The Gophers opened their season on Thursday against an FCS school and they took care of business exactly as they should have. All of the questions we may have had about this team were answered. The offense was crisp and efficient. The defense was flying around and looked fantastic for all but one drive.
Some of the questions answered…
Who starts on the right side of the offensive line? Well it was Daniel Shipp and Tony Nelson, and they played well. Drake Lindsey was untouched for the night and Darius Taylor scored three rushing touchdowns with 56 yards, all in the first half.
Will the receiving corp miss Le’Meke Brockington? The receivers showed they are a deep unit and might even have a true number one in Javon Tracy.
How will the defensive line adjust to new DTs and a new DE opposite Anthony Smith? The defensive line was great at all four spots. Anthony Smith did not put up impressive stats but he impacted the game more than anybody on the field while TJ Bush had a sack from the opposite end and finished third on the team in tackles. The big guys in the middle adequately plugged the middle, freeing up the linebackers.
How starts along Kerry Brown? Zack Harden started oppsoite Brown and he was making plays throughout the game. Harden finished third on the team with four tackles and had 1.5 TFLs.
Is Lindsey going to be better in year two? Lindsey looked poised, confident and was incredibly accurate in his sophomore debut. We could not have asked for much more from Lindsey after he was 19/24 passing for 264 yards and one touchdown in three quarters.
Will special teams finally become a strength for this program under new leadership? Javon Tracy is likely to be the Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week after two (TWO!) punt return touchdowns. But the kicking game was clean and overall this was incredibly encouraging.
But this was against Eastern Illinois. The Big Ten portion of the schedule is going to be a very real challenge. But before we get to the Big Ten, we get an SEC team coming to Huntington Bank Stadium. It gets very real, real quick. Mississippi State is coming to town and they are an early 1.5 point favorite over the Gophers.
This is a huge swing game for both programs and their 2026 season. But we care most about Minnesota and what this game means for our season.
This is a season where we are clearly better than a year ago. But a year ago we lost to Cal on the road in the non-conference. A year ago we came away with just one win where we were not favored. And let’s be real, that was Nebraska and they are always riding on reputation. This year’s team may be better, but they are also facing a more daunting schedule and seeing that “better” translate into more wins is not going to be easy.
From a schedule standpoint, this is important. But the bigger issue is validation. Eastern Illinois game told us that Minnesota is competent. Mississippi State is the first game that can tell us whether Minnesota is actually good. The offensive line protected Lindsey against Eastern Illinois, can they do it against an SEC school. Anthony Smith created chaos against an FCS school, will Mississippi State be able to handle him?
The answers we got Thursday showed us this team’s floor. Mississippi State is going to test its ceiling. Thursday gave us early answers, this coming Saturday validates them.
Opportunities like this don’t come around very often. An SEC team is coming into Huntington Bank Stadium for the first time in the stadium’s history. Minnesota hasn’t hosted a current SEC opponent since Vanderbilt came to Minneapolis in 1959.
If you’re trying to build a program that expects to live somewhere above the Big Ten’s middle class, these are the games you need to win at home. This isn’t as much about getting to eight or nine wins, but rather this is about showing that we expect to beat other middle-of-the-pack P4 programs at home. Beating Eastern Illinois by 52 points should be expected. Beating the likes of Ohio State and Oregon is not a realistic expectation yet. But beating Mississippi State is where we should be in year 10 of PJ Fleck. It validates where we belong.
Losing Saturday wouldn’t ruin the season. But winning would validate the belief that this team—and maybe this program—is ready to take another step.
