Minnesota Gophers 2020 football schedule released, 10-game season opens Sept. 5 at Michigan State
uMINNEAPOLIS, MN - NOVEMBER 09: Head coach P.J. Fleck of the Minnesota Golden Gophers and his team take the field against the Penn State Nittany Lions at TCFBank Stadium on November 9, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Adam Bettcher/Getty Images / Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The University of Minnesota Gophers 2020 football schedule was released Wednesday morning. The regular season will have 10 games total — five home and five away.
The schedule is conference-only due to the COVID-19 pandemic — a move the Big Ten announced earlier this summer. Non-conference games originally scheduled against Florida Atlantic, Tennessee Tech and BYU were canceled due to concerns with the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Gophers will open the 2020 schedule, assuming it's not pushed back due to COVID-19 concerns, at Michigan State on Sept. 5. The home opener at TCF Bank Stadium is set for Sept. 12 against Michigan, and the Gophers will host Iowa in the battle for Floyd of Rosedale on Sept. 19.
Minnesota then travels to Wisconsin in the battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe on Sept. 26. That's three straight trophy games for the Gophers early in the season.
MINNESOTA GOPHERS 2020 FOOTBAL SCHEDULE
- Sept. 5 – at Michigan State
- Sept. 12 – Michigan
- Sept. 19 – Iowa
- Sept. 26 – at Wisconsin
- Oct. 3 – at Nebraska
- Oct. 10 – Indiana
- Oct. 24 – Purdue
- Oct. 31 – at Illinois
- Nov. 14 – Northwestern
- Nov. 21 – at Maryland
The Gophers' home games are Michigan, Iowa, Indiana, Purdue and Northwestern. The away games are Michigan State, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Illinois and Maryland. The crossover games with the East Division are the season-opener at Michigan State, and Oct. 10 at home against Indiana.
Minnesota has bye weeks on Oct. 17 and Nov. 7. The Gophers are entering the fourth season under P.J. Fleck as head coach. The program learned Tuesday that star receiver Rashod Bateman, set to enter his junior year, is opting out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns. That means the Gophers will be without their top two receivers from last year.
Minnesota will still have eight starters on offense back, including quarterback Tanner Morgan. The defense has seven starters and nine regular contributors to replace.
The Gophers are coming off an 11-2 season, the best in 115 years, after beating Auburn in the Outback Bowl.