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    IU football game day: Minnesota at Indiana primer and prediction

    Mike SchumannBy IU Football No Comments
    Photo by Mike Schumann for TDH

    The Hoosiers are hoping for all treats on Halloween at Memorial Stadium.

    After playing three of its last four on the road, the script flips for IU with three of four at home to end the regular season — starting with a homecoming contest against Minnesota.

    Here’s everything you need to know about Indiana’s week 9 matchup against the Golden Gophers in Bloomington.

    MINNESOTA GOLDEN GOPHERS (5-2) at No. 4 INDIANA HOOSIERS (7-1)

    • Kickoff:  3:30 p.m. ET, Saturday
    • Location:  Bloomington, Ind.; Memorial Stadium (56,626; field turf)
    • Television:  CBS — Brad Nessler (pbp), Charles Davis (color) & Jenny Dell (sideline)
    • Stream:  Paramount Plus (or via your streaming provider)
    • Radio:  IU Football radio network
    • Odds:  Indiana is around a 20.5-point favorite
    • Weather at kickoff:  65 degrees, cloudy, wind 8 mph, 0% chance of precipitation.
    • Series:  Minnesota leads the all-time series 40-26-3.
    • Tickets:  SOLD OUT.  Use our StubHub affiliate link
    • The Coaches:
      • Curt Cignetti is in his third year as the head coach at IU.  He holds a 153-38 record in his 16th season as a college head coach.  He’s 34-3 at Indiana.
      • P.J. Fleck is the head coach of Minnesota  He’s 71-46 in ten seasons with the program, and 101-68 overall as a head coach.

    GAMEDAY TIMELINE

    Here are more details on the plans for ESPN College GameDay Saturday in Bloomington

    THE COMPLETE BIG TEN WEEK 9 SLATE

    Saturday, October 31

    • Illinois at Maryland — 12 p.m., FS1
    • Wisconsin at Iowa — 12 p.m., FOX
    • Michigan at Rutgers — 12:30 p.m., Big Ten Network
    • Minnesota at Indiana — 3:30 p.m., CBS
    • Northwestern at Oregon — 3:30 p.m., Peacock
    • Nevada at UCLA — 4:15 p.m., Big Ten Network
    • Purdue at Penn State — 4:15 p.m., Big Ten Network
    • Ohio State at USC — 7:30 p.m., NBC
    • Washington at Nebraska — 8 p.m., Big Ten Network

    TALE OF THE TAPE 

    AVAILABILITY REPORT

    MINNESOTA RESULTS

    Date Time At Opponent Result
    Sep 3 (Thu) 7:00 PM Home Eastern Illinois Huntington Bank Stadium W 59-7
    Sep 12 (Sat) 2:30 PM Home Mississippi State Huntington Bank Stadium L 13-38
    Sep 19 (Sat) 11:00 AM Home Akron Huntington Bank Stadium W 41-7
    Sep 26 (Sat) 10:00 PM Away Washington Seattle, WA W 27-24
    Oct 3 (Sat) 11:00 AM Home Michigan Huntington Bank Stadium W 20-14
    Oct 10 (Sat) 7:00 PM Away Purdue West Lafayette, IN L 13-41
    Oct 24 (Sat) 2:30 PM Home Iowa Huntington Bank Stadium W 13-10

    MINNESOTA NOTES AND NUMBERS

    (Via Minnesota Athletics)

    Minnesota is coming off a 13-10 win over then-No. 15/14 Iowa last Saturday. As a result, the Gophers took possession of Floyd of Rosedale for the first time since 2023 (and second time in the last 12 years) and snapped a five-game home losing streak to the Hawkeyes in the process. Earlier this year, the Gophers beat then-RV/24 Michigan 20-14, which gave them the Little Brown Jug and ended an 18-game home losing streak in the series. Those were two of Minnesota’s three longest home losing streaks. Combined with last year’s win over Wisconsin, the Gophers have ownership of Floyd of Rosedale, the Little Brown Jug and Paul Bunyan’s Axe at the same time for the first time since Oct. of 1978.

    The 2026 campaign is the 10th for P.J. Fleck at Minnesota. He is tied for the fourth-longest tenured coach in program history, the second-longest active tenured coach in the Big Ten and the 10th-longest tenured head coach overall in the FBS. Fleck’s Minnesota record stands at 71-46, putting him fourth in program history in overall wins. He’s also fourth in Big Ten wins (42) and fifth in games coached (117). Fleck’s overall win percentage of .607 is third best among Minnesota coaches.  Fleck is one of 19 active head coaches to reach 100 wins at the FBS level.

    With 3,904 career passing yards, Drake Lindsey is 82 away from tying Tim Schade (3,986) and entering Minnesota’s career top-10. Lindsey is 96 yards away from becoming the 10th Gopher to reach 4,000 pass yards

    Darius Taylor is tied for ninth in program history with 24 career rushing touchdowns. He needs one more to
    reach eighth next to Rickey Foggie.

    With 34.0 career tackles for loss, Anthony Smith needs 0.5 more to tie Ben Mezera (34.5) for sixth in program annals. Smith is 9.5 TFLs off the school record of 43.5 set by Willie VanDeSteeg from 2005-08. Smith’s 21.0 career sacks put him 0.5 away from matching VanDeSteeg (21.5) for fifth in program records and just 2.5 away from reaching second place. The school record for sacks belongs to Karon Riley, who had 29.0 from 1999-00.

    Javon Tracy has cemented himself as the Gophers’ top playmaker, making an impact as a receiver, returner and rusher. He leads the Gophers in receptions (39), receptions per game (5.57, sixth in the B1G), receiving yards (420), receiving yards per game (60.0), yards after catch (237), and YAC per game (33.9). He is also second on Minnesota in targets (53) and targets per game (7.57). He’s been targeted at least five times every game this\ season, including a season-high 10 against Mississippi State

    With 342 punt return yards through seven games, Tracy is already third on Minnesota’s single-season
    list.

    Luke Drzewiecki is the reigning Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week. He went 2-for-2 on field goals in the win over Iowa, making his first from 31 yards and then a 46-yarder as time expired. Drzewiecki has made 23 straight field goals dating to last season.

    Indiana defensive lineman Stephen Daley was at Kent State (2022-24) when Gophers defensive line coach C.J. Robbins was the school’s rush ends (2023) and linebackers (2024) coach.

    Gophers tight ends coach Eric Koehler is from Fowler, Ind., about 150 miles northwest of Bloomington. He graduated from Hanover College in Hanover, Ind., and spent the 1997 season there as an offensive intern and WRs coach.

    MORE MINNESOTA WEEK COVERAGE

    PREDICTIONS

    Minnesota has been a tricky matchup for several teams this year, save for a blowout loss at of all places — Purdue.  The Gophers have a good defense, and good defenses have been giving IU some trouble.  But Minnesota doesn’t have the offensive firepower to hang in this one forever, and the Indiana defense is likely to set up its own offense with short fields a time or two.

    TDH PREDICTION:  INDIANA 27 MINNESOTA 10

    • ESPN SP+ (Computer):  Indiana 34 Minnesota 11 (92% win probability for IU)
    • ESPN FPI (Computer):  Indiana has a 95.9% chance to win.

    For complete coverage of IU football, GO HERE.

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