DETROIT — The ESPN broadcast of the Gophers’ appearance in the Quick Lane Bowl on Tuesday had a Kansas City Chiefs games feel, in one respect.

Cameras often cut to Katie Miller — the fiancé of U quarterback Cole Kramer — in the stands at Ford Field in a similar fashion to the way NFL telecasts will give a lot of air time to Taylor Swift, the pop-star girlfriend of Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

The storyline Tuesday was that Kramer had planned to hang up his No. 12 jersey after the regular season to prepare for his wedding with Miller in Rochester, Minn., in early February.

But head coach P.J. Fleck requested for the backup QB to return for the bowl game at Ford Field because U starter Athan Kaliakmanis and third-stringer Drew Viotto both entered the transfer portal after the loss to Wisconsin in late November. Without Kramer, the U would have had to turn to true freshman walk-on Max Shikenjanski from Stillwater for Tuesday’s game.

“Told him thanks for coming back,” Fleck said postgame Tuesday. “Now get ready for your wedding. (Wife) Heather and I thanked Katie for allowing him to come back. Katie made it very clear: ‘I was the one that told him to come back right away.’

“So we know who wears the pants in that family.”

Kramer, who had a hand in three touchdowns in the Gophers’ 30-24 victory, was obviously preoccupied during the telecast and said he wasn’t immediately aware postgame of the amount of attention paid to Miller, a registered nurse in Arizona.

“I haven’t looked (at his phone) yet, but we’ll see soon,” Kramer said.

Some Gopher fans were annoyed by the routine attention, not unlike NFL diehards when Swift is shown regularly between plays from her spot watching the game from a suite.

Minnesota quarterback Cole Kramer (12) throws a pass against Bowling Green during the first half of the Quick Lane Bowl NCAA college football game, Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)

While Kramer, an Eden Prairie native, was ready to move on to the next stages of life, including finding a sales job in Arizona, he said Tuesday it was “amazing” to come back for one more game in his five-year college football career.

“To go out with a win means everything,” he said.

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