Gophers 2025 Schedule Announced - how many wins do you predict?

[GopherHole Staff]

Minnesota's 2025 Football Schedule
August 28 – BUFFALO
September 6 – NORTHWESTERN STATE
September 13 – at California
September 20 – BYE
September 27 – RUTGERS
October 4 – at Ohio State
October 11 – PURDUE
October 18 – NEBRASKA
October 25 – at Iowa
November 1 – MICHIGAN STATE
November 8 – BYE
November 15 – at Oregon
November 22 – at Northwestern (at Wrigley Field)
November 29 – WISCONSIN

 

[MaxyJR1]

 

[MaxyJR1]

Did they announce Friday or Black Friday games?

 

[Zeppelin Gopher]

Seems pretty pointless to predict wins and losses right now, but love the schedule.

Much better balance of home and road games in 2025.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Seems pretty pointless to predict wins and losses right now, but love the schedule.

Much better balance of home and road games in 2025.

Agree.

3 home games in Aug/Sept
2 in October
2 in November

 

[Schnauzer]

The table has been flipped. Rutgers gets bye week prior to hosting gophers in '24, Gophers get bye week prior to hosting Rutgers in '25.

 

[Taji34]

I really like the placement of our bye weeks next year. Get a rest week prior to starting B1G play, and a rest week late in the season before playing defending B1G champion and current #1 in the nation Oregon.

 

[WindyCityGopher]

Here’s the 2025 schedule for the entire conference.

 

[Gophers1992]

I see 16 or 17 wins depending on if they give us a first round bye

 

[GopherGold01]

I really like the placement of our bye weeks next year. Get a rest week prior to starting B1G play, and a rest week late in the season before playing defending B1G champion and current #1 in the nation Oregon.

I was going to complain that the first bye is too early, and the 2nd is a waste getting an extra week before a penciled-in L.

 

[Pewterschmidt]

I really like the placement of our bye weeks next year. Get a rest week prior to starting B1G play, and a rest week late in the season before playing defending B1G champion and current #1 in the nation Oregon.

On the flip side, not a single one of our opponents will be coming off a bye week when we play them. That's quite fortunate.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Minnesota's 2025 Football Schedule
August 28 – BUFFALO
September 6 – NORTHWESTERN STATE
September 13 – at California
September 20 – BYE
September 27 – RUTGERS
October 4 – at Ohio State
October 11 – PURDUE
October 18 – NEBRASKA
October 25 – at Iowa
November 1 – MICHIGAN STATE
November 8 – BYE
November 15 – at Oregon
November 22 – at Northwestern (at Wrigley Field)
November 29 – WISCONSIN

Way too early to make any predictions on W/L but overall not a terrible schedule on paper. 2 toughest games are on the road @OSU and @Oregon which lessens the chance of an upset but also eliminates potential home loses. Great opportunity to potentially go 7-0 at home next year.

 

[MNVCGUY]

I was going to complain that the first bye is too early, and the 2nd is a waste getting an extra week before a penciled-in L.

I felt like this year's bye weeks came at perfect times. Next year isn't as ideal but getting a bye week heading into conference play is a good thing. And having an extra week to rest and get ready before a really tough game isn't the worst thing either.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Way too early to make any predictions on W/L but overall not a terrible schedule on paper. 2 toughest games are on the road @OSU and @Oregon which lessens the chance of an upset but also eliminates potential home loses. Great opportunity to potentially go 7-0 at home next year.

That's the key! Win all home games and win at Northwestern and California would be an excellent season. 7-5 should really be the floor of expectations if the Portal treats us well.

 

[fmlizard]

There's a good chance for the home fans to see a perfect season in 2025.

Road Big Ten schedule is going to be a doozy, except for the trip to Wrigley Field.

All in all it looks balanced and interesting and I'm hyped for next year already!

 

[MNVCGUY]

There's a good chance for the home fans to see a perfect season in 2025.

Road Big Ten schedule is going to be a doozy, except for the trip to Wrigley Field.

All in all it looks balanced and interesting and I'm hyped for next year already!

Road game at Iowa really isn't all that scary. In 4 trips to Kinnick under Fleck the team is 1-3 but all 4 games have been 1 score games and a couple of the loses easily could have been wins if not for some crazy plays that flipped the game in Iowa's favor.

 

[fmlizard]

Here’s the 2025 schedule for the entire conference.

View attachment 35015

If wisconsin doesn't beat Maryland they could start 0-7 in Big Ten play, and perhaps go winless in conference.

At Bama, Michigan, and Oregon and hosting Ohio State and Iowa...then if Washington's improved and Indiana is still good...then Bielema and at the Gophers...they could have a very bad season. Will be a major task to get to a bowl.

 

[pharmacygopher]

If wisconsin doesn't beat Maryland they could start 0-7 in Big Ten play, and perhaps go winless in conference.

At Bama, Michigan, and Oregon and hosting Ohio State and Iowa...then if Washington's improved and Indiana is still good...then Bielema and at the Gophers...they could have a very bad season. Will be a major task to get to a bowl.

Keep going....almost there...

 

[MaxyJR1]

Indiana might go to the Playoff again next year.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Official from B1G Website: Iowa vs NE will continue to annually be Black Friday, but others could move as well.

ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference today announced the 2025 football schedule. The 2025 schedule marks the second season with 18 teams, no divisional format and the use of the Flex Protect XVIII model.



