Ranking Minnesota Football’s Toughest Games on the 2026 Schedule

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Ranking Minnesota Football’s Toughest Games on the 2026 Schedule - GopherHole.com

This August, the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team will kick off its 143rd season and 10th year under head coach P.J. Fleck. While we knew what opponents the Gophers played at home and away from Minneapolis for a while now. We finally learned when Minnesota will play those opponents when...
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This August, the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team will kick off its 143rd season and 10th year under head coach P.J. Fleck. While we knew what opponents the Gophers played at home and away from Minneapolis for a while now. We finally learned when Minnesota will play those opponents when the Big Ten Conference released its schedule this past Tuesday. There is still a lot of time between now and the start of the 2026 season, which gives teams the opportunity to develop and figure out what kind of team they have till then. Out of the 10 Power Four opponents the Gophers face, three of them have new head coaches, while six out of the 10 will have a new starting QB under center. But now that we know the full schedule for Minnesota. Let’s do an early list of their toughest matchups next year. I will update this before the season when we know a little more about Minnesota and their opponents.

Let’s rank the 2025 schedule from the toughest games to the easiest.

1. @ Indiana, October 31st
For the third year in a row, Minnesota gets to play against the defending National Champion at their homefield. Who would have thought five years ago we would be putting Indiana at the top of this list? But here we are. Indiana has lost talent across the team, but it would be unwise to doubt Curt Cignetti’s ability to rebuild.

2. @ Washington, September 26th
The Washington Huskies’ 22-game home winning streak at Husky Stadium was finally broken by then No.1 Ohio State this past September. You can expect many Gophers fans to make the trip out west for this late-September game. Although he tried to leave, Desmond Williams Jr is back at under center for Washington. This is a tough place to play to open conference play for Minnesota

3. Iowa, October 24th
I really don’t care how much or how little they return this upcoming season. If Kirk Ferentz is still the coach, Iowa will always be near the top of this list. The good news is that the Gophers have a bye before this game; the bad news is that Iowa does.

4. @ Penn State, November 14th
I sure wish Minnesota had Penn State earlier in the schedule. You must think this game could be easier while new coach Matt Campbell gets comfortable in Happy Valley. Could this game be the famous “White Out”? I don’t think so, that should go to USC on October 10th. But either way, Happy Valley is always a tough place for anybody, and this game will be the fourth week in a row for Minnesota.

5. Michigan, October 3rd
I really have no idea what to expect from this Michigan team next season. I do know that Kyle Wittingham is one heck of a coach, and you should expect Michigan to be ready to play when they visit Minneapolis. QB Bryce Underwood returns for the Wolverines, and Michigan fans are hoping he takes a big leap this upcoming year.

6. @ Wisconsin, November 28th
Per tradition, the Gophers will conclude their season playing for Paul Bunyan’s Axe. For the fourth time in four years, Luke Fickell will have a new starting QB under center. This year, it is Colton Joseph from Old Dominion, whom the Badgers heavily pursued in the portal. The team overall should be improved; it’s more about staying healthy and finding an identity under Fickell.

7. Mississippi State, September 12th
A game that was scheduled back in 2016, Mississippi State will be the first team from the SEC to play in Huntington Bank Stadium. This game is the first game of a home-and-home series between the Bulldogs and Gophers. The Bulldogs are not sure who will be their starter under center heading into the spring. Mississippi State lost seven of its last eight games in 2025. Be curious to see what kind of team shows up in Minneapolis in the fall.

8. @ Purdue, October 10th
This game will be the fifth game in a row for Minnesota before they enter a much-needed bye week. With the Gophers playing Washington and Michigan before Purdue, you have to think this game is important for gauging this team as they enter the bye. This game could mean they enter it with a 4-2 or 3-3 record.

9. Northwestern, November 21st
This game from last year still haunts me, and I am sure the Gophers have not forgotten about it either. Which will give the seniors plenty of motivation as they play the Wildcats in their last home game for Minnesota. The Wildcats made a huge splash this offseason by hiring Chip Kelly as their offensive coordinator. That’s a sentence I thought I would never type.

10. UCLA, November 7th
The Bruins come into town with a new coach in Bob Chesney, but QB Nico Iamaleava returns for UCLA and has shown that anything can happen with him on the field. The Bruins shouldn’t be horrible next year, but they also shouldn’t be great. Who knows what kind of team they will be in November?

11. Akron, September 19th
After playing Mississippi State, the Gophers will finish their non-conference schedule when Akron from the MAC conference comes into town. This will be the second year in a row that the Zips travel to play a Big Ten opponent. They lost to Nebraska 0-68 last year in Lincoln.

