As the No.1 Ohio State Buckeyes (4-0, 1-0) prepare to welcome in the Minnesota Golden Gophers (3-1,1-0) for a primetime NBC Saturday matchup at 7:30 p.m. ET in the Shoe, here are five things to know about Minnesota.
The Gophers have a freshman quarterback
Drake Lindsey got to campus last year as a true freshman quarterback for the Gophers, and it was not long before the redshirt freshman earned the starting job in 2025.
So far, he has been impressive, throwing for 958 yards, completing 66 percent of his passes and throwing for seven touchdowns
and two interceptions. Lindsey is coming off his best game of the season against Rutgers, completing 75 percent of his passes and throwing for 324 passing yards and three touchdowns in a 31-28 win to earn Big Ten Freshman of the week honors.
Minnesota is dealing with a key injury
Minnesota starting running back Darius Taylor has missed the last two games with an injury and is questionable to play as of right now. Taylor was not ruled out against Rutgers until Saturday, so we likely will not know his status until game day.
In 2024, Taylor ran for 986 yards and 10 touchdowns on 205 attempts. In 2025 thus far, he ran for 161 yards in two games.
They do a good job getting to the quarterback
The Gophers are tied for fourth in the conference in sacks with 14 on the season. USC leads the Big Ten with 17.
EDGE rusher Anthony Smith leads the team with 4.5 sacks on the season and linebacker Devon Williams in second on the team with 1.5. Smith is tied for the lead in the conference with Caden Curry and Iowa’s Max Llewellyn.
Ohio State has won 13 straight against Minnesota
The Buckeyes have dominated the Gophers in the all-time series, winning the last 13 contests over Minnesota with only two of the matchups ending in a single digit deficit.
The last loss to Minnesota came in 2000 under John Cooper, where the No. 5 Buckeyes went down 17-3 after the first quarter and lost 29-17.
Ohio State has won 29 of the last 30 games and is 47-7 overall against Minnesota.
The slogan “Ski-U-Mah” goes all the way back to the 1800’s
The “Ski-U-Mah” slogan started at Minnesota in 1994 when Thomas Peebles, a philosophy professor, became the new football coach. He was a Princeton alum.
According to the university, during the team’s scrimmages, Peebles would often yell “Sis-Boom-Ah, Princeton!” after a score, relying on a cheer from his alma mater. Team captain John W. Adams and a co-captain tried a counter-cheer, one that would have, “a characteristic Minnesota flavor.”
While brainstorming, Adams recalled hearing native Dakota boys yell “ski-oo!” in athletic contests and canoe races at Lake Pepin.
His co-captain, “Win” Sargent, added the “mah” to make it rhyme with “rah,” thus creating “Ski-U-Mah!” They used the cheer in their practices and games, and the campus paper endorsed the cheer soon after.
