Jul 23, 2025; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck speaks to the media during the Big Ten NCAA college football media days at Mandalay Bay Resort. Mandatory Credit: Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images

Analyst says there's 'certainly a path' for Gophers to have a 10-win season

Originally posted on Minnesota Golden Gophers on SI
By Tony Liebert | Last updated Aug 7, 2025 11:53 AM ET

We're firmly in the middle of preseason ranking season, and a recent list from ESPN's David Hale gave the Gophers some well-deserved respect heading into 2025.

Hale ranked all 136 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams into tiers. He placed Minnesota in Tier 7: Flying beneath the radar like Tom Cruise in 'Maverick'. The Gophers are in the tier alongside Georgia Tech, Iowa, Kansas, and Washington, which seems like an entirely reasonable spot for the Gophers.

"Not counting the 2020 COVID-19 season, Minnesota is one of just 15 teams to win 60% of its Power 5 games. That's more impressive than it sounds. It's better than Washington, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Miami and Texas A&M," Hale wrote . "The Gophers enter 2025 with a ton of intriguing pieces led by Koi Perich and Darius Taylor, and while the schedule includes road trips to Ohio State and Oregon, there's certainly a path for P.J. Fleck to get Minnesota back to the 10-win plateau."

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The statement that stands out from Hale is a potential path to a 10-win season. The most optimistic Gophers fans look at their 2025 schedule and see 10 winnable games. Leaving trips to Ohio State or Oregon with a win seems unlikely, but the remaining games on the schedule are not insurmountable.

With a different view, games against Cal, Rutgers, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan State and maybe even Wisconsin seem much closer to toss-ups than sure things on the Gophers' schedule. With a new quarterback, defensive coordinator and a lot of new wide receivers, there are a lot of ways 2025 could go for Minnesota. But if everything falls into place, it's hard to argue there isn't a path for 10 wins.

As a Big Ten program, if the Gophers get to 10 wins, they would be firmly in the middle of College Football Playoff discussions. That is a lot of hoops to jump through in early August, but like Hale points out, there's a path. It's hard to imagine a 10-win Big Ten team could get left out with notable wins against Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin.