CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Moments before being doused with a 5-gallon tub of mayonnaise, Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck shouted “Make it a double!”
Then the 44-year-old football coach strapped on a Duke’s Mayo Bowl necktie and — with his players watching and chanting “Mayo! Mayo!” — was drenched on a chilly 40-degree night at Bank of America Stadium, a celebration that has become part of the postgame tradition for this bowl.
“I told our players if they had 15 tubs of those, I would have done all 15,” Fleck said. “It’s worth it to be a champion at the end of the year.”
Max Brosmer threw for 211 yards and a touchdown, Darius Taylor ran for 113 yards a touchdown — and also threw for a score — and the Golden Gophers extended their streak of bowl wins to eight with a 24-10 victory over Virginia Tech on Friday night at the home of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers.
Elijah Spencer had six catches for 81 yards and two touchdowns for Minnesota (8-5) and was selected the game’s MVP after returning to the town where he played two seasons for the Charlotte 49ers.
“It was big time because I didn’t think I would have another opportunity to play in front of all of my friends and family,” Spencer said. “A lot of friends and family haven’t seen me play since I went to Minnesota, so being able to play in my backyard, hey, why not?’
Said Fleck: “It’s a little ironic. And it’s a fitting end to his career. He had two really great years with us.”
For the coach, it was another victorious bowl victory — his sixth in a row at Minnesota, where he took over ahead of the 2017 season.
“In the era 2024-25, it is really difficult to build a team and connect a team, but it is way easier when you have a group of men like these guys,” Fleck said.
Virginia Tech backup quarterback Collins Schlee ran for a touchdown and Ayden Greene had six catches for 115 yards for the Hokies (6-7), who were missing 14 starters due to transfers and opt-out decisions. The Hokies have lost five of their past six bowl games.
The Gophers outgained the Hokies 403-223.
Schlee and William Watson split time at quarterback for Virginia Tech, with neither eclipsing 100 passing yards.
The Hokies failed to pick up a first down in three series under Watson, so coach Brent Pry switched to Schlee, who provided instant offense with a 67-yard strike to Greene to set up his own 3-yard touchdown run for the game’s first points.
Virginia Tech couldn’t sustain the momentum.
Minnesota rattled off 21 consecutive points in the second quarter behind Spencer, who hauled in a 10-yard halfback option pass from Taylor and a 12-yard touchdown toss from Brosmer over the middle on back-to-back possessions. Taylor then made it 21-7 when he raced around left end on a 28-yard run.
With Minnesota up 24-10, Dante Lovett intercepted Brosmer to give the Hokies the ball at the Minnesota 15 and a last chance at a comeback midway through the fourth quarter. The Hokies couldn’t convert, though, as Za’Quan Bryan intercepted Watson’s pass in the end zone, essentially sealing the game with 4:24 remaining.
“Offensively, we got in the red zone and we couldn’t score,” Pry said. “We get down there and we have to score.”
Pry received a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct in the second quarter when he raced down the sideline to about the 15 — well outside of the coach’s box — to argue a call with the officials.
“We are going to fight for every inch, and I thought there were couple of calls I thought were missed,” Pry said.
It took a while for the Gophers to get going, but three touchdowns in the second quarter proved to be the difference — and then the celebration was on.
Word leaked out during the game that there was a celebrity serving as “Tubby,” the bowl game’s mascot that resembles a large yellow-and-white mayonnaise jar. It turns out to be hip-hop artist Flavor Flav, with his identity revealed shortly after the game. He also helped with the mayo pour.
“It’s one of the great traditions of bowl games, and I hope we never ever go away from bowl games,” Fleck said of the mayo bath. “”I think it is what makes college bowl games special.”
Virginia Tech’s John Love made a bowl-record 60-yard field goal at the end of the first half, and despite the loss, Pry was optimistic afterward: “I’m hopeful and encouraged about where we are at.”
Texas State 30, North Texas 28
DALLAS — Jordan McCloud threw for 307 yards and a touchdown, Lincoln Pare ran for a 73-yard score with 2:25 remaining in the fourth quarter, and Texas State held off North Texas in the First Responder Bowl.
Texas State (8-5) secured eight wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1981-82.
North Texas (6-7) was seeking its first bowl win since the 2014 Heart of Dallas Bowl.
Pare carried 21 times for 143 yards and two touchdowns. His first score, from 1 yard out, capped a 13-play, 75-yard drive that took nearly seven minutes to give Texas State a 23-14 lead midway through the third quarter.
Neither team scored again until Makenzie McGill’s short touchdown run got North Texas within 23-21 with 3:20 left. Two plays later, Pare raced for his long score and Texas State made the extra-point kick for a nine-point lead.
North Texas quarterback Drew Mestemaker answered with a 70-yard run with 1:49 left to get within two points again. The Mean Green got the ball back with 40 seconds left at their 8-yard line, but Texas State defensive end Kalil Alexander sacked the quarterback on first down to work down the clock, and linebacker Treylin Payne sealed it with an interception over the middle.
Mestemaker, who was making his first career start, passed for 393 yards — the most passing yards in a bowl game in North Texas history — two touchdowns and two interceptions. He also carried nine times for 55 yards and a touchdown.
He started in place of Chandler Morris, who threw for 3,774 yards and 31 touchdowns with 12 interceptions this season before transferring to Virginia. Mestemaker, a freshman, matched his season passing total of 69 yards on the team’s only scoring drive in the first quarter.