12. Eastern Illinois, September 3rd
The Gophers will open their season on Thursday Night when the Panthers from Eastern Illinois come to town. The Panthers lost their last seven games last year but were close in a few ranked FCS games. This game shouldn’t be that tough for the Gophers.
 



Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:
Purdue is a program in disarray. It might be a tie with Akron for second weakest game on the schedule if you ask me.
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Don't disagree with your first sentence. But I think the timing of the game on the schedule makes it tricky. Right after Washington and Michigan and right before the bye.
 

NoelarBear said:
Don't disagree with your first sentence. But I think the timing of the game on the schedule makes it tricky. Right after Washington and Michigan and right before the bye.
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There should be no excuse for losing to Purdue. I don't care where they play them on the schedule.
 


I honestly don't know but guess Penn St will be below Michigan.

Hopefully we have good weather for the early season home games. Worth the coin on warm night for sure.
 



I still see 6-6...I wanna believe we can go 9-3, which I think is our ceiling.

Sept 12th at home against Mississippi State and Sept 26th at Washington will tell us everything we need to know.
 



Personally I think the schedule is much tougher than last year. If I had to bet I would think the gophers go 4-5 or 5-4 in the Big Ten, and 2-1 or 3-0 in the non conference season, and win a bowl game. so par for the course. I do think the Gophers will be a better team in 2026 than they were in 2025, only really lose one major player, but I do think wins will not reflect it.

Low end 6-6, high end 8-4 with a bowl win.

As things are now I would expect 7-5 and a bowl win. We'll probably beat a team we should not and lose 1-2 games that 98% of the board think the coaches blew.
 

Not to be didactic or negative, outside of non-conference games, circle the sure B10 wins on our schedule.

Others have reminded us of the disappointing Purdue and Northwestern games last year. I think the first five listed all view us as a win.

With that I really like the incoming high school players, I think the portal got us some very nice pieces, and the coaching staff was improved.

Finally, if you have seen Drake play live, you know we have a "he'll play on Sundays" quarterback.
 

NoelarBear said:
Don't disagree with your first sentence. But I think the timing of the game on the schedule makes it tricky. Right after Washington and Michigan and right before the bye.
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This is how I'm rationalizing the Gophers upset Indiana! They have Ohio State and Michigan the weeks before with a bye after us.
 

Drake has a year under his belt as a full time starter and hopefully Collins will continue to develop as a d coordinator overall. Don't sleep on our defensive line being an absolute nightmare for most teams on our schedule. 8 or 9 wins across the regular season.
 



gopherbadgerman said:
Personally I think the schedule is much tougher than last year. If I had to bet I would think the gophers go 4-5 or 5-4 in the Big Ten, and 2-1 or 3-0 in the non conference season, and win a bowl game. so par for the course. I do think the Gophers will be a better team in 2026 than they were in 2025, only really lose one major player, but I do think wins will not reflect it.

Low end 6-6, high end 8-4 with a bowl win.

As things are now I would expect 7-5 and a bowl win. We'll probably beat a team we should not and lose 1-2 games that 98% of the board think the coaches blew.
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I don't disagree, but this might be the year to catch Michigan and Pedo state while they're in transition.
 


gopherbadgerman said:
Personally I think the schedule is much tougher than last year. If I had to bet I would think the gophers go 4-5 or 5-4 in the Big Ten, and 2-1 or 3-0 in the non conference season, and win a bowl game. so par for the course. I do think the Gophers will be a better team in 2026 than they were in 2025, only really lose one major player, but I do think wins will not reflect it.

Low end 6-6, high end 8-4 with a bowl win.

As things are now I would expect 7-5 and a bowl win. We'll probably beat a team we should not and lose 1-2 games that 98% of the board think the coaches blew.
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Not sure I agree with the assessment that this schedule is tougher than last year.

2025
2 nearly certain losses (@OSU and @ Oregon)
Our Power 4 non-conf game was on the road and at night on the West Coast
@iowa is always a tough game on paper

2026
Assuming Indiana doesn't come back to Earth that is the lone nearly certain loss
Power 4 non-conf game is at home against a Mississippi State team that has been down
@Washington is a tough way to open Big Ten play but don't put them in elite class where an upset can't happen.
Penn State and Michigan are tough based on reputation but both will be in first year under new head coaches.
@Wisconsin and @Purdue are very winnable road games.

