Minnesota Golden Gophers College Football Preview 2026
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Has Minnesota hit a ceiling under PJ Fleck?
The Gophers have been good under Fleck. Winning seasons, bowl games, bowl victories, occasional big moments – the program has been steadily solid.
And yes, things could be worse – ask Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Michigan State what it’s like to be blah. But after winning nine games in both 2021 and 2022, and in the tenth season under Fleck, it would be nice to have a season where it all comes together.
It’s too much to ask for Minnesota to pull an Indiana, but it has the makeup and mindset to make a sneaky run and hang around the College Football Playoff chase well into November.
It’s an interesting team with a few potential superstar playmakers, and a schedule that isn’t horrible for anyone in the Big Ten who wants to be playoff-worthy.
This is Fleck’s Minnesota program. Now it’s time to do something special.
Minnesota Quick Hits
- Head Coach: PJ Fleck (14th year overall, 96-66; 10th year at Minnesota, 66-44)
- Best Case / Worst Case: Be in the chase for a playoff spot/struggle to get to a bowl game
- Key Player: Anthony Smith, EDGE Sr.
- 2025 Record: 8-5
- Biggest Question: Can they find a rushing offense again?
– 2026 Minnesota Schedule Analysis
Minnesota Key 2025 Stats
- Fumbles: Opponents 14 (lost 7), Minnesota 9 (lost 2)
- Minnesota Scoring: 1st Quarter 45, 2nd Quarter 122
- Sacks: Minnesota 39 for 279 yards, Opponents 24 for 146 yards
Offense
Minnesota used to be a force running the ball. Ball control, grind it out, make teams play at the wrong speed – all of that.
The attack and style started to change in 2024.
Quarterback Max Brosmer – he got a few starts last year with the Minnesota Vikings – transferred in, he was often one of the best players on the field, and the Gophers started throwing.
Now the attack is starting to revolve more and more around the high-powered passers, and the Gophers have one who might just be one of the biggest sleepers in college football.
What’s Working
Drake Lindsey is the Minnesota offense. The 6-5, 230-pounder from Fayetteville, Arkansas, threw it 389 times last season, and when he was on, the team won.
Minnesota was 5-0 when he hit at least 65% of his passes, and now that he has a year under his belt, the midrange passing game should be even sharper.
Lindsey needs receivers to throw to, and the Gophers got them. Last year’s receiving corps was okay, but it wasn’t explosive enough. In comes Perry Thompson from Auburn and Noah Jennings from Cincinnati to help change that.
This will be a deep group, helped even further by the addition of tight end Kaden Helms from Oklahoma.
The offensive line is loaded with veterans. Tennessee transfer Bennett Warren should take over one of the tackle spots, probably on the right side.
Nathan Roy is a rising mainstay at left tackle, Greg Johnson will be in the All-Big Ten mix at guard, and Ashton Beers is back after starting every game at center.
What Needs Work
The offense. It didn’t go anywhere, especially against the top defenses.
The stats are a tad bit misleading. Minnesota was 129th in the nation in total offense, partly because it got shut down to a dead stop on the road by Ohio State, Oregon, and Iowa. The attack has to work against more than just the mediocre.
That offensive line is big, and it has to blast away. File the return of top back Darius Taylor under the What’s Working category, but he needs to stay healthy, and he needs the ball more.
The offense will be Lindsey’s, but the Gophers were 6-1 last season when rushing for over a mere 70 yards.
Time of possession. The Gophers used to be time of possession gods. In 2020, they were sixth in the nation, holding the ball for close to 34 minutes per game.
They were third in the country in 2021 and 2022 – only trailing military academies – and they were even in the top 20 in 2023 and 2024 despite throwing the ball more.
Last season, Minnesota was 86th in the nation in time of possession, keeping the ball for just over 29 minutes a game.
Player to Watch
Perry Thompson, WR Jr.
The 6-3, 210-pounder was a big-time get from Auburn. He only caught 22 passes for 280 yards and a touchdown in his first two seasons, but he’s about to get the ball thrown his way early and often.
Defense
The defense gets graded on a curve.
It wasn’t good by the unrealistic standards of last year’s Big Ten, but nationally, it was one of the elite defenses at getting into the backfield and, for the most part, held up well against the run.
Like the offensive side, the D got its share of great transfers to go along with the talent already on board.
What’s Working
Anthony Smith. The 6-6, 285-pound defensive end will be a first round NFL Draft pick next season.
Last year, he made 12.5 sacks with 17.5 tackles for loss, and now the spotlight is on. That leaves room for former LSU transfer Jaxon Howard, Cal transfer TJ Bush, and veteran Karter Menz to combine to shine on the other side.
The pass rush will be devastating.
The Gophers are loaded at defensive tackle. This might be the strongest area of talent through the portal, landing Xion Chapman from FIU, and Sid Kaba and Naquan Crowder from Marshall to take over. All three of them can move.
The back eight is full of experience. Leading tackler Maverick Baranowski is back after leading the way with 109 tackles, and the veteran secondary will clean up everything else.
Aidan Gousby is a playmaker no matter where he lines up, and Kerry Brown should be one of the team’s all-around statistical stars at one safety spot.
