Last week, the Minnesota Gophers were hoping to grab what would have been the biggest non-conference, non-bowl game of the PJ Fleck era, against up-and-coming Mississippi State, out of the SEC.
Unfortunately, the contest didn’t go as planned. Instead, Bulldogs’ sophomore QB Kamario Taylor and RB Fluff Bothwell had their way with Danny Collins’ defense, running Minnesota’s defense ragged with an exhausting offensive pace that the Gopher defense could not stop and offense could not keep up with.
To make matters worse, they also lost star running back Darius Taylor due to what is now being reported as a lower-body injury. It’s not a new injury. Taylor was not 100% before the Mississippi State game, and only lasted a couple of drives before he was placed on the bench for good.
Darius Taylor out for MN Gophers
After Minnesota was blown out 38-13, Fleck told us at his postgame press conference that Taylor was “day-to-day” going into the Akron week. Thus, it’s no surprise he’s sitting this one out, as first reported Saturday morning by Pete Thamel (ESPN).
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) September 19, 2026
Last week’s highly anticipated matchup — the Gopher program’s first time hosting an SEC team since 1959 — turned into a blowout by halftime, in part because they could not get the run game going against a Bulldogs defense that should have been vulnerable in that area…