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Teams / Big Ten / Minnesota
Index · this season
65
▼ Below its 5-year level -6▼ Down 6 this season
Career69since 1936
Peak921936
Last 571seasons
#63 nationally · 4-2 (2-1 conf)
Résumé #38 · record ahead of its play
Schedule so far #61
Margin ±5 pts (tightens with games)
Why 65? →

Minnesota Golden Gophers

Big Ten · Minneapolis, MN · Huntington Bank Stadium · Head coach P.J. Fleck
Rival
Wisconsin · also Iowa
Bitter rivalry
62-63-8 all time (133 meetings since 1892)
Wisconsin leads
Last: won 17-7 (2025) · Minnesota has won 2 straight
Holds it
program traits are earned from history
Recognized national titles: 1960, 1941, 1940, 1936. Counted: AP poll champion, a coaches-poll champion, or the BCS / playoff title-game winner; a split year counts for both. The school claims 7.4national titles
Heisman Trophy winners1Heisman
Seasons finishing in the AP top 10 since 193610AP top-10
Consensus All-Americans since 193620All-Americans
NFL draft picks since 196790NFL picks
Winning percentage since 193651.4%win pct
History since 1936 · football since 1892. Every season →
Chemistry
Chem 64: typical64
Chem 80: strong
80Foundation
Chem 44: warning zone
44Gel
gel counts 45% so far
▼ Below its norm -4
early · #39 of 138
HC year10
Ret. starters55%
QB yrs w/ OC2
View chemistry →
Team chemistryearly · #39 of 138 FBS teams
Chem 80: strongFoundation80+Chem 44: warning zoneGel44=Chem 64: typicalChem64Gel counts 45% so far (it grows as games are played, up to half)
Foundationwhat the program has built · moves over seasons
Foundation80Staff stability — Coach and coordinator tenure, staff who came along, assistant turnoverStaff stability89Roster continuity — Returning starters and the lineup's experienceRoster continuity86Unit cohesion — QB & coordinator, QB & receivers, offensive line, defense: how long each unit has played togetherUnit cohesion78Administration — Athletic director continuity and coach-AD alignmentAdministration99Investment — Commitment to football: its share of the department's spending and whether that is growing, plus spending and recruitingInvestment63Fan base — How passionate and loyal the fan base is: how often it sells out, and whether it sells out games that don't matterFan base66
ContinuityClimate
Continuity · who has played and coached togetherlive

Who has played and coached together, and for how long, ranked against every FBS team at the same point of the season.

▸Staff stability
Coach and coordinator tenure, staff who came along, assistant turnover
89
Staff cohesion94
HC year 10 · OC year 4 · DC year 2
Assistant turnover84
11% of on-field staff new this season (FBS average about 45%)
▸Roster continuity
Returning starters and the lineup's experience
86
Returning core86
55% of last season's starters · FBS median 32%
Experience85
17 career starts per starter · FBS median 12
▸Unit cohesion
QB & coordinator, QB & receivers, offensive line, defense: how long each unit has played together
78
QB & coordinator80
2 seasons together · same as 20% of FBS teams
QB & receivers78
6.0 games started together on average · FBS median 3.9
Line cohesion70
6.2 games per linemen pair · FBS median 5.2
Defensive cohesion84
6.9 games per defensive pair · FBS median 4.5
Climate · around the programlive

The administration, money and fans around the team: athletic director continuity, willingness to invest, and crowds.

▸Administration
Athletic director continuity and coach-AD alignment
99
AD continuity99
Mark Coyle · year 11 (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
▸Investment
Commitment to football: its share of the department's spending and whether that is growing, plus spending and recruiting
63
Football's share65
31% of department spending goes to football
Investment trend52
+17% over three years
Football investment72
$45.5M on football (2024-25 federal report)
Recruiting spend74
$2.54M men's recruiting
Department resources71
$157M athletic department revenue
▸Fan base
How passionate and loyal the fan base is: how often it sells out, and whether it sells out games that don't matter
66
Sellouts66
sellout crowds (95%+ of capacity) at 13 of 52 home games (last 8 seasons)
Sells out anyway66
sellout crowds at 10 of 40 games that didn't matter: cupcakes, or a team expected to lose or having a losing season

Finances: U.S. Department of Education athletics disclosures, as reported by each school. Athletic directors: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Attendance: reported crowds vs stadium capacity.