The model features a combination of protected opponents and rotating opponents for universities. Each member institution will continue to play nine intraconference games per season, and teams will play every other conference opponent at least twice – once home and once away – and will play rotating opponents no more than three times in a five-year period.



The 2025 season will conclude with the annual Big Ten Football Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium, which will feature the top two teams in the overall conference standings at the end of the regular season, with the winner earning the Big Ten Championship.



Selected Saturday games in the 2025 season may be adjusted to select Fridays and other special dates, including Labor Day Sunday and Black Friday. The 2026 football schedule will be announced in the future.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Indiana might go to the Playoff again next year.

Need a new QB and have games @Oregon and @PSU. Will be interesting to see if Cignetti can sustain anything there because that has not been possible under other coaches.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Our P4 road games were a combined 41-20 this year
Our P4 home games were a combined 24-36.

Buffalo, Rutgers and Nebraska the Bowl teams coming to Huntington next season.
We go to Oregon, tOSU, Iowa and California.

 

[WindyCityGopher]

Really excited to see us play at Wrigley. The temporary NW facility by the lakeshore is cool, but really small and hard to get tickets for. Wrigley will be a great backdrop and far more accessible for Gophers fans who want to spend the weekend in Chicago.

 

[Strongazzoffer]

Perhaps next year is the year we can win both the Pig and the axe at the sametime

 

[short ornery norwegian]

Did they announce Friday or Black Friday games?

from what I've read, those are still to be determined. found this on The Athletic:
Two games will appear on Black Friday, including Iowa at Nebraska. The other game has not been determined.

some schools have flat-out refused to play Friday games which complicates TV scheduling.

I was listening to a Sport Media podcast which was discussing this issue. apparently NBC thought it would be getting more marquee games for its Saturday night time slot, but some of the top teams don't want to play night games, especially later in the season, and NBC wound up with a less-attractive schedule as a result.

 

[Some guy]

from what I've read, those are still to be determined. found this on The Athletic:
Two games will appear on Black Friday, including Iowa at Nebraska. The other game has not been determined.

some schools have flat-out refused to play Friday games which complicates TV scheduling.

I was listening to a Sport Media podcast which was discussing this issue. apparently NBC thought it would be getting more marquee games for its Saturday night time slot, but some of the top teams don't want to play night games, especially later in the season, and NBC wound up with a less-attractive schedule as a result.

I get that they had a less attractive lineup than they wanted

But what games went to fs1
Big ten network
Etc
Instead of nbc so they could avoid a night gsme


I think the bigger issue is the double bye made it so that there were many weekend where there were only 1-2 big games and nbc had third pick. More so than there being 3 big games but nbc getting the 4-5th best game because people avoided the night game

 

[MNfootballfan]

from what I've read, those are still to be determined. found this on The Athletic:
Two games will appear on Black Friday, including Iowa at Nebraska. The other game has not been determined.

some schools have flat-out refused to play Friday games which complicates TV scheduling.

I was listening to a Sport Media podcast which was discussing this issue. apparently NBC thought it would be getting more marquee games for its Saturday night time slot, but some of the top teams don't want to play night games, especially later in the season, and NBC wound up with a less-attractive schedule as a result.

Just my gut feeling - if it was the Gophers/Wisconsin on Black Friday they would have announced it to try to start a tradition with that game. I am probably wrong but seems like that would be the logical thing to do.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

I get that they had a less attractive lineup than they wanted

But what games went to fs1
Big ten network
Etc
Instead of nbc so they could avoid a night gsme


I think the bigger issue is the double bye made it so that there were many weekend where there were only 1-2 big games and nbc had third pick. More so than there being 3 big games but nbc getting the 4-5th best game because people avoided the night game

there is a pretty elaborate structure that determines which networks get first choice of games in a given weekend.

this is from an article on Awful Announcing. it parallels the discussion I heard on the podcast (The Varsity with John Ourand on Puck)

From a sports media perspective, one of the biggest stories of the 2024 college football season has been Big Ten fans being frustrated with Fox’s handling of the conference’s rights.

And as it turns out, they aren’t the only ones tired of seeing the Big Ten’s biggest games predominantly played at noon.

While the windows for the Big Ten’s three media rights partners have been well established — Fox at noon, CBS at 3:30 p.m. ET and NBC at primetime — NBC reportedly wasn’t aware of the hurdles it would face regarding the league’s night games. Specifically, Ohio State and Michigan both have clauses allowing them to veto night games following the first week of November, with the Wolverines only obligated to play two primetime games per season.

Similar clauses for other Big Ten schools also exist, limiting NBC’s potential offerings throughout the season.

Writes Ben Strauss:

NBC has expressed its frustrations to numerous stakeholders around the conference, according to people with knowledge of the conversations, suggesting that the network did not understand the full extent of the prime-time restrictions. The network has argued that it was informed of the full night game veto rights (and they were expanded from the Big Ten’s previous agreements) only after the term sheets for the deals were agreed to and announced, according to multiple people familiar with the deals.

What’s more, despite NBC being a media rights partner since the 2023 season, its deal with the league has yet to be officially signed—something that isn’t necessarily uncommon in the sports rights space but can create additional “haggling,” per Strauss.

Ultimately, the lopsided nature of the Big Ten’s media rights package was always going to favor Fox, which owns the rights to the conference’s football games and subleases them to CBS and NBC. Laying claim to the first three picks in the conference’s annual schedule draft, Fox was/is always going to have the inside track to the conference’s biggest games, regardless of how many Big Ten — and specifically, Ohio State — fans are tired of the Big Noon experience.