

‘Nothing was given to him. He had to earn everything’

When Ryan Poles signed T.J. Edwards to a three-year, $19.5 million contract in March, the Bears general manager called it an “awesome story.” The former Lakes High School quarterback, now 27, was the latest local guy to join the Bears, and he arrived following a rise to Eagles starter that many teams didn’t see coming.

Now, Edwards’ latest chapter has fueled a season in which he is a consistent cog in the Bears defensive turnaround.

The 6-foot-1, 242-pound weak-side linebacker set a Bears record for the most tackles through 10 games with 112. And through 13 heading into Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns, he also has seven tackles for a loss, two interceptions, four passes defended, a forced fumble, two fumble recoveries, two sacks and six quarterback hits. Read more here.

Yannick Ngakoue will miss the rest of the Bears season with a broken ankle, forcing a resurgent pass rush to adjust
Coach Matt Eberflus sees win as ‘proof’ the Bears are making progress. The defense showed it.

Stats package

Kyle Orton’s franchise record is not yet in jeopardy.

But Justin Fields’ 93 pass attempts since his last interception is a sign of progress for the quarterback, who returns to the site of his first career start. Read more here.

Bears Week 15 storylines: Justin Fields’ well-timed test, DJ Moore’s ‘Slim Shady’ magic and some ‘In the hunt’ perspective
Column: What music motivates Chicago athletes? Here’s a sports mixtape of their favorite songs.
How Bears DJs set the ‘atmosphere’ for fans — and players — at Soldier Field
True or false: QB Justin Fields’ performance Sunday gives Bears GM Ryan Poles reason to stick with him in 2024
3 things we heard from the Bears, including Justin Fields on late hits and Cairo Santos on the NFL’s first Brazil game
What to know about the Bears’ possible move from Soldier Field — and which other suburbs are vying for the stadium
Bears honor Leyden District 212 teacher as a ‘Classroom Legend’ for his academic wins: ‘At the end of the day, he gives his best effort’

NFL draft watch

Before “Maserati Marv” drives off to the NFL, he has some more hardware to pack.

Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. is the winner of the 2023 Chicago Tribune Silver Football, voted by the conference’s head coaches as the Big Ten’s best player. He is the 23rd Buckeye — tops among Big Ten schools — to win the Silver Football in the award’s 99-year history. An Ohio State or Michigan player has won in 12 of the last 15 years.

While Harrison left the door open last week to returning for his senior season, the son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison is widely expected to enter the NFL draft, in which he’s projected as a likely top-five pick. Read more here.

QB Drake Maye is entering the NFL draft and won’t play for North Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl
NFL evaluators praise J.J. McCarthy’s ‘unbelievable mind.’ Would the Bears target the Michigan QB and local product?
Caleb Williams’ clunker at Notre Dame doesn’t deter evaluators that the USC QB will be the No. 1 pick

()

So often after wins this season, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch pinpoints a couple areas in which Minnesota struggled or must improve upon moving forward.

That was not the case after Minnesota’s 110-98 victory Saturday in Sacramento.

“A complete performance for us on both ends,” Finch told reporters.

There simply wasn’t much to nitpick. Not on a night where Minnesota only trailed 2-0, then never again. The Timberwolves jumped out to an early advantage and never really relinquished control from there, building a lead as big as 22 points.

The Timberwolves (22-6) tamed Sacramento’s high-powered offense, holding the Kings (17-11) to their second-lowest point total of the season in games in which star guard De’Aaron Fox played.

Fox was hassled by Jaden McDaniels all night. The guard finished with 27 points on 10 for 23 shooting. As a team, the Kings shot 24 percent from distance.

“I thought we took pretty good shots throughout most of the night that didn’t go in, but you’ve got to give them credit,” Kings coach Mike Brown told reporters. “They’re long, they’re athletic and they fly around. You feel a little bit more pressure to get that shot off a little bit quicker, even though they’re not going to block it most times on a perimeter 3-point shot. But they make it tough on you.

“This is a game that you got to go into with a lot of mental resilience, because there’s no telling what can happen throughout the course of the game with their length and the way they scramble and the protection they have at the rim.”

The latter, of course, comes from Rudy Gobert, who was his usual dominant self on the interior. That was true on both ends. Defensively, Gobert blocked two shots. But on offense, he filled in for much of the missing production of Karl-Anthony Towns — who missed the game with knee soreness. Gobert finished with 21 points on 10 for 13 shooting to go with 17 boards.

“He set the tone early, had a bunch of dunks, put pressure on the rim early to kind of loosen things up,” Finch said. “He’s been playing this way all season.”

The entire starting lineup shined throughout the night. Anthony Edwards had 34 points and 10 assists. McDaniels scored 20 points and Mike Conley contributed 12 points, nine dimes and seven rebounds as the Wolves avenged their 124-111 loss to the Kings at Target Center in late November.

