Gophers football game-by-game: Schedule sets up for a decisive November

[BleedGopher]

per Randy:

Reunions, intriguing trips eastward and a challenging November are the highlights of a 2022 Gophers football season that's only a week away. Next Thursday night at Huntington Bank Stadium, coach P.J. Fleck's squad will open the campaign against New Mexico State.

Coming off a 9-4 season that lost luster with upset losses to Bowling Green and Illinois, the Gophers have high hopes for 2022, and a run at the Big Ten West Division championship is in play.

The opener will mark the season's first reunion, this one with Jerry Kill. The former Gophers coach has criticized both the university for firing his lieutenant, Tracy Claeys, and Fleck, his former assistant at Northern Illinois, for his culture-changing comments upon taking the Minnesota job.

New Mexico State is part of a nonconference slate that also includes Western Illinois and Colorado, and that trio was a combined 8-27 last year.

Trips to Michigan State (Sept. 24) and Penn State (Oct. 22) will be challenging. The Big Ten West will be won in November, and the Gophers' month starts at Nebraska and closes with a visit from Iowa and a trip to Wisconsin. If the Gophers can pry Floyd of Rosedale away from the Hawkeyes and keep hold of Paul Bunyan's Axe, a division title could be in play.

Gophers football game-by-game: Schedule sets up for a decisive November

Their nonconference opponents went 8-27 last year, and they won't face Ohio State or Michigan. But big tests still linger that will determine the success of P.J. Fleck's team.

www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[1983]

Just change the dates and teams but it is the same old tune year after year. If we don't piss down our leg, we will be playing one of the last two games to clinch the west. Imagine beating Iowa at home to clinch it and resting our key players at Wisconsin.....

 

[Some guy]

It’s all decisive when you’re going for a 12-0 playoff rhn

 

[minnyrules11]

Just change the dates and teams but it is the same old tune year after year. If we don't piss down our leg, we will be playing one of the last two games to clinch the west. Imagine beating Iowa at home to clinch it and resting our key players at Wisconsin.....

No way rest key players going into Wisconsin especially with a shot at undefeated regular season, college football playoff and axe on the line. I do like the thought of having the West clinched though.