THE ESSENTIALS
Date/Time: Oct. 5, 2024 / 6:30 p.m. CT
Site: Minneapolis
Stadium: Huntington Bank Stadium
Surface: FieldTurf
Capacity: 50,805
Series Overall: Minnesota trails 1-6-1
Series Streak: Minnesota lost 5
Series at USC: Minnesota trails 1-3-0
Streak at USC: Minnesota lost 3
First Meeting: Minnesota lost 17-7 in Los Angeles (9/26/1953)
Last Meeting: Minnesota lost 19-17 in Los Angeles (9/3/2011)
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
1. After hitting the road for the first time last week, Minnesota (2-3, 0-2 B1G) returns home Saturday for its initial Big Ten matchup with No. 11/15 USC (3-1, 1-1 B1G). Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. with the game airing on Big Ten Network and the Gopher Radio Network. Saturday’s contest be the first time the Gophers face one of the four new teams in the league.
2. The Gophers enter Saturday’s game allowing just 96.8 passing yards per game, best in the FBS and best for Minnesota through five games since at least the 2000 season (see chart below). The next closest team this year is Iowa State at 102.5 yards per contest, while the next closest Big Ten program is Washington at 128.0 yards. No team has thrown for more than 117 yards this season against Minnesota. The Gophers limited Michigan to 86 yards passing, the second straight game they held an opponent under 100 yards passing after limiting Iowa to 62 on Sept. 21. The last time Minnesota held consecutive opponents under 100 yards passing came in 2021, while the 148 passing yards allowed over the last two games is the best for the team since at least 2000. More on the defense can be found on Page 7 of the notes.
3. True freshman Koi Perich has been electric in the return game so far this season. He’s returned five punts for a total of 132 yards this season, which is already the most by a Gopher since Craig James had 139 in 2014, while Perich’s current average of 26.4 yards per punt return would shatter the Gopher single-season record of 16.9 set by Paul Giel in 1953. Saturday at Michigan, Perich returned two punts for 82 yards, the most punt return yards by a player in eight years under P.J. Fleck. One of those returns was a 60-yarder that was Minnesota’s longest since Demetrius Douglas had a 69-yard return for a TD at Wisconsin in 2018. Perich’s return was the third longest of the Fleck era, and, in five career games, he’s now got two of the five longest punt returns in the Fleck era including a 28-yarder against Rhode Island. Perich also has an interception on defense and is the team’s primary kick return with six returns for 106 yards.
4. Minnesota is facing an AP Top-25 team for the second straight week as it takes on the 11th-ranked Trojans. The Gophers fell at No. 12 Michigan in Ann Arbor last week and also faced North Carolina and Iowa earlier this year, both of whom were receiving votes in the AP or Coaches Poll at the time of the game, and they account for all three Gopher losses. Minnesota faces top-12 teams in consecutive weeks for the first time since playing at both No. 1 Ohio State and No. 8 Iowa in November of 2015. USC has now been ranked for eight of the nine matchups all-time with the Gophers. The Gophers’ last win over a team ranked 11th or better came against No. 9 Auburn in the 2020 Outback Bowl and the last such win at home was over No. 5 Penn State in 2019. Specifically against the No. 11 AP team, Minnesota is 2-4 all-time.
5. The 2024 campaign is the eighth for head coach P.J. Fleck at Minnesota, where his record stands at 52-37. He is fifth in program history for overall wins, Big Ten wins (29) and games coached (89). Fleck’s .574 win percentage is third best among Minnesota coaches with at least 45 games under their helm behind only Henry L. Williams (.786, 1900-21) and Bernie Bierman (.716, 1932-41, ’45-50). In his 12th season overall as a college head coach, Fleck is 82-59 (.582).
KALLERUP CHATTER
Gopher sixth-year tight end Nick Kallerup of Wayzata spoke with MNN sports director Mike Grimm:
Nick Kallerup
(info and photos courtesy of Gopher Sports)
