The Minnesota Gophers have now completed their 2026 non-conference schedule with a 2-1 record after a blowout 41-7 victory Saturday over the MAC’s Akron Zips. Next weekend, they will begin Big Ten play out on the West Coast, against newcomer Washington.
So far, we have seen PJ Fleck & Co. dominate one FCS and one MAC opponent. In between, they were embarrassed 38-13 in Dinkytown by the Mississippi State Bulldogs, their first home SEC foe since 1959 and their only Power 4 opponent so far this season.
Biggest Gopher football winners and losers vs Akron
That makes it difficult to project what we will get from the Golden Gophers once Big Ten play begins. What we can do, however, is take a deeper dive into what worked in Minnesota’s final non-conference game this weekend, against Akron, what didn’t… and beyond.
Drake Lindsey – Winner
His final line of 204 passing yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception on 17-of-31 completions (55%) won’t cause NFL scouts to drop what they are doing Sunday morning to pull up YouTube and watch Drake Lindsey’s highlights against Akron.
But what the standard box score doesn’t tell you is that Lindsey went 8-of-12 on passes between 5-14 yards and 2-of-5 on throws that traveled 15 yards or more, pushing his passer rating on the day to 135.6. I mean, just look at this back-shoulder dime to Jalen Smith in the 3rd quarter……