One more challenge awaits before Ohio State travels to Michigan next week.
Minnesota
golden gophers
Even if the Buckeyes fall to Minnesota, their showdown with the Wolverines will be for a spot in Indianapolis for the Big Ten Championship Game – not that anyone expects Minnesota to topple Ohio State.
The Golden Gophers are another offensively-challenged team, much like OSU's last opponent in Michigan State, and don’t have much of a background when it comes to threatening the Buckeyes in the Big Ten.
Equivalent wins and losses
Minnesota is 5-5 on the season and will need to either beat Ohio State or Wisconsin in the famed battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe next week if it wants bowl eligibility. It’s the first five-loss season for the Golden Gophers since head coach P.J. Fleck’s second year in 2018.
Losses to Illinois and Purdue populate the last two weeks for Minnesota, who is now on the outside looking in for the Big Ten West title with a 3-4 conference record.
The Boilermakers beat the Golden Gophers by scoring the second-most points Fleck’s bunch has allowed all season in a 49-30 smackdown in West Lafayette. Michigan, who beat Minnesota 52-10, is the only team to amass more on its side of the scoreboard vs. the Minneapolis-based program.
Replacement of a mainstay
For the last four seasons, Minnesota fans could count on consistent production from the quarterback position thanks to the arm of Tanner Morgan, who finished his career with 9,469 passing yards, 65 touchdowns and just 32 interceptions while completing 62.2% of his throws.
He’s been replaced this season by Athan Kaliakmanis, a rare four-star quarterback prospect signed by the Golden Gophers in the class of 2021. While Kaliakmanis appeared in 11 games last season in relief of Morgan or while Morgan was hurt, results have been mixed since he took over the job full-time in 2023.
Kaliakmanis has completed a mere 52.2% of his passes for just 6.4 yards per attempt with 13 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
He’s been wildly inconsistent on the year. Kaliakmanis has had three games completing less than 40% of his throws but three other games completing upwards of two-thirds of his passes. He hasn’t hit that mark since Week 5 against UL-Lafayette, though.
Another offensive offense
Minnesota’s attack isn’t much better statistically than Michigan State’s, which ranks 131st in scoring across college football after managing only three points against the Buckeyes.
The Golden Gophers are 113th nationally in total offense, 102nd in scoring, 124th in passing and 64th in rushing.
That rushing attack has been hindered by an injury to star running back Darius Taylor, a breakout true freshman replacing another Minnesota mainstay in Mohamed Ibrahim, the school’s all-time leader in rushing yards.
Taylor leads Minnesota in rushing yards this season despite playing only five of the team’s 10 games due to injury. He had three consecutive games of more than 130 rushing yards in September against Eastern Michigan, North Carolina and Northwestern. Taylor’s showing against the Wildcats was on Sept. 23 and he’s played in only one game since, picking up 59 yards on 16 carries at Iowa on Oct. 21.
No other runner on the team has eclipsed 400 yards rushing. Minnesota’s pass-catching corps is similarly reliant on wide receiver Daniel Jackson, who has 45 receptions for 681 yards and seven touchdowns this year. No other wideout or tight end has hit 400 receiving yards for the Gophers.
Nubin leads an average defense
Minnesota’s defense has fared somewhat better than its offense, ranking 54th in yards allowed and 64th in scoring.
Much of that success has been driven by the all-around play of strong safety Tyler Nubin. He’s cleaned up on the back end both in the running and passing games, collecting a team-high four interceptions and 49 tackles, second-most on the squad. He’s added a sack, four pass breakups, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery to those totals.
Linebacker Maverick Baranowski is the Golden Gophers’ leading tackler with 52 takedowns, adding five tackles for loss and a sack. Defensive end Danny Striggow has been the top source of pressure, collecting six sacks for Minnesota on the year.
Of course, after allowing 49 points against Purdue, Minnesota’s defense will need to perform much better for the Gophers to have any chance of beating Ohio State.
Series dominance
Of the Big Ten teams that joined the conference prior to 2011, Ohio State has a better winning percentage against Minnesota (86.7%) than it does against every other team except Indiana (86.8%).
The Buckeyes are 46-7 all-time against the Golden Gophers and are on an 11-game winning streak against the Minneapolis-based outfit dating back to the year 2000. Minnesota’s last win over Ohio State came by a 29-17 score in John Cooper’s final year.
All told, the Buckeyes have won 27 of their last 28 games against the Golden Gophers. They’ll look to make it 28 out of 29 in their final home game of the 2023 season.
