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Minnesota

Golden Gophers · Big Ten

Head coach P.J. Fleck Year 10 with Minnesota

Season Projection · 2026 W0

10,000 sims
5.4
Expected wins
5-7
Proj record
2 to 8
Win range (90%)
#69 (45–92)
Final rank (90%)
0%
Make playoff
0%
Win conference

Path to Glory

Tap a win or a loss on each pivotal game to see how the playoff probability shifts. Leave any game unset to average across both outcomes.

Make the playoff

0%

Baseline projection.

  • vs Iowa
    Home · Oct 24
  • vs Michigan
    Home · Oct 3
  • vs Northwestern
    Home · Nov 21
  • at Wisconsin
    Away · Nov 28
  • vs Mississippi State
    Home · Sep 12

Pivotal games are the 5 with the largest playoff-probability swing, ranked by the model. Math: chained Bayesian log-odds update from the conditional simulation set; gets the directionally right answer but won't perfectly capture cross-game correlations until the full Monte Carlo pipeline lands.

Returning production · 2026

73 score
  • Quarterback 100% (3/5 )
  • Offensive line 65% (11/17 players)
  • Skill (RB/WR/TE) 53% (12/27 )
  • Front 7 (DL/LB) 68% (22/32 )
  • Secondary 42% (11/19 )
  • Special teams 89% (4/10 )

Share of last season's production each unit returns. Higher means more continuity: 70%+ is healthy, 45–70% a normal rebuild, under 45% a major turnover.

Portal additions · 2026

+0.1 rating

17 proven transfers in, carrying the production below from their prior school.

  • TJ Bush Jr. DL ← California 123 impact
  • Andrew Marshall LB ← Eastern Michigan 66 impact
  • Zion Steptoe WR ← Tulsa 61 impact
  • Noah Jennings WR ← Cincinnati 59 impact
  • Xion Chapman DL ← Florida International 58 impact
  • Naquan Crowder DL ← Marshall 57 impact

Impact scores offensive skill additions (QB/RB/WR/TE) — prior-season production normalized within position (100 ≈ a 90th-percentile producer at that spot) and discounted for non-FBS competition, so a top back counts alongside a top quarterback. Defensive and O-line additions count as transfers but aren't box-score measurable, so they carry no impact score. The rating figure is this class's portal contribution vs. the FBS average, capped at ±2.5.

Situational efficiency · 2025

FBS percentile rank
  • 3rd-down conversion 43.6% 88th — strong
  • Red-zone TD rate 12.8% 30th — below avg
  • 4th-down aggression 32.3% 30th — below avg
  • Late & close 5.0 yds/play 48th — average

Percentile is across all FBS teams with play-by-play data for the season. "Late & close" is yards per play in Q4+ with a one-score margin — a proxy for clutch offensive performance.

Schedule

Full 2026 slate. Tap a row for the matchup breakdown.

Latest Stories

  • Recap

    Minnesota: 2025 Week 16 recap

    Minnesota sits at 70th overall with an 8–5 record after a decisive 17–7 win over Wisconsin in Week 14. The Gophers controlled that matchup defensively, holding the Badgers to a single touchdown and establishing dominance in a rivalry game…

More coming

Per-team pages get the full treatment in Phase 3: current rating, season projection histogram, schedule with win probabilities, and live overlays on Pylon stream days. For now, this page exists so stories and news have a permanent home as content rolls in.