Gelhow it is working right now · moves week to week
Gel44Playing above its parts — Results vs what its preseason projection expected, game by gamePlaying above its parts38Settled & sharp — A settled starting lineup and clean execution (penalties, turnovers) vs its own normalSettled & sharp48Alignment — Coaches and players telling the same story; the staff on one pageAlignmentsoonResilience — Confidence, and how the team sounds after adversityResiliencesoonFan & media mood — Expectations met or missed this season (preseason rank vs now), stronger for fan bases that react hard; fan and media sentiment joins laterFan & media mood36Coach security — The hard-facts hot seat, inverted: results vs expectation, recent seasons vs the program's norm, stakes, a new ADCoach security52
InternalOn-field fitExternal
Internal · how the program talkscoming

How the team talks in press conferences and interviews, each program against its own normal, so a naturally terse coach isn't read as upset. Being built program by program, Big Ten first.

▸Alignment
Coaches and players telling the same story; the staff on one page
soon
Coming: measured from press conferences and interviews.
▸Resilience
Confidence, and how the team sounds after adversity
soon
Coming: measured from press conferences and interviews.

Readings are team-level; we don't publish psychological readings of individual players.

On-field fit · how it is playing togetherlive

How the team is playing together this season: beating or missing its preseason expectation, a settled lineup, clean execution.

▸Playing above its parts
Results vs what its preseason projection expected, game by game
38
This season38
-5 points a game vs its preseason projection (5 games)
▸Settled & sharp
A settled starting lineup and clean execution (penalties, turnovers) vs its own normal
48
This season48
83% of starters kept game to game
External · pressure from outsidelive

Pressure from outside the building: the hard-facts hot seat now; this season's fan and media mood as it is measured.

▸Fan & media mood
Expectations met or missed this season (preseason rank vs now), stronger for fan bases that react hard; fan and media sentiment joins later
36
This season36
outside the AP poll: projected #36 preseason -> #63 in our Index now · results 4-2 (+6, recent games count more)
▸Coach security
The hard-facts hot seat, inverted: results vs expectation, recent seasons vs the program's norm, stakes, a new AD
52
This season52
P.J. Fleck, year 10 · 67% wins so far · -5.0 pts a game vs preseason expectation · last two seasons +2% vs the program's norm

Dashed gold ring = typical (62). 20-50 is the warning zone; under 10 is a collapse. Spokes with no data yet are dashed and left out until they fill in. Chem blends the two halves, then places the blend among this season's teams.

