For the Gophers, it's now or never to win the West. A veteran team and a manageable schedule means that if PJ doesn't bring the hardware home this fall, he's not going to do it for a long time.
Minnesota Football Schedule 2022
Sept 1 New Mexico State
Sept 10 Western Illinois
Sept 17 Colorado
Sept 24 at Michigan State
Oct 1 Purdue
Oct 8 OPEN DATE
Oct 15 at Illinois
Oct 22 at Penn State
Oct 29 Rutgers
Nov 5 at Nebraska
Nov 12 Northwestern
Nov 19 Iowa
Nov 26 at Wisconsin
My complaints about the schedule re-rack were primarily for my ability (or lack thereof) to go to most of the games. Given everything coming back, this a schedule that can set up a title run.
-3-0 going to East Lansing
-Put me in the camp that thinks MSU was a flash in the pan. On top of that, they are playing a Pac 12 After Dark start in Seattle the week before.
-Purdue has the QB, but do they have anything else? Ask Graham Mertz how well a QB can play with a sieve for a OL.
-At Champaign against the Fighting Berts with the White Out looming will be a tricky game. Fat Bret has a good record against the Gophs.
-The White Out will be a hard game, but PSU is only 11-11 since leaving the New Brickhouse empty-handed in November 2019.
-The difficulty of the game in Lincoln will largely depend on what state of mind Nebraska is in. There is a non-zero chance Scott Frost is coaching for his job.
-Iowa is the one team that PJ hasn't beaten. Move last year's game to Minneapolis and it ends up differently.
-This administration has won at Camp Randall, and their teams have outplayed the skunks in both of their visits there.
IMHO 9-3 is the minimum on this schedule, with potential to do a lot more. Win the West, and the Tournament of Roses would be nuts not to take the Gophers no matter what happens elsewhere in the playoff.
