Minnesota’s trip to Seattle comes with a rare kind of pregame spectacle, and a late one at that.
Before the Gophers meet Washington on Saturday night, more than a hundred fans will take part in “sailgating” on Lake Washington, turning the buildup to the Big Ten opener into something a little different from the usual parking-lot scene. The all-inclusive outing has already filled up, with roughly 125 fans, donors, U officials and VIPs set to board a Gopher-arranged boat for a few-hour cruise, food and beverages included, before stepping off just outside Husky Stadium.
“It filled up even faster than I thought we would,” Wierzbicki said. “The price point was something that was not cheap, but we’re thrilled about it. But I mean, now we just need good weather and it should be a really cool experience.”
That part at least looks promising. Seattle’s forecast for Saturday calls for mostly sunny skies and a high of 64, though the usual Pacific Northwest rain is expected to arrive by Friday.
The water-to-stadium setup is part of what makes the experience stand out. The distance from the Lake Washington docks to Husky Stadium is roughly a football field, a far cry from the long haul some other waterfront setups require.
UW alum John Trice summed up the appeal in a Washington Athletics video: “It’s about a huge group of people having a great time and showing off our unique ability in Husky Harbor because some other colleges claim to be on the water, too, but they have to tie up their boat a quarter mile away or things like that,” UW alum John Trice said in a Washington Athletics video. “Every person that has done it with us walks away (saying), ‘That’s the coolest and (most fun) thing I’ve ever seen.’
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For the fans staying home in Minnesota, though, this one is going to be a test of stamina. The kickoff is set for 10 p.m. CT on FOX, tying the latest start in program history and matching the 2012 trip to Nevada-Las Vegas.
It’s the kind of schedule the Gophers and their fans have been getting used to since the Big Ten’s westward expansion in 2024. Minnesota has already made conference trips to UCLA in 2024 and Oregon in 2025, with a visit to Southern Cal and the L.A.
Coliseum coming next fall. For a league built around Midwestern roots, this West Coast rotation has become part of the deal.
The road-game experience has been especially familiar for Minnesota this year and last. The U estimates about 2,000 fans will be inside Husky Stadium from the program’s 3,000-seat conference allotment, according to Mike Wierzbicki, the U’s deputy Athletics Director for External Affairs. Some additional Gophers fans are expected to secure tickets elsewhere.
The television windows keep shaping everything around these games, too. Washington is one of three Minnesota games to be nationally televised over a four-week stretch, following the 38-13 home loss to Mississippi State on CBS on Sept. 12 and before the Battle for the Little Brown Jug against Michigan on FOX at 11 a.m. on Oct. 3.
Minnesota enters at 2-1 and is a 10-point underdog against the 3-0 Huskies. Last season, the Gophers went 0-5 on the road, including two West Coast trips: a nonconference game at California that started at 9:30 p.m.
CT on Sept. 13 and a Friday-night visit to Oregon that kicked off at 8 p.m. Minnesota time on Nov.
Preparing for another late start has meant tinkering with the routine. Minnesota normally practices in the morning, but before the trips to Berkeley and Eugene, the staff tried shifting to night sessions to help with the body-clock adjustment.
The results, as P.J. Fleck put it, didn’t change much.
“Those didn’t work,” Fleck said Monday. “We practiced in the morning and lost (27-14 to Cal). We practiced at night and we lost (41-13 to seventh-ranked Oregon).”
This time, the plan is a little more mixed. The Gophers can’t use afternoons because players are in class, so Fleck said the team will blend morning work with some night activity to get ready for the late kickoff.
“We’re going to do a little mixture of both, actually,” Fleck said in reference to work in the morning and at night. “We’re not going to change what we do.
We are practicing in the mornings. I’m bumping it back just a little bit.
… We’re shortening some things and then we’re doing a few things at night to keep their bodies up to adjust to that (late-night) piece.”
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