The Gophers’ first test of the season already looked easy. Now comes the one that will tell a lot more.
Minnesota is 1-0 after pounding Eastern Illinois 59-7 at Huntington Bank Stadium, and on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. the Gophers welcome Mississippi State of the SEC for a Gold Out. It’s a step up in weight class, and P.J.
Fleck isn’t shying away from that. He calls matchups like this good for the sport, good for the fans and good for the kind of challenge Minnesota wants on its schedule.
"I think for college football it’s really healthy. I think that’s fun, exciting, great for the fans.
When you look at the parity, everybody doesn’t do it and that’s the issue," Fleck said. "Are you punished for it, or rewarded for it?
Scheduling is really important. This game was picked and made a decade ago.
I think it’s great for college football."
Minnesota has made a point of lining up a major-conference opponent in the nonconference portion of its schedule, and this isn’t new for Fleck’s program. The Gophers played California last year after the Bears joined the ACC, opened against North Carolina in 2024, traveled to North Carolina in 2023, hosted Colorado in 2022 and went to Boulder in 2021. Mississippi State is Minnesota’s first home SEC nonconference opponent in 65 years.
The Bulldogs arrive after a loud opener of their own. Mississippi State beat Louisiana-Monroe 62-13 last week, racking up 762 total yards. Quarterback Kamario Taylor was the engine for that explosion, throwing for 354 yards and four touchdowns.
That’s the kind of number Fleck noticed immediately.
"He’s very, very talented. He’ll be one of the best quarterbacks we’ve ever played.
He’s a very dangerous player, that’s for sure. 762 yards offense, that’s a lot of offense, that’s a lot of yards," Fleck said. "If you’re not excited to take on a challenge, then you’re not a competitor."
Minnesota’s defense will have to bring a much sharper edge than it needed against Eastern Illinois, which managed just four first downs and 110 total yards. That unit now gets a much more demanding assignment.
On the other side, Drake Lindsey gets his first shot at an SEC opponent. The Gophers quarterback is an Arkansas native who already showed plenty in the opener, passing for 264 yards and a touchdown while Darius Taylor scored three times on the ground and Javon Tracy added two punt return touchdowns.
Fleck said he already talked with Lindsey this week about how to approach the game.
"That was a conversation him and I had this past week after the game. I told him I don’t care who we play, the mind space and the head space you were in, that’s where you need to live," Fleck said.
"We have 11 games guaranteed left, and they all mean the same, they’re all championship games. The brain space, mind space, be there."
Tracy’s opener was memorable in its own right. The Miami (Ohio) transfer became the first player in Gophers history to return two punts for touchdowns in the same game, and he also led Minnesota with five catches for 98 yards. One of those touchdowns turned into a family celebration, with his relatives on hand to share it.
His older brother is New York Giants running back Tyrone Tracy, and Fleck said the family connection has been part of what makes the rise even more striking.
"That’s rare to have those types of players within the family that are that good. I know Javon has a great relationship with his brother and looks up to him, and he should," Fleck said.
"Watching him in the offseason from January through training camp, it was a completely different kid. You see the response from his family, that’s so cool."
In Other News...
Gophers Backfield Takes Another Hit With Fresh Questions Ahead
Minnesotas backfield depth got thinner again this week, with Ryan Estradas season ending after the knee injury he suffered against Eastern Illinois. The loss stings not just because the Gophers are down another runner, but because Estrada arrived as a four-star recruit and was still in the early stages of carving out a role before the injury halted his 2026 season.
Estrada will come back as a sophomore in 2027 under the new eligibility rules, giving Minnesota a reason to think beyond the immediate setback. For now, though, he becomes the fourth Gopher sidelined for the year by a leg injury, a run of attrition that leaves even more pressure on the players still standing in the backfield. [Read more 🡒]
P.J. Fleck Sees One Gophers Game As A Bigger Statement
P.J. Fleck keeps circling back to the same idea when he talks about the Gophers place in the national conversation: bigger games should not be treated like a luxury. Minnesota is one of only three Big Ten teams set to face an SEC opponent in nonconference play this season, and Fleck sees that kind of matchup as part of what college football ought to be pushing toward, especially if the sport is serious about creating more parity and giving more programs a clearer path to prove themselves.
The broader issue, of course, is what the sport values when it comes time to sort out playoff access and strength of schedule. Fleck has pointed to ongoing discussions around playoff criteria and scheduling, along with a tentative SEC-Big Ten agreement tied to future requirements in a possible 24-team format, as evidence that the conversation is moving in the right direction. For Minnesota, the immediate focus is on the game in front of it, but the larger argument is hard to miss: these nonconference tests could end up meaning a lot more than just one Saturday. [Read more 🡒]
Javon Tracy Just Gave Minnesota A Special Teams Weapon Fans Need To See
Javon Tracys Minnesota debut on special teams was the kind of burst that can change how a team is viewed on a weekly basis. The wide receiver was named Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week after turning a lopsided 59-7 win over Eastern Illinois into a showcase for his open-field ability, piling up a school-record 167 punt return yards on four chances and instantly giving the Gophers a jolt in a phase of the game that often swings hidden yardage.
What made the afternoon even more remarkable is how quickly Tracy carved out his place in the record book. He became the first player in Big Ten history to score two punt return touchdowns in his first career game returning punts, and the first Gopher to do it in a single game, leaving Minnesota with a new wrinkle to watch as the season moves forward. For a team always looking for ways to create momentum, that kind of weapon is hard to ignore. [Read more 🡒]