Corner John Nestor returns after coming up with a Big Ten-high six picks at one corner job.
What Needs Work
Koi Perich is an Oregon Duck. The Gopher secondary will be terrific, but Perich was the superstar. He’s an almost certain first round draft pick next year, but he’s gone from his safety spot. Difference-makers like him are rare.
Yeah, the pass rush was great, but the defense couldn’t get off the field. For all the talent and all the good things on the Minnesota defense, there were times it couldn’t get a third down stop.
Ohio State converted 70% of its chances in the 42-3 wipeout. Oregon converted 67% of its tries in the 42-13 win, and Northwestern pulled off the upset partly because the offense kept grinding away.
More takeaways would be nice. It was feast-or-famine. In 13 games, 11 of the 16 Gopher takeaways came in against three dud attacks – Northwestern State, Purdue, and Wisconsin. The defense failed to take the ball away five times.
Player to Watch
Anthony Smith, EDGE Sr.
He’s exactly what the next level is looking for – an edge rusher with the NFL size of a defensive end. He came up with 18.5 sacks and 29 tackles for loss over the last two seasons.
– 26 Key Questions for the Big Ten Football Season
Keys to the Season
For all the hits and misses in the style of play on both sides of the ball, remember, Minnesota did win eight games. A lot of things worked – now they have to be done better.
Move the chains, control the tempo, run more, convert more drives into scores, and be sharper on third downs. All of this used to be everything under Fleck. If Minnesota can combine all the finer points with the schemes, look out.
Player Who Needs To Shine
Beckham Sunderland, PK Sr.
Minnesota played in four games last season decided by three points. It went 3-1, and it would’ve been 4-0 if Brady Denaburg didn’t miss both of his field goal attempts against Northwestern.
Beckham Sunderland started out his career at Texas State, but he only made one extra point. He left for Michigan, and mostly he was a kickoff guy.
Now he’s at Minnesota, and while his main job will be to boom kickoffs, he’ll get his shot to take the open placekicker gig.
Biggest Concern
Balance out the offense more.
It’ll be tempting to let Lindsey throw and throw some more, but Minnesota is at its best when it’s hammering away on defensive fronts. Running back Darius Taylor needs the ball, too.
Biggest Game
at Washington, September 26
Washington and Minnesota might be Big Ten brothers now, but the two haven’t played since a 19-17 Gopher win back in 1977. The two have faced each other 17 times in all, but the last Minnesota win in Seattle was 34-14 to start the 1956 season.
This year, it’s the Big Ten opener. With Michigan up next, the Gophers can set a big tone for the season with a win over the loaded Huskies.
Transfer Portal
This is how you do it.
Have a good base of players in place, keep most of them around, and fill in the pieces where needed. The Gophers did more upgrading than need-filling, getting a whole lot better on the defensive line and receiving corps.
– Big Ten 2026 Win Total Predictions
Best Signing
Naquan Crowder, DT (Marshall)
Xion Chapman is a great-looking defensive tackle from FIU.
He’s a quick interior force who can hold up well to occupy blockers, but he won’t have to, thanks to the signing of the 6-1, 310-pound Crowder. The Marshall anchor made 26 tackles with a sack, but he’s more important than just the stats.
Biggest Loss
Koi Perich, S (Oregon)
This one hurts. He made 128 tackles with six interceptions in his first two years, was a good punt returner, and now he’ll be a whale of a playmaker for the Ducks in place of new Chicago Bear safety Dillon Thieneman.
Other Names to Know
- Bennett Warren, OT (Tennessee)
- Sid Kaba, DT (Marshall)
- TJ Bush, EDGE (Cal)
CFN Season Prediction
We live in a world where simply being a very good college football team isn’t enough.
If you’re not in the College Football Playoff hunt, you don’t really exist, and you’re not taken seriously. That’s not fair.
Minnesota has been a very, very good, successful program. It’s hard to go 7-for-7 in bowl games like PJ Fleck has – the Gophers have won their last nine going back to 2015.
It was hard to win eight or more games in five of the last six full seasons – Minnesota only played seven games in 2020. Penn State can’t claim that. Neither can USC.
CFN Prediction: 7-5
But it’s a new world in the Big Ten now.
The powerhouses are even stronger than before, so even though Minnesota did a great job in the transfer portal, and it’s a far better team than it was last year, that goes the same for Washington, Penn State, and Wisconsin, and all three of those games are on the road.
Iowa and Michigan are hardly layups, and then there’s that trip to Indiana to worry about.
The Gophers miss Ohio State, Oregon, USC, and Illinois, but that’s not enough.
Last year’s team beat Buffalo, Northwestern State, Rutgers, Purdue, Michigan State, and Wisconsin. All six of those teams finished with losing records, and they beat a blah Nebraska team that went 7-6.
Another seven or eight-win season for Fleck and his bunch against this slate would be just fine.
– Big Ten Football Strength of Schedule Rankings
Related: Big Ten Football Win Totals 2026: Spring Predictions for All 18 Teams
This story was originally published by College Football News on May 11, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add College Football News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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