Trend · Foundationeach program year runs Feb 1 to the title game
'1654'1759'1858'1978'2070'2180'2270'2368'2471'2569'262016 wk 1 vs Oregon State: 43 · W2016 wk 2 vs Indiana State: 57 · W2016 wk 4 vs Colorado State: 48 · W2016 wk 5 vs Penn State: 53 · L2016 wk 6 vs Iowa: 55 · L2016 wk 7 vs Maryland: 53 · W2016 wk 8 vs Rutgers: 39 · W2016 wk 9 vs Illinois: 51 · W2016 wk 10 vs Purdue: 55 · W2016 wk 11 vs Nebraska: 54 · L2016 wk 12 vs Northwestern: 56 · W2016 wk 13 vs Wisconsin: 56 · L2016 wk 1 vs Washington State: 54 · W2017 wk 2 vs Oregon State: 51 · W2017 wk 3 vs Middle Tennessee: 59 · W2017 wk 5 vs Maryland: 57 · L2017 wk 6 vs Purdue: 59 · L2017 wk 7 vs Michigan State: 58 · L2017 wk 8 vs Illinois: 59 · W2017 wk 9 vs Iowa: 51 · L2017 wk 10 vs Michigan: 52 · L2017 wk 11 vs Nebraska: 58 · W2017 wk 12 vs Northwestern: 57 · L2017 wk 13 vs Wisconsin: 59 · L2018 wk 2 vs Fresno State: 61 · W2018 wk 3 vs Miami (OH): 62 · W2018 wk 4 vs Maryland: 62 · L2018 wk 6 vs Iowa: 63 · L2018 wk 7 vs Ohio State: 62 · L2018 wk 8 vs Nebraska: 61 · L2018 wk 9 vs Indiana: 62 · W2018 wk 10 vs Illinois: 58 · L2018 wk 11 vs Purdue: 59 · W2018 wk 12 vs Northwestern: 60 · L2018 wk 13 vs Wisconsin: 59 · W2018 wk 1 vs Georgia Tech: 58 · W2019 wk 2 vs Fresno State: 77 · W2019 wk 3 vs Georgia Southern: 78 · W2019 wk 5 vs Purdue: 78 · W2019 wk 6 vs Illinois: 79 · W2019 wk 7 vs Nebraska: 79 · W2019 wk 8 vs Rutgers: 77 · W2019 wk 9 vs Maryland: 78 · W2019 wk 11 vs Penn State: 78 · W2019 wk 12 vs Iowa: 77 · L2019 wk 13 vs Northwestern: 78 · W2019 wk 14 vs Wisconsin: 79 · L2019 wk 1 vs Auburn: 78 · W2020 wk 9 vs Maryland: 72 · L2020 wk 10 vs Illinois: 72 · W2020 wk 11 vs Iowa: 73 · L2020 wk 12 vs Purdue: 73 · W2020 wk 15 vs Nebraska: 73 · W2020 wk 16 vs Wisconsin: 70 · L2021 wk 2 vs Miami (OH): 80 · W2021 wk 3 vs Colorado: 79 · W2021 wk 4 vs Bowling Green: 82 · L2021 wk 5 vs Purdue: 82 · W2021 wk 7 vs Nebraska: 80 · W2021 wk 8 vs Maryland: 81 · W2021 wk 9 vs Northwestern: 81 · W2021 wk 10 vs Illinois: 81 · L2021 wk 11 vs Iowa: 81 · L2021 wk 12 vs Indiana: 81 · W2021 wk 13 vs Wisconsin: 81 · W2021 wk 1 vs West Virginia: 80 · W2022 wk 2 vs Western Illinois: 75 · W2022 wk 3 vs Colorado: 76 · W2022 wk 4 vs Michigan State: 76 · W2022 wk 5 vs Purdue: 75 · L2022 wk 7 vs Illinois: 75 · L2022 wk 8 vs Penn State: 76 · L2022 wk 9 vs Rutgers: 68 · W2022 wk 10 vs Nebraska: 76 · W2022 wk 11 vs Northwestern: 76 · W2022 wk 12 vs Iowa: 70 · L2022 wk 13 vs Wisconsin: 71 · W2022 wk 1 vs Syracuse: 70 · W2023 wk 2 vs Eastern Michigan: 68 · W2023 wk 3 vs North Carolina: 67 · L2023 wk 4 vs Northwestern: 67 · L2023 wk 5 vs Louisiana: 68 · W2023 wk 6 vs Michigan: 68 · L2023 wk 8 vs Iowa: 69 · W2023 wk 9 vs Michigan State: 69 · W2023 wk 10 vs Illinois: 68 · L2023 wk 11 vs Purdue: 69 · L2023 wk 12 vs Ohio State: 69 · L2023 wk 13 vs Wisconsin: 70 · L2023 wk 1 vs Bowling Green: 68 · W2024 wk 2 vs Rhode Island: 71 · W2024 wk 3 vs Nevada: 71 · W2024 wk 4 vs Iowa: 71 · L2024 wk 5 vs Michigan: 71 · L2024 wk 6 vs USC: 71 · W2024 wk 7 vs UCLA: 69 · W2024 wk 9 vs Maryland: 71 · W2024 wk 10 vs Illinois: 72 · W2024 wk 11 vs Rutgers: 72 · L2024 wk 13 vs Penn State: 71 · L2024 wk 14 vs Wisconsin: 72 · W2024 wk 1 vs Virginia Tech: 71 · W2025 wk 2 vs Northwestern State: 70 · W2025 wk 3 vs California: 70 · L2025 wk 5 vs Rutgers: 70 · W2025 wk 6 vs Ohio State: 69 · L2025 wk 7 vs Purdue: 70 · W2025 wk 8 vs Nebraska: 71 · W2025 wk 9 vs Iowa: 70 · L2025 wk 10 vs Michigan State: 71 · W2025 wk 12 vs Oregon: 71 · L2025 wk 13 vs Northwestern: 71 · L2025 wk 14 vs Wisconsin: 70 · W2025 wk 1 vs New Mexico: 69 · W2026 wk 2 vs Mississippi State: 80 · L2026 wk 3 vs Akron: 80 · W2026 wk 4 vs Washington: 79 · W2026 wk 5 vs Michigan: 79 · W2026 wk 6 vs Purdue: 79 · L2026 wk 8 vs Iowa: 80 · next gametypical 62

Every game since 2016, one continuous line; thin rules separate seasons and the chip is where each season finished. Navy dot = win, red = loss. Big drops usually mean a new staff, a new quarterback or a rebuilt line.

