Ibrahim sets records in Gophers’ victory

PINSTRIPE BOWL MINNESOTA 28, SYRACUSE 20

NEW YORK — Mohamed Ibrahim rushed for 71 yards on 16 carries with a touchdown and became Minnesota’s alltime rushing leader in the Golden Gophers’ 28-20 win over Syracuse in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium on Thursday.

Ibrahim, who missed virtually all of last year with a ruptured Achilles, closed out a solid career in dramatic fashion. After getting injured in the 2021 season opener against Ohio State, Ibrahim returned for a sixth season and finished his career with 4,668 yards and 53 rushing touchdowns in 40 games since joining the Golden Gophers as a two-star recruit from Baltimore.

“He’s the ultimate overachiever, period,” Minnesota Coach P.J. Fleck said. “There’s nothing you can tell him that he can’t do and that goes back to his recruiting process. I bet you there’s a lot of people that would like Mohamed Ibrahim on their team. There could be a lot of NFL teams that would like him on their team.”

Ibrahim broke the school record held by Darrell Thompson (4,654 yards from 1986-89) on a 10-yard gain with about 2 1/2 minutes left in the first half. Before breaking the record, Ibrahim scored a gritty 4-yard run with 13:39 remaining in the half before sitting out the final periods. The TD gave him 20 and moved him past Gary Russell (19 in 2005) for the most single-season TDs in school history.

“It’s not something that I circled,” Ibrahim said of the records. “I just took it week by week.”

Ibrahim also set a school record for rushing attempts (320) and finished with the fifth-most rushing TDs in Big Ten history.

“He is a great back,” said Syracuse linebacker Marlowe Wax, who competed against Ibrahim in high school. “So I’m happy to see that he is still doing good things One of the best backs in the nation. I’m just ready to see what he is going to do at the next level.”

Trey Potts replaced Ibrahim in the backfield and had 27 yards on 10 carries. Daniel Jackson hauled in a pair of TD passes — a 20-yard reception in the second and a 25-yard grab in the final minute of the third.

Athan Kaliakmanis started at QB for Minnesota (9-4) and completed 7 of 9 passes for 80 yards before being helped off the field with an injury. Tanner Morgan made his first appearance since Nov. 5 and completed 4 of 7 passes for 58 yards.

Syracuse (7-6) ended what was a promising season on a down note, playing without star running back Sean Tucker, who declared for the NFL Draft on Dec. 17.