College football season is rapidly approaching, with fall camp underway. We’re going through Indiana’s schedule to look ahead at all 12 opponents for 2026.
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- Opponent: Minnesota
- Date/Time/TV: Saturday, October 31, TBD
- Location: Memorial Stadium, Bloomington, Indiana
- 2025 record/postseason result: 8-5, 5-4 Big Ten (20-17 win over New Mexico in the Rate Bowl)
- Overall returning production: 68 percent (per Bill Connelly/ESPN) (seventh in the country, third in the Big Ten)
Returning production, offense: 71 percent (per Bill Connelly/ESPN) (10th in the country)
Offensive outlook: Offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh Jr. (no relation to John and Jim) returns to Minneapolis for his fourth year running this offense for PJ Fleck. He’ll need his unit to perform better this year: the Golden Gophers had one of the nation’s worst offenses last season. They finished No. 129 out of 136 in FBS in total offense, with 293.2 yards per game. Wisconsin was the only Big Ten team with a worse offensive output.
Improvement will depend on many returning pieces taking steps forward. That starts with redshirt sophomore quarterback Drake Lindsey. He finished last season with 2,382 passing yards on a 63.2 completion percentage — both ranking 11th in the Big Ten — with 18 touchdowns and six interceptions. That production was solid enough for a redshirt freshman starter, but if he doesn’t progress this season, it will be concerning.
No Gopher topped 500 receiving yards in 2025, but three of their four leading receivers are back this year: redshirt sophomore Jalen Smith, redshirt senior Javon Tracy, and senior running back Darius Taylor. Taylor has turned in legitimate receiving production out of the backfield for two years, so he shouldn’t be written off as a factor in the pass game. But Tracy (454 yards on 37 receptions with six touchdowns) and Smith (419 yards, 28 receptions, four touchdowns) will need to step up more this year. Fleck also added a few transfers at wide receiver with limited production to their names.
Taylor took a slight step back as a rusher last season after two strong seasons in 2023 and 2024. But he was still solid: 143 carries, 670 yards, and four touchdowns. Minnesota also brings back A.J. Turner in the backfield, after he suffered a season-ending injury just three games into 2025. He was productive at Marshall before transferring to Minneapolis last year.
UM’s offensive line has three returning starters from last year’s unit. The Gophers posted the 35th-best run blocking grade in the country on PFF, and they finished 58th in pass blocking grade. Better performance up front could be a key to overall offensive improvement.
Returning production, defense: 65 percent (per Bill Connelly/ESPN) (12th in the country)
Defensive outlook: Defensive coordinator Danny Collins returns for his second season running the Gopher defense. They finished 2025 No. 34 in the country in total defense, allowing 331.6 yards per game. Their run defense was particularly good, ranking 27th in the nation and eighth in the Big Ten at 121.62 yard per game allowed.
Minnesota has five returning starters on this year’s defense, but a lot of returning production. That starts with one of the returning starters, All-Big Ten defensive end Anthony Smith. In 2025, he led the Big Ten with 12.5 sacks, finished second behind IU’s Stephen Daley with 17.5 tackles for loss, and added three pass breakups and seven QB hurries. He’s one of the top returning defensive linemen in the Big Ten.
Linebacker Maverick Baranowski is also back, after leading UM with 103 tackles last year. He tied for second on the team with nine TFLs, and added three sacks, three hurries, one PBU, and one forced fumble.
Cornerback John Nestor is the other major returnee. He tied IU’s Louis Moore with a Big Ten-leading six interceptions, and he ran one back for a touchdown. Nestor also posted six TFLs, a notable figure for a defensive back.
Just like the offense, Minnesota will be looking to some returning non-starters to step up. Defensive end Karter Menz started only three games last year, but still tied Baranowski with nine TFLs, and he finished second on the team with 6.5 sacks. If he replicates or improves that production as a starter in 2026, he could play a huge role for Fleck’s team.
The Gophers need to clean up some defensive fundamentals, though. They tied for 92nd in the country in PFF tackling grade — only two Big Ten teams, Northwestern and Purdue, finished lower.
Special teams outlook: Minnesota’s kicking situation is unsettled, to put it lightly. Fleck added Luke Drzewiecki to the roster last week, well after fall camp already started, after court rulings seemed to enable players to return to college teams after putting on NFL uniforms. Drzewiecki, a New Mexico transfer, participated in rookie minicamp with the Baltimore Ravens. But since then, the Big Ten has taken a hard-line stance against these sorts of circumstances, and Drzewiecki is no longer listed on the team’s roster. That may give the job to Michigan transfer Beckham Sunderland, who handled kickoffs for the Wolverines last year and made one extra point for Texas State in 2024 but has not yet attempted a field goal in college.
Punter Tom Weston returns, after averaging 42.6 yards per punt in 2025. Minnesota’s long snapper, Alan Soukup, may be a familiar name. He committed to Tom Allen’s Indiana program in the summer of 2023, but decommitted after Curt Cignetti took over. The returner jobs are also unsettled.
Overall Outlook: Minnesota went 7-5 in the regular season last year, but benefitted from a pretty favorable schedule. The Gophers picked up five Big Ten wins, but all came at home. And they got clobbered in their two games against top-tier teams: a 42-3 defeat at Ohio State, and a 42-13 loss at Oregon. Minnesota has some potential, and could have an overall solid season, but Indiana could run away with this one on homecoming weekend.
Previous Outlooks:
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