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Minnesota has a chance to end drought against Top-10 teams that stretches back to 1977

Paul Harvey

By Paul Harvey

Published:

The Golden Gophers are riding high into Saturday’s showdown against No. 4 Penn State.

Minnesota is a perfect 8-0 on the season and continues to look good under head coach P.J. Fleck. After a number of close games in the non-conference portion of the schedule, the Gophers have looked strong through the start of B1G play.

RELATED: Governor of Minnesota proclaims special holiday to honor Gophers’ 8-0 start

Unfortunately, beating a Top-10 team is incredibly tough and is not something that has happened a lot at Minnesota. The last win for the program against a Top-10 team came in 2000 when the Gophers knocked off No. 6 Ohio State. However, the last time that the Gophers took down a Top-10 team in Minneapolis stretches back even farther.

According to Matt Brown with The Athletic, Minnesota’s last win against a Top-10 team at home came in 1977. The Gophers upset No. 1 Michigan at home that season.

Here’s Brown’s stat of Minnesota’s last five wins against a Top-10 team:

If Minnesota needed any more juice for the game, the Gophers likely received it when the initial College Football Playoff Rankings came out. The CFP Committee had Minnesota slotted at No. 17 and behind a number of two-loss teams. Saturday will be the first shot for the Gophers to make a big statement and jump up the rankings.

Paul Harvey

Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.