Minnesota Golden Gophers Football is just over a month away, so let’s take a look at each opponent they will face in 2024. For the non-conference, Gophers will see the North Carolina Tar Heels from the ACC, the Rhode Island Rams from FCS, and Mountain West foe, the Nevada Wolf Pack. Can P.J. Fleck continue his success against non-conference opponents and start this season 3-0?
WEEK 1 (Aug. 29)
- University of North Carolina
Minnesota will start its season with its toughest non-conference opponent in the University of North Carolina. A rematch of last season’s tilt, where a Drake Maye-led UNC squad passed all over the Gopher en route to a 31-13 victory. This year will look a little different for UNC, as their star quarterback will be taking snaps for the New England Patriots. Despite the loss of Maye, UNC is still led by Hall of Fame Head Coach Mack Brown and retains their stud running back Omarion Hampton, meaning the early season matchup will be a big test for the Gophers.
The Tar Heels will likely be led by two-time transfer Max Johnson at QB, but the starter has yet to be confirmed. Assuming it will be Johnson, he brings about as much of a veteran presence as one can in college football. He is a former starter at LSU and Texas A&M, where he has thrown for over 5,800 yards and 47 TDs so far in his career. The Tar Heels will lose a little of the QB scrambling ability that Maye brought, but their running game should still be strong with Hampton and a small, but solid, offensive line. In the 2023 game, despite Maye throwing for over 400 yards, Hampton never was quite able to get going, as Minnesota held him to 46 yards. If they can hold him down without needing to stack the box too much, the defense should be able to fare well against the UNC offense. This game will be new D-Coordinator Corey Hetherman’s debut for the Gophers, so it will be interesting to see any changes to the game plan from what Rossi and Minnesota threw at UNC last season.
North Carolina returns over two-thirds of their defensive starters from a year ago, but that could be considered good or bad, as the group struggled as a whole. Their run defense was a big weakness in 2023, and not much was brought in to try and fix it. Darius Taylor was the highlight of the Gopher offense against UNC, running for 138 yards and a TD. As for the secondary, the Tar Heels are experienced, but nothing to write home about. With the Gophers looking to get their new QB up to speed in this game, look for them to try to control the game with Darius Taylor and other backs while working to get Brosmer in a rhythm with his receivers. The Gophers were able to move the ball well against UNC last season, despite poor passing, but could not finish drives consistently. With that being said, I believe the Gophers should be able to easily outscore their 13-point total from a year ago, even with them working out the early-season kinks.
Score Prediction
WEEK 2 (Aug. 7)
- University of Rhode Island
Minnesota will enter week 2 with a matchup against an FCS opponent in Rhode Island. The Rams of Rhode Island are led by long-time coach Jim Fleming and play out of the CAA conference. It will be a chance at revenge for one Gopher, QB Max Brosmer, as his former school, New Hampshire, also plays out of the CAA and lost 28-34 to Rhode Island a season ago. Despite this loss, Brosmer threw for 430 yards and 2 TDs, so the Gophers will look to try and replicate this type of performance and come away with a victory. Last season, the Rams finished 6-5, but will have a lot of new faces on the team this season, via the transfer portal.
For the first time since 2019, URI will go into next season with a new face at QB, after graduating their all-time leader in offensive yards. There will be a camp competition for the Rams, likely between Clemson transfer Hunter Helms and Virginia Tech transfer Devin Farrell. Farrell may have a slight edge after being the backup in 2023 and his dual-threat ability is something that the Rams missed in the last 4 seasons with their former starter. As for Helms, he is a former Clemson walk-on who eventually earned a scholarship and some playing time throughout his career. He chose to utilize his grad transfer eligibility via the portal and joined URI for his final season. He brings a pure pocket-passer with an impressive arm to the Rams offense. I could see URI going either way with this competition, as both players bring unique skill sets to their offense, but if I had to guess I would think Helms gets the nod. Regardless of which QB is starting opposite the Gophers, the Rams have shown that they are willing to sling the rock. They would rarely throw less than 30 times a game in the last few seasons, and I would look for this trend to continue against Minnesota, as they will be likely trying to keep up with a BIG10 offense that should be able to rack up points against an FCS opponent. As for Wide Receivers for the Rams, they graduated nearly a third of their total receiving yards from 2023, but have plenty of talent in their room now to try and replace what was lost. Marquis Buchanan was named a Freshman All-American last season and should be one of their top options going into his sophomore season. The other big name in their WR room is Greg Gaines III, who was a former Iowa State Cyclone and former 4-star recruit. Both of these guys are big-body receivers, at 6’4 and 6’3, and could be tough matchups for any team. The RB room will be an open competition, as they graduated their bell cow from 2023. The Rams’ offense will have plenty of new faces, but I would expect it to operate in a similar fashion. The Gophers will look to limit chunk plays by the Rams and get a lot of pressure on the QB, which should result in turnovers and no rhythm able to be built through the air.
