The Big Ten conference schedule gets underway with a pair of games this week, both involving a West Coast school heading east. USC will visit Purdue while Oregon goes to Evanston to meet Northwestern.
Cal faces its biggest challenge of the season so far when Minnesota visits California Memorial Stadium on Saturday night, and betting sites suggest it will be an upset if the Golden Bears win the game.
Drake Lindsey completed 19 of 35 passes for 290 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in his first career start, and Minnesota pulled away for a 23-10 win over Buffalo in the season opener for both teams Thursday night in Minneapolis.
Minnesota enters 2025 with a favorable schedule, boasting winnable home games against Buffalo, Northwestern State, Rutgers, Purdue, Nebraska, and Michigan State.
Gophers' star Darius Taylor is the seventh-best running back returning to college football next season, according to a list published by Max Chadwick of Pro Football Focus (PFF) on Thursday.
The Minnesota Golden Gophers improved to 4-3 with a thrilling, 21-17, win over the UCLA Bruins (1-5) at The Rose Bowl Stadium on Saturday night. It wasn't pretty, but Max Brosmer found Darius Taylor for a four-yard touchdown with 27 seconds to go to lift the Gophers to a second straight Big Ten victory.
The USC Trojans struggled last Saturday to contain a strong rushing attack from the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Sophomore running back Darius Taylor ran for 144 yards on 25 carries and Minnesota finished the night with 193 yards on the ground.