Obviously won't know a lot about teams until the season gets going, but on paper I think this has potential to be a really nice schedule for us and to me it looks easier then 2025.

Plus we have the advantage of having a proven starting QB as opposed to a guy getting his first taste of game action as a redshirt freshman.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Not sure I agree with the assessment that this schedule is tougher than last year.

2025
2 nearly certain losses (@OSU and @ Oregon)
Our Power 4 non-conf game was on the road and at night on the West Coast
@iowa is always a tough game on paper

2026
Assuming Indiana doesn't come back to Earth that is the lone nearly certain loss
Power 4 non-conf game is at home against a Mississippi State team that has been down
@Washington is a tough way to open Big Ten play but don't put them in elite class where an upset can't happen.
Penn State and Michigan are tough based on reputation but both will be in first year under new head coaches.
@Wisconsin and @Purdue are very winnable road games.

Obviously won't know a lot about teams until the season gets going, but on paper I think this has potential to be a really nice schedule for us and to me it looks easier then 2025.

Plus we have the advantage of having a proven starting QB as opposed to a guy getting his first taste of game action as a redshirt freshman.
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That's why we live in America, everyone gets their own opinion!

I think it's tougher you do not. Time will tell. I think people underestimate Mississippi State, but we will see next fall.

I felt this year we had sure fire wins at home, I don't see as many next year, so there will be a huge necessity to win some road games.
 

Because of PJ's style, the Gophers play a lot of one score games each year. We win a few in ways that seem miraculous, and we lose a few in ways that seem to defy the natural order of the Universe.

We will beat Akron and Eastern Illinois. I think we will beat Wisconsin, even though it will be much improved with a top QB, because currently PJ is to Fickell as Ferentz is to PJ. A hex.

In the nicest way I can say this, I think PJ has too much fear of/respect for Ferentz and Parker, so we never have the same chance against Iowa that teams of equal talent to ours do. It will be that way with Indiana also, I suspect, because of how much respect and awe for Cignetti PJ will project to the players and coordinators. Iowa and Indiana will have some tough games with teams that approach them fearlessly with bold game plans. But that won't be the Gophers, and we will be probably be curb stomped in both games. The players and coaches will feel PJ's tentative aura, and in those games will play from the get-go so as to not make mistakes--which will guaranty that we score small and make some hurtful mental errors while playing soft defense. We will lose to Michigan, which will be very talented and on a new coach high. We will lose to Washington, because at home they are ... Iowa, and because they are built to score a lot of points. It will feel like the 2025 Cal game in terms of our preparation and adaptability, only worse.

After that, I think every other game should be a toss-up. We should beat Mississippi State, Purdue, UCLA and Northwestern. But these will be some of PJ's famous one-score games in which anything can happen in the final 5 minutes. And I think Penn State might be a toss-up, because it will most likely be a 2026 reincarnation of the 2025 Iowa State team (check the transfer portal).

This year, IMHO, is a tougher schedule than last year's. Fewer truly top-end opponents, but a few more hard to win games against good, solid teams. If we take 3 of 5 toss-up games I've identified-- the probable one-score games--the Gophs end up 6-6 and go to a low bowl.

The Gophs get past 6-6 if (1) our defensive line is truly stellar against both the pass and the run (transfer DTs have to be good; the DEs will be), elevating the rest of what will be an experienced and pretty talented back 7; and (2) we don't once again field the absolute worst running game in the entire B1G (idealy giving our passing game a chance to open up and go downfield more often). Then 8-4 becomes realistic. Go Gophers!
 

gopherbadgerman said:
Personally I think the schedule is much tougher than last year. If I had to bet I would think the gophers go 4-5 or 5-4 in the Big Ten, and 2-1 or 3-0 in the non conference season, and win a bowl game. so par for the course. I do think the Gophers will be a better team in 2026 than they were in 2025, only really lose one major player, but I do think wins will not reflect it.

Low end 6-6, high end 8-4 with a bowl win.

As things are now I would expect 7-5 and a bowl win. We'll probably beat a team we should not and lose 1-2 games that 98% of the board think the coaches blew.
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I think if it’s tougher or easier schedule depends on what kind of team you have.


For an average team trying to go 7-5 it’s tougher.
Got all the easy ones at home.

For an above average team trying to go 10-2 it’s easier. (But I say that thinking penn state and Michigan are not on the level of the top 3 in the league).
 

It's not an easy schedule, but unlike this year where there were 2 near certain losses, there aren't any of those. Indiana may be, but I don't think we can know that yet.
 

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