Gophers football postseason projection: Could it be Charlotte for the Duke’s Mayo Bowl?

Calling from Charlotte, N.C., Danny Morrison asked what the weather was like in the Twin Cities on Thursday morning. When told it was windy with a temperature of 13, he shuddered.

“Thirteen and windy,’’ Morrison said. “I wouldn’t do good in that weather.’’

Morrison, though, could have a big hand in getting a bunch of Minnesotans to experience his weather in Charlotte. He’s the executive director of the Charlotte Sports Foundation, which runs the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. The Gophers are on Morrison’s radar, and while nothing is certain until the announcement, indications are they have a strong chance to be the Big Ten representative that will face an Atlantic Coast Conference team on Jan. 3 at Bank of America Stadium.

“We’d be excited to have Minnesota,’’ Morrison said. “We’ll just see how it all works out.’’

Morrison is impressed with the Gophers season and how they’ve played against the tougher teams on their schedule.

“If you just look at Minnesota, they’re a hair away from being 11-1 or 10-2,’’ Morrison said of the 7-5 Gophers. “… Everybody saw the great game against Penn State, and the Wisconsin game was a great win.’’

The Gophers’ competition in the Big Ten’s bowl positioning figures to be Iowa (8-4) or Michigan (7-5), plus Nebraska (6-6) and Rutgers (7-5).

At 9-3, Illinois separated itself from that group and is the clear favorite to land in the Citrus Bowl in Orlando. The ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa appears to have its choice of Iowa or Michigan. With their upset of Ohio State, the Wolverines became more of a viable option and could be the front-runner for Tampa.

Selecting next in the Big Ten rotation is the Music City Bowl in Nashville. Its most likely choice would be either Iowa or Nebraska, which hasn’t been to a bowl since the 2016 season. Expect the Hawkeyes to get the Music City nod because they have two more wins and just beat the Cornhuskers.

Nebraska, and its large traveling fan base, would be attractive to the Pinstripe Bowl in New York, which selects after the Music City Bowl. The Gophers are a long-shot possibility for the Yankee Stadium game, mainly because they played in that game only two years ago. Rutgers played in New York last year and cannot repeat.

Duke’s Mayo Bowl is next to choose, and its options in this scenario would be the Gophers and Rutgers, which beat Minnesota 26-19 on Nov. 9. While Morrison didn’t declare the Gophers the likely pick, he did speak well of how Minnesota fans have turned out recently for road games and bowls.

“Minnesota has really traveled well the past few years,’’ Morrison said. “… That message has been carried through the bowl community.’’

Should the Gophers land in Charlotte, that would leave the Rate Bowl in Phoenix as Rutgers’ destination. If instead the Scarlet Knights are picked for Charlotte, the Gophers could be bound for Phoenix for the second time in four years.

Before the remainder of the Big Ten bowls are set, the 12-team College Football Playoff field must be filled, and that will happen at 11 a.m. Sunday on ESPN. The Big Ten likely will have four teams in the playoff – Oregon, Penn State, Ohio State and Indiana.

The playoff format calls for the four conferences with the highest-ranked champions to receive first-round byes into the quarterfinals. Those are shaping to be the Big Ten, SEC (Georgia), ACC (if SMU wins that title game) and Mountain West (Boise State). The rest of the field is filled by seven at-large spots and the fifth-highest ranked conference champion, in this case Arizona State.

Here’s a projection of the playoff field:

Top four seeds, first-round byes

1. Oregon, 2. Georgia, 3. SMU, 4. Boise State

First-round games (Dec. 20-21)

No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State

No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Texas

No. 11 Alabama at No. 6 Penn State

No. 12 Arizona State at No. 5 Notre Dame

Quarterfinals

Fiesta Bowl, Dec. 31, Glendale, Ariz.

Arizona State-Notre Dame winner vs. Boise State

Peach Bowl, Jan. 1, Atlanta

Alabama-Penn State winner vs. SMU

Sugar Bowl, Jan. 1, Atlanta

Indiana-Texas winner vs. Georgia

Rose Bowl, Jan. 1, Pasadena, Calif.

Tennessee-Ohio State winner vs. Oregon

Semifinals

Orange Bowl, Jan. 9, Miami

Peach Bowl winner vs. Sugar Bowl winner

Cotton Bowl, Jan. 10, Arlington, Texas

Fiesta Bowl winner vs. Rose Bowl winner

National championship, Jan. 20, Atlanta

Semifinal winners

Projection of the remaining Big Ten bowls, listed in selection order:

Citrus Bowl, Dec. 31, Orlando

Illinois vs. Ole Miss

ReliaQuest Bowl, Dec. 31, Tampa

Michigan vs. South Carolina

Music City Bowl, Dec. 30, Nashville

Iowa vs. Missouri

Pinstripe Bowl, Dec. 28, New York

Nebraska vs. Syracuse

Duke’s Mayo Bowl, Jan. 3, Charlotte

Gophers vs. Virginia Tech

Rate Bowl, Dec. 26, Phoenix

Rutgers vs. Kansas State

GameAbove Sports Bowl, Dec. 26, Detroit

Not filled by Big Ten

Sun Bowl, Dec. 31, El Paso

Washington vs. Louisville

Las Vegas Bowl, Dec. 27

USC vs. Texas A&M