Mississippi State’s trip to Minnesota this weekend is the kind of nonconference game that only makes sense once you zoom out and look at the calendar.
The Bulldogs and Golden Gophers agreed to this home-and-home series 10 years ago, and now the first leg arrives Sept. 12 at 2:30 p.m. CT on CBS from Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Minnesota (1-0) will host Mississippi State (1-0), with the return game set for Starkville in September 2027.
It also happens to fit a requirement Mississippi State has to meet. The SEC requires its schools to schedule one nonconference game against a power conference opponent, or Notre Dame, and this matchup checks that box for the Bulldogs. The Big Ten has no such rule, which is why Minnesota’s side of the deal looks a little different.
For the Gophers, it’s a notable scheduling choice on its own. Minnesota has played nonconference games at Cal in 2025 and hosted North Carolina in 2024, but this is the first time the program has hosted an SEC opponent since Vanderbilt in 1959.
"I think it's great for college football," Minnesota coach PJ Fleck said. "I think it's great for the fans.
The fans are what make college football so exciting. Just watch any Dr Pepper commercial.
There are some great ones out there."
The agreement was signed when Scott Stricklin was Mississippi State’s athletic director, and it comes with a financial wrinkle too. The home team owes the visiting team $350,000 for each game, meaning Minnesota will pay Mississippi State in this first meeting and the Bulldogs will send that money back next season.
There’s another reason this one may hit a familiar note for Mississippi State fans: CBS is carrying the game with its top broadcast crew, and that network still carries a certain SEC feel even after the conference’s long run with CBS ended after the 2024 season. Charles Davis and Brad Nessler will have the call, and Davis said the matchup has the feel of a game that can shape the direction of both seasons.
"I think for both these teams, which direction can your season go?" Davis, who will be on the CBS broadcast with Brad Nessler, told The Clarion Ledger.
"Both of them believe that their seasons can have a really good trajectory. This game right here will help launch you in that trajectory."
CBS has already become part of the nostalgia angle for Mississippi State. Davis pointed to the old SEC feel the network still carries, right down to the familiar college football jingle used during commercial breaks.
"Mississippi State fans, when they hear that, they'll think, 'Whoa, we got the CBS and SEC again,' " Davis said. "Well, for one weekend anyway. I know we're happy to have them on our air."
It’s been a while since Mississippi State last had a game on CBS, too. The Bulldogs’ most recent CBS appearance came in 2020, when they upset defending national champion LSU in Baton Rouge.
After this season, Mississippi State’s nonconference slate already has more on the books, though the source material only notes that those games are scheduled without listing them.
In Other News...
Gophers Face An Early Test Their Identity Has To Pass
Minnesota and Mississippi State are set to meet for the first time, and the matchup comes with a little more weight than a typical nonconference date. For the Bulldogs, it is another chance to see what their early-season identity looks like against a Power Five opponent, while the broader Week 2 slate will feed the usual debate about how the Big Ten and SEC stack up when the games start to matter.
Mississippi State enters with momentum after a strong showing from quarterback Kamario Taylor in the opener, and that makes the Bulldogs a different kind of test for a Minnesota team that wants its rushing offense to set the tone. The Gophers ground game will be asked to prove itself against a defense built to make life hard, and the result should say plenty about where both programs stand before September turns into the part of the schedule where early impressions tend to stick. [Read more 🡒]