I decided to make the cover photo of this article a shot from the last game MSU won. That was back on September 13. This is probably the least motivated I have ever been to write an article on this site. My enthusiasm for the Michigan State football team is completely drained. I will do my best on this article though.
Minnesota Golden Gophers season at a glance
The next opponent on MSU’s schedule is the University of Minnesota. Fun little fact about this other U of M in the Big Ten is that gophers
actually live in Minnesota. On the 2025 season, the Golden Gophers are sporting a 5-3 record, 3-2 in conference play. As was discussed in the 6Qs article, Minnesota has a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde thing going on, depending on if they are playing at home or away. They are a perfect 5-0 at home this year and an imperfect 0-3 on the road. Those three road losses were at California, Ohio State, and Iowa. In those two Big Ten away losses, they scored three points in each of them; they are averaging less than 7 points per game on the road. On the other hand, in their five home wins, they have averaged 34.2 PPG. It is worth pointing out that they have only gone over that amount once, their 66-0 win over Northwestern St. Aside from that, their high score was the 31 they put up against Rutgers. The Gophers most impressive win this year is probably their 24-6 win over Nebraska, who was ranked 25th at the time.
Gophers Offense
Taking a dive into the Minnesota stats for this season, there are a lot of similarities between them and MSU. Their quarterback, redshirt freshman Drake Lindsey, has thrown for 1,546 yards on 61.4% completion along with 10 TDs and 6 INTs. By comparison, MSU’s QBs (Chiles, Milivojevic, and those two Omari Kelly passes) have gone for 1,686 yards on 62.4 and 13 TDs (10 by Chiles). Like MSU, Minnesota does not pose a big running threat. On the year, they have rushed for 884 yards. Their leading rusher is Darius Taylor who has 354 yards on a 4.4 average. The Gophers have 9 running TDs, but no one has more than 2. QB Lindsey accounts for 2 of those 9, as well.
Maybe the biggest difference between Minnesota and Michigan State is the quality of the WR room. One of the things that was said about Lindsey in the 6Qs article is that he is a good decision maker, something that we can’t say definitively about our own QB. Despite that, he does not have a premier pass catcher. La’meke Brockington leads the way with 339 yards on 31 catches. MSU has two receivers in the mid-400s. They do seem to be spreading the ball around a little better; six different players have at least 100 receiving yards with a seventh a half-dozen yards away. RB Taylor, mentioned above, has 134 yards through the air. This should be an area of concern for MSU’s defense. With our struggles in the defensive backfield and lack of quality depth, Minnesota could give us all sorts of issues trying to figure out which receiver to focus on. As they have a good deal of parity, they could succeed in exposing our weaker coverage guys.
Gophers Defense
While MSU regularly plays just two linebackers and a fifth player in the secondary, Minnesota’s base defense is a 4-3. And just like the Spartans, the Gophers have a pair of LBs who are their leaders in tackles. Devon Williams and Maverick Baranowski have 65 and 57, respectively. One area where they excel on this side of the ball is in getting to the QB. The Gophers are top ten in the nation and second in the Big Ten with 25 sacks. Linemen Anthony Smith (7) and Karter Menz (4.5) lead the team. With the issues MSU has been having protecting Aidan Chiles, we should expect to see several times where our QB is under duress. Hopefully, he can hold onto the ball.
Fortunately, as a team, they are not known for forcing turnovers. They have six INTs, average for the conference, but only a pair of fumble recoveries. John Nestor is the name to be aware of in their secondary. He has 5 deflected passes and 3 interceptions, one which he returned for six. MSU has snagged three interceptions all year.
As a unit, they are allowing just 21.8 PPG, a significant improvement over the 32.5 that the Spartans surrender.
Gophers Special Teams
The man trying to put the ball through the uprights is Brady Denaburg. Denaburg is a perfect 21/21 on extra points and 10/13 on FGs. That said, he does not have much in the way of range having missed both his tries from 50+ and 1 of his 2 in the 40-range.
When the Gopher drives stall out, Tom Weston of Australia comes on to punt it away. He is averaging 43.4 on his punts. Our Ryan Eckley sends them 50.4.
Final Thoughts
By no means is Minnesota a tough opponent. That should be evident by the blowouts they have suffered this year. That said, they are led by a quality coach in PJ Fleck. They seem to be a disciplined team that is not guilty of putting themselves in bad situations and beating themselves. While they are not the best team we are playing this year, we will be among the worst teams they play; their schedule also blessed them with fellow cellar dwellers Purdue and Wisconsin. I think the schizophrenia they are dealing with between the home and away versions of their team will be a deciding factor in this one. They don’t lose at home and we don’t win on the road.
Just got to get through this weekend and then basketball officially begins.