Rhode Island’s defense in 2024 is going to be a mix of newcomers and returners but will have to replace some lost talent across all levels of their defense. Starting with their secondary, they will be looking to replace four key contributors. It will likely be a group effort to replace these guys early in the season, as they have a number of players with a few years of college football under their belt, but not many snaps during those seasons. As for the box defenders, it will be the group with the most talent returning. The Rams mostly utilize a 3-4 defense, where the outside linebacker duo of A.J. Pena and Gabe Salomans did well in creating pressure on the QB. A.J. Pena is likely to be their best defensive player as he was a Preseason All-American and All-CAA 3rd teamer a season ago. The interior will be headed by two multi-year starters, most notably by former four-star recruit and also All-CAA 3rd teamer Westley Neal Jr. Although the Ram’s secondary will be inexperienced, this game will still be a bit of a test for the Gopher’s O-line to keep the pocket clean and get a run game established. In the past years against FCS or Group of 5 teams, Fleck has really tried to dominate the game on the ground, but on paper, it looks as though allowing Brosmer and company to take advantage of a young secondary will be something that needs to happen to put up points in bunches.
Score Prediction
WEEK 3 (Aug. 14)
In week 3, Minnesota will play host to the Nevada Wolf Pack, who will be led by new head coach Jeff Choate. Nevada is coming off back-to-back two-win seasons and will likely be in a bit of a rebuild mode in year one of the Choate era. Choate comes to Nevada after having success as the Texas Longhorns Defensive-Coordinator, so the Gophers will be expecting to be met with a defensive-focused squad. After being awful on both sides of the ball the last two seasons, I will not expect that to continue, and with some of the talent that was brought in via the portal, it will be a very gritty, old-school type of game.
The Wolf Pack will likely be led by a familiar face, QB Chubba Purdy, who the Gophers faced in 2022 while he was a member of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Purdy’s college career has not gone exactly to plan after being a 4-star recruit, but he will look to make the most of his last two years of eligibility in Reno. Purdy has found success more so on the ground than through the air in his career, so look for keeping him in the pocket to be a main goal for the Gopher defense. The Wolf Pack rotate running backs a lot but look for Sean Dollars to be their starter and main guy. He struggled to get much going last season, but that is not completely his fault as their offensive line was one of the worst in the nation. The wide receiving core is very depleted for the Wolf Pack, after losing all seven receivers with more than 100 yards from last season. It will be a wide-open competition this fall, but look for transfer Cortez Braham to be the probable leader of the group. The Gopher’s D-line should have this game circled on the schedule as one that they could put up big numbers in, as Nevada’s O-line has struggled mightily in recent years. If the Gophers are able to stuff the run game and keep Purdy’s legs under wraps, then look for them to have success.
Nevada’s defense was just as poor as the offense in the past few seasons, but on paper, they look revamped in Choate’s first season at the helm. Transfer Safety Kitan Crawford and CB KK Meier set a solid foundation in the secondary. Their linebacking is their brightest spot on defense, as Drue Watts is likely the team’s best all-around player and a tackling machine. Kaden Johnson, a former St. Paul native and Wisconsin transfer, will join a D-line that lost a few unproductive starters from a season ago. It is known that one or two players being added to a very poor defense will not completely turn things around, but a better scheme and coaching philosophy could. The Gophers will have to keep a balanced attack, especially with the linebacking core being solid at stopping the run. If Brosmer is able to get in a rhythm and allow for the box to be cleared for Taylor to get to the second and third level, then I would expect Minnesota to be able to move down the field effectively.
Score Prediction