Trailing by 19 with seven minutes to play, the Kings did make things interesting via an 18-4 run to pull within five with two minutes to play. But the Wolves responded by scoring the game’s next seven points to put the contest on ice.

It seemed every time the Kings delivered a punch Saturday, Minnesota’s counterstrike was quick and effective.

“We just had to catch our breath, a little bit. They were pressing, they were getting a lot of good looks, playing faster. We kind of slowed our game down, slowed our pace down. When that happens, teams can come back,” Conley said in his post-game, on-court television interview. “So I think once we caught our breath, settled things down, got to our offensive sets and got some good looks, guys brought us home.”

Erick Fedde journeyed to the Korea Baseball Organization with the goal of making it back to the major leagues.

“It was somewhere I felt I could work on all my new pitches and get the ball every fifth (or) sixth day there and throw a ton of innings and prove what I had,” Fedde said during a video conference call Thursday.

He proved it — and then some — by earning KBO MVP honors in 2023.

The right-hander officially agreed to a two-year, $15 million deal with the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday. Reports of a deal first surfaced on Dec. 5.

Fedde, 30, said the opportunity with the Sox means “everything.”

“I had that terrible taste in my mouth about the way my career ended up in the major leagues (in 2022 with the Washington Nationals), and going to Korea, it could be the last taste I ever had of it,” Fedde said. “I really didn’t want that to be how my career ended in the major leagues, and luckily I’m able to pitch well and get a chance again.

“That just gives me that much more fire to make sure I change the way I’m viewed and the narrative around my career and move forward in a positive way.”

The Nationals selected Fedde with the No. 18 pick in the 2014 MLB draft. He spent six seasons with the big-league club, going 21-33 with a 5.41 ERA and 352 strikeouts in 102 games (88 starts) from 2017-22.

He went 6-13 with a 5.81 ERA in 27 starts in 2022.

“That last year, the reality was, unfortunately, that year in spring training I had a little hiccup with health, and I just felt like I was behind the 8-ball from the beginning. I never really felt truly healthy,” Fedde said. “It was tough. My velocity was down, things weren’t sharp.

“It felt like rather than really focusing on being my best, it was just trying to get ready to go out there every five days. And that’s not a fun place to be when it’s a long season.”

Fedde knew things had to change and went to work that offseason. He moved to Arizona and attended the workout facility Push Performance.

“They also had some physical therapists in the facility to get me feeling right and get myself a new repertoire and feeling strong,” Fedde said. “Adding a sweeper, and then just got my changeup figured out and that led me to have a four-pitch mix when I went to Korea and led to a lot of the success.”

His standout numbers included a 20-6 record and a 2.00 ERA in 30 starts for the NC Dinos. He had 209 strikeouts and just 35 walks in 180 1/3 innings.

Fedde allowed only nine home runs and had a 0.95 WHIP.

“You never know how things are going to shake out once real hitters get in the box and you have real at-bats in games,” Fedde said. “So after that first month in Korea when I was having all that success and feeling like I was in command on the mound is when I first realized, ‘I think all the hard work paid off and I’m where I want to be.’”

In addition to the MVP honor, Fedde won the Choi Dong-won Award, which recognizes the KBO’s best pitcher.

“Korea was amazing,” he said. “They treated me really well. The atmosphere is unmatched with the chants and just the way the crowd is. It was a great place for me to go, and I wanted a place where I could throw a ton of innings and work on my things I made adjustments on. Korea really offered that for me.

“I felt like I came in there in the best shape, the best pitching repertoire I ever had, and I had a lot of confidence going in there and I think it led to the success.”

He’ll try to carry that momentum back to the big leagues in Chicago.

“It’s a place I felt I could get into the rotation and help the squad be better and part of the rebuilding of that rotation,” Fedde said.

Sox general manager Chris Getz said a combination of Fedde’s numbers and pitch arsenal stood out.

“It was a tremendous runway for him to make these adjustments,” Getz said during the winter meetings last week in Nashville, Tenn., “and then go to a league where it’s a bit of a major-league environment, from a fans and pressure standpoint. And certainly being a foreigner, it’s never easy. So he’s got a lot of confidence. We see a difference in his stuff.”

Fedde is confident his time in the KBO will translate well to his return to the majors.

“The biggest thing is my last year in D.C., I was not feeling as amazing as I do now,” Fedde said. “I feel strong, I feel healthy. My velocity is back. I feel there’s a sharpness to my pitches that I just didn’t have there at the end of my (Nationals) career.

“I’ve been lucky enough to pitch in the big leagues and I know what it takes to get outs, get swings and misses and be successful. I have a lot of confidence thinking that what I have now is a repertoire that can do that.”

()