BIG TEN FOOTBALL COMPANION GUIDE • ALPHABETICAL 7 OF 18
2026 Season Snapshot • Minneapolis, Minnesota
8-5 (5-4 Big Ten)
B1G
Live schedule, lines and results for Minnesota.
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HEAD COACH
P.J. Fleck — 10th season at Minnesota
LIFETIME COACHING RECORD
66–44 at Minnesota
Row the Boat. Minnesota's longest-tenured current Big Ten coach; 7-0 in bowl games at Minnesota, including a Rate Bowl overtime win over New Mexico in 2025. Four 8-win seasons in the last five years — among the most consistent mid-tier programs in the conference, even without ever quite breaking into the league's top tier.
MINNESOTA ATS RECORD
No single published career ATS figure
2025 finished 8-5 (5-4 Big Ten), Fleck's fourth 8-win season in five years. Minnesota's program-record 2026 recruiting class and Cub Foods-backed NIL push were specifically credited with helping retain the core of the 2025 roster through the portal window.
HEAD COACH SALARY (2026)
$7.9M
TEAM NIL VALUATION (EST.)
Not disclosed
PRIMARY NIL COLLECTIVE
Cub Foods NIL program
Coach salary per Star Tribune/ESPN reporting on Fleck's amended contract (ranks 10th of 18 Big Ten coaches). Minnesota has not disclosed a team NIL figure; the program's primary retention tool is a grocery-chain-sponsored NIL initiative through Cub Foods rather than a traditional collective. Minnesota's athletic department projected an $8.75M budget deficit for FY2026.
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR
Greg Harbaugh Jr. • Matt Simon — 4th/7th season • Multiple
Full offensive continuity behind Drake Lindsey, who set a program record for wins by a freshman QB in 2025 (2,382 yds, 18 TD, 6 INT). Auburn transfer Perry Thompson, a former five-star, gives the passing game its highest- ceiling addition in years.
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR
Danny Collins — 2nd season • Base 4-3
Co-DC Nick Monroe enters his 4th season, providing real staff continuity. The defense returns solid experience up front (91% DE continuity) but must replace significant production at defensive tackle (just 22% returning experience there).
2025 RECORD
8–5 (5–4 Big Ten)
Rate Bowl: W 20-17 (OT) vs. New Mexico. Fleck's 7th straight bowl win at Minnesota. A steady, unspectacular season in line with the program's recent norm.
HOME FIELD
Huntington Bank Stadium
Artificial turf (FieldTurf), Minneapolis. An open-air, on-campus stadium that can be a real factor in Minnesota's notoriously cold late-season home games — a genuine weather-driven edge for the Gophers in November matchups.
| SLOT | PLAYER | YEAR | HS Stars | NOTES / NFL OUTLOOK |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QB1 | Drake Lindsey | Jr | ★★★★★ | Set a program record for wins by a freshman QB in 2025 (8-5 as a starter); 2,382 yds, 18 TD, 6 INT, 66% completion. First Gopher to start back-to-back seasons at QB since 2022-23. |
| RB1 | Darius Taylor | Sr | ★★★★★ | 1,336 all-purpose yards in 2025 including 54 catches, the most by any Big Ten running back; finished 14 yards shy of 1,000 rushing. One of the conference's most dynamic dual-threat backs when healthy. |
| WR1 | Javon Tracy | RS-Sr | ★★★★★ | Miami (OH) transfer who led the team with 37 catches, 454 yds, 6 TD in 2025, including a 3-TD game vs. Northwestern; Lindsey's most trusted target returns as the WR2/slot alongside a new WR1. |
| WR2 | Perry Thompson | — | ★★★★★ | TOP TRANSFER Auburn transfer and former five-star recruit who chose Auburn over Alabama out of high school; still relatively unproven (22 career catches) but arrives with the highest ceiling in the receiving corps. |
Set a program record for wins by a freshman QB in 2025 (8-5 as a starter); 2,382 yds, 18 TD, 6 INT, 66% completion. First Gopher to start back-to-back seasons at QB since 2022-23.
1,336 all-purpose yards in 2025 including 54 catches, the most by any Big Ten running back; finished 14 yards shy of 1,000 rushing. One of the conference's most dynamic dual-threat backs when healthy.
Miami (OH) transfer who led the team with 37 catches, 454 yds, 6 TD in 2025, including a 3-TD game vs. Northwestern; Lindsey's most trusted target returns as the WR2/slot alongside a new WR1.
Auburn transfer and former five-star recruit who chose Auburn over Alabama out of high school; still relatively unproven (22 career catches) but arrives with the highest ceiling in the receiving corps.
| PLAYER | POS | YEAR | HS Stars | NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Returning core | OL | — | ★★★★★ | 3 starters back (1 with significant multi-game experience); Minnesota added zero proven portal starters up front for 2026, leaning on internal development. |
3 starters back (1 with significant multi-game experience); Minnesota added zero proven portal starters up front for 2026, leaning on internal development.
| PLAYER | POS | NOTES |
|---|---|---|
| Anthony Smith | DL | Widely regarded as one of the most indispensable Gophers on the roster; anchors a defensive end room that returns 91% of its experience. |
| Defensive tackle room | DT | Just 22% returning experience — the clearest specific weak spot on the entire roster heading into 2026. |
Widely regarded as one of the most indispensable Gophers on the roster; anchors a defensive end room that returns 91% of its experience.
Just 22% returning experience — the clearest specific weak spot on the entire roster heading into 2026.
| PLAYER | POS | HS Stars | NOTES / NFL OUTLOOK |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aidan Gousby | DB | ★★★★★ | Among the names beat reporters flagged just outside the program's top-10 most indispensable players for 2026; part of a secondary returning 77% of its cornerback experience but just 59% at safety. |
Among the names beat reporters flagged just outside the program's top-10 most indispensable players for 2026; part of a secondary returning 77% of its cornerback experience but just 59% at safety.
Saved Just J research for Minnesota.
QB Drake Lindsey, RB Darius Taylor, and most other key pieces all returned — the Cub Foods NIL program is explicitly credited by beat reporters with helping fend off bigger-budget poaching this cycle.
Real offensive continuity is rare for this program — worth weighing against a genuinely tough 2026 Big Ten slate.
Four 8-win seasons in five years without a signature statement season — a "very good, not great" profile that's been remarkably consistent and worth pricing accordingly.
Lindsey's pressure-to-sack rate (18.9%) was tied for 4th-highest in the Big Ten in 2025 — a specific, trackable protection issue that a lightly-changed line will need to fix for the passing game to take a real step forward.
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