Ohio State’s reward for its first road win of the season over Washington is a rare nighttime atmosphere in the Horseshoe.
Minnesota
golden Gophers
A middling Minnesota is the opponent for what will likely be the Buckeyes’ last home night game of the season. The Golden Gophers have entrenched themselves as a mid-tier Big Ten team so far this year. Buffalo gave them a game to open the season in what was a 23-10 win for P.J. Fleck’s squad, then they trounced FCS Northwestern State 66-0 before falling at Cal 27-14.
Last week turned into a classic for Minnesota, beating Rutgers 31-28 in Minneapolis on the back of a 4-yard touchdown pass and a sack on the Scarlet Knights’ final drive (courtesy of defensive lineman Rushawn Lawrence, the first of his career) that forced them to attempt a 56-yard game-tying field goal. It missed.
A home atmosphere and massive talent advantage should provide Ohio State all the edge it needs in its second conference game. Still, Minnesota does present a solid defense and a capable young quarterback to give the Buckeyes some issues.
Old Reliable Boat
Minnesota has only once risen to compete atop the Big Ten under Fleck, but it’s been as consistent as a McDonald’s cheeseburger the last five years or so.
Fleck took the program from 5-7 in his first year after arriving from Western Michigan to 11-2 in year three, a loss to Wisconsin to close the regular season being the only thing that stopped the Gophers from playing in the 2019 Big Ten Championship Game against Ohio State. They won the Outback Bowl against No. 9 Auburn.
The dread of the COVID-19 season placed Minnesota at 3-4. Since then, Fleck has settled into a steady rhythm of eight- and nine-win seasons. The Gophers went 9-4 back-to-back years in 2021 and 2022, dipped to 6-7 in 2023, then returned to business as usual with an 8-5 campaign in 2024.
Now in his ninth year with the program, only two Big Ten coaches – Kirk Ferentz (27 years) and James Franklin (12 years) – have been at their schools longer than Fleck. He’s met expectations at a school that is 65 years removed from its last national championship.
Flight of the Drake
In a parallel to Ohio State, Minnesota has a redshirt freshman quarterback who has impressed in his first year as a starter.
Drake Lindsey was a three-star prospect ranked 873rd in the 247Sports composite for the 2024 class. But his stats through four games tell a different story. He’s completed a strong 65.8% of his passes for 958 yards and seven touchdowns with just two interceptions, picking up a respectable 8.2 yards per attempt.
His outing against Rutgers in the last game was his best yet. Lindsey racked up a career-high 324 passing yards at an efficient 75.6% completion rate with three touchdowns, including the game-winner to wide receiver Javon Tracy.
“We just said, ‘We’re putting it on your shoulders, big boy,’” Fleck said of his message to Lindsey before the game-winning drive. “The faster I can get to saying that, the better we’re gonna be. But that’s Drake. I went to his high school state championship and he put the entire team on his back. And there weren’t a bunch of five-star people on his team and there weren’t a bunch of people going to Division I schools on his team, it was him. And he elevated everybody’s game. And that was our decision at halftime. Put the ball in (No.) 5’s hands and let 5 go win the game.”
Tracy is the leading receiver supporting Lindsey, with 12 receptions for 204 yards and two touchdowns this season. Lemeke Brockington and Jalen Smith, a freshman, trail right behind him with 179 and 177 yards, respectively.
Driven by Defense
For as much as Fleck leaned on his quarterback against Rutgers, Minnesota is a team fueled by its defense so far this season.
The Gophers rank No. 9 nationally in total defense, allowing just 230 yards per game. That’s mostly thanks to their prowess plugging opposing rushing attacks, giving up just 65.5 rushing yards per contest, fifth-best in the FBS.
Their linebackers are the engine. Devon Williams brought two seasons of starting experience to 2025 and is off to his best start to a campaign yet, collecting a team-high 32 tackles with 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks through four games. Co-starter Maverick Baranowski is another experienced hand with two prior 50-tackle seasons under his belt, and he’s collected 25 tackles with 2.5 TFLs, one sack and one forced fumble.
Sophomore safety Koi Perich is the crown jewel of the Minnesota secondary. A top-100 prospect in the 2024 class who Ohio State went after, bringing him on campus for a December official visit right before he signed with the Gophers, Perich has lived up to the hype in Minneapolis thus far. As a freshman last season, he earned first-team All-Big Ten honors with 46 tackles and an incredible five interceptions. He’s got 21 tackles, two TFLs and a sack in 2025.
Perich is such a skilled athlete that he’s taken up two-way duties too, working in at receiver for the offense with three receptions for 55 yards. He also has seven punt returns for 64 yards.
Up front, defensive end Anthony Smith is the top player to watch, already with 4.5 sacks through four games after collecting six as a redshirt sophomore in 2024.
The Ultimate Little Brother
Of the Big Ten opponents Ohio State has played at least 20 times, it has its best winning percentage against Minnesota.
The Buckeyes boast a 47-7 all-time record against the Gophers, including a 12-game winning streak in the series, 13 if you count their vacated win in 2010. That’s a winning percentage of .870. Minnesota hasn’t beaten Ohio State since 2000, a 29-17 victory over John Cooper’s final team in the Shoe. Counting the 2010 victory, OSU has won 29 of the last 30 meetings between the two sides.
Here’s to making it 30 of 31 on Saturday.
Why are the Gophers Golden?
On second reference, Minnesota’s nickname has been written as “Gophers” exactly seven times in this story, including this use, but the full moniker is “Golden Gophers,” of course. “Gophers” makes sense. There are a lot of Gophers in Minnesota. It’s known as the Gopher State. But why are they golden?
They weren’t at first. Minnesota’s athletic teams were just known as the Gophers for the first few decades of the school’s sporting history. Maroon and Gold were the school’s official colors starting in 1880, but that didn’t inspire the “Golden” label. It came about in the 1930s, and it actually ties in directly with football.
As unfathomable as it may feel today, Minnesota used to be a football powerhouse. In fact, the Gophers are the last team to three-peat as national champions in 1934, 1935 and 1936. They won two more national championships in 1940 and 1941, making it a jaw-dropping five national titles in eight years.
Minnesota’s football uniforms were all gold at that time. Famed St. Paul, Minnesota, radio broadcaster Halsey Hall began calling them the “Golden Gophers” in 1934 due to that attire and the team’s dominance. The nickname stuck and was officially adopted by the school. 91 years later, they are still the Golden Gophers.
