Could Minnesota’s Gophers Have A Breakout Year This Year?

July is a popular month for college football fans, for a couple of reasons. It’s the last month without their team doing something that puts them closer to the season, and it’s the month that publication that is considered college football’s bible is released. 

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I’m talking about “Phil Steeles College Football Preview”. To call this a magazine is almost offensive because of the depth of analysis you’ll get.  

Each FBS football conference is broken down individually and then Phil shines a spotlight on each member of those conferences.  

Phil touts that his publication has been the most accurate for the last 29 years, and if that’s the case, it seems like it could be a long year for the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Phil picks them to finish 15th in the BIG 10, just ahead of Northwestern, Purdue and Michigan State. That’s three spots behind an Indiana team that finished 3-9 last year and has a brand-new coach.  

One of the main reasons that Minnesota is picked so low in the Big 10 is because of their schedule. The Gophers have five conference road games and do not play any of the teams that Phil predicts to finish near the bottom.  

The road games include trips to Michigan, UCLA, Illinois, Rutgers and Wisconsin. One favorable note for Minnesota is that they have their first four games at home. North Carolina comes to Huntington Bank Stadium on Thursday August 29th then it’s Rhode Island, Nevada, and Iowa the next three Saturdays. 

This year’s Gopher Offense has the potential to be one of the best in the country according to Phil Steel. He says their ground game could be their primary strength, in part due to the depth they’ve built there.  

Minnesota has a new defensive coordinator, Corey Hetherman, who will try to re-energize a defense that 26 points per game and allowed 368 yards of offense.  

I know Coach Hetherman personally from our time together at James Madison University and one area he will focus on is increasing the takeaways. The Gophers intercepted 12 passes and recovered 7 fumbles last year. Stealing possessions will be important and having the defense put points on the board will also be a focus.  

Click here for a story I wrote about Coach Hetherman in January.

Minnesota returns 8 players on each side of the ball and 48 lettermen from last year. Phil Steele says that Coach PJ Fleck feels this could be his most complete team yet.  

If the staff’s feelings are right, they’ll surprise some people this year, which means you may want to keep a close on what the Gophers do this year.  

You can get your copy of Phil Steele's College Football Preview at Barnes & Noble.