Trend · Gelthis season, after each game
typical 62wk 2 vs Mississippi State · L · on-field 48 · fan mood 28412wk 3 vs Akron · W · on-field 48 · fan mood 37443wk 4 vs Washington · W · on-field 44 · fan mood 55484wk 5 vs Michigan · W · on-field 52 · fan mood 55535wk 6 vs Purdue · L · on-field 46 · fan mood 47466

How the team is working right now, rebuilt after each game from only the games so far: on-field fit (results vs preseason expectation, lineup settling, execution) and that week's fan & media mood. Coach security is part of today's Gel number but isn't rebuilt week by week yet. Navy frame = win, red = loss.

Continuity facts
Head coach
Year 10
at this school
Offensive coordinator
Year 4
at this school
Defensive coordinator
Year 2
at this school
HC & OC together
4 seasons
working together
QB with his OC
2 seasons
same play-caller
QB & receivers
6.0 games
started together, average
Offensive line pairs
6.2 games
started together, average
Returning starters
55%
from last season
Starter experience
17 starts
career average
Internal facts
Pressers read
soon
this season, coaches and players
Coach tone
soon
vs his own normal
"We" vs "I"
soon
share of team language
Owning mistakes
soon
vs pointing outward
Same story
soon
coaches and players agree
After losses
soon
how fast tone recovers
Leaders named
soon
players teammates point to
Newcomers
soon
transfers talked about as part of it
Openness
soon
forthcoming vs guarded
Measured from press conferences and interviews, program by program.
Climate facts
Athletic director
Mark Coyle
year 11
Football spending
$45.5M
2024-25 federal report
Spending trend
+17%
over three years
Department revenue
$157M
all sports
Recruiting spend
$2.54M
men's teams
Home crowds
—
of capacity
Staff turnover
11%
on-field staff new this season
Fan mood
soon
fans and local media
Coach & AD
soon
on the same page
Finances: U.S. Department of Education athletics disclosures. Athletic directors: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Offense · games started togetherlatest lineup · 11 starters
Lindsey
Taylor
Tracy
Jennings
Walsh
Simpson
Nelson
Johnson
Roy
Warren
Shipp
QBDrake Lindsey191596818191926
RBDarius Taylor153065628261525
WRJavon Tracy96935149923
WRNoah Jennings65366166626
TEPierce Walsh86568168826
TEJacob Simpson12111222111
OLTony Nelson88466299826
OLGreg Johnson192696829341926
OLNathan Roy191596818191926
OLBennett Warren22222122222
OLDaniel Shipp65366166626

Each square: games the two players have started together at this school (darker = more). Gray diagonal: the player's own starts here.

Defense · games started togetherlatest lineup · 11 starters
Smith
Bush
Randle
Sunram
Baranowski
Gerlach
Gousby
Brown
Nestor
Harden
West
DLAnthony Smith2265320611211766
DLTJ Bush Jr.66536446666
DLTheorin Randle55535435555
DLRiley Sunram33333323333
LBMaverick Baranowski2065339615271766
LBJoey Gerlach64436626644
DBAidan Gousby114321521714944
DBKerry Brown2165327614291766
DBJohn Nestor176531769171766
DBZack Harden66536446666
DBAydan West66536446666

Each square: games the two players have started together at this school (darker = more). Gray diagonal: the player's own starts here.

Chemistry is Scorebook's own rating of how well a program fits together, on the same all-time 0-99 scale as our other ratings (compared with every FBS team since 2016; 62 is typical, 20-50 signals something is wrong, and single digits are reserved for true collapses; each season is compared with its own era). This early version blends continuity (who has played and coached together, and for how long; it counts most) with the climate around the program; how the program talks joins as it is measured. Within continuity, quarterback-centered pairings count most because they held up when we tested them against results. How our ratings work →