Minnesota opened the season Thursday night the way a Big Ten team is supposed to open against an FCS opponent: loud, lopsided and with a few moments that will stick around longer than the final score. The Gophers rolled Eastern Illinois 59-7 at Huntington Bank Stadium, and the headline plays came from all three phases. Javon Tracy delivered a punt return touchdown, Minnesota added another one later, and Darius Taylor powered the offense with three scores.
The special teams unit stole the early conversation. Tracy turned a punt into an 87-yard touchdown after making one man miss, giving Minnesota its first punt return touchdown in over seven seasons.
It also went down as the longest punt return touchdown by a Gopher in 98 years, since Fred Houde’s 91-yard return against Iowa in 1928. And Minnesota didn’t stop there - the Gophers added a second punt return touchdown later in the night, making it the first game in program history with two punt return scores.
That kind of burst is exactly what new special teams coordinator Daniel Da Prato wanted to put on the field. Against Eastern Illinois, it showed up immediately.
On offense, Taylor looked every bit the featured back. Minnesota gave him 17 touches in the first half, and he turned that into 87 yards and three touchdowns. He was the steady hammer in a game where the Gophers never needed to force much.
Drake Lindsey also gave Minnesota a clean, confident performance in his second year. He finished 19 of 24 for 264 yards and one touchdown, and his favorite target was Tracy, who led the team with 98 receiving yards. For a night, the passing game looked comfortable and in rhythm, with Lindsey in control throughout.
Defensively, there was really only one section of the game Danny Collins will want to revisit. Eastern Illinois found its biggest gains on two swing passes to the running back, one going for 30 yards and the other ending in a touchdown. Outside of that, Minnesota’s defense handled business.
Maverick Baranowski led the Gophers with six tackles, and several newcomers and younger players made their presence felt, including defensive end TJ Bush, who had 1.5 tackles for loss, along with corner Aydan West, defensive tackle Naquan Crowder and second-year safety Zack Harden. Minnesota’s front controlled the game for most of the night, the defense played with physicality across the board, and the Gophers held Eastern Illinois to just four first downs.
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 🡒]