How Gophers football has separated itself from Nebraska in Big Ten hierarchy

Minnesota extended its winning streak over the Cornhuskers to six on Friday night.

Oct 17, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule and Minnesota Golden Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck shake hands after the game at Huntington Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Minnesota lost 16 straight games against Nebraska from 1963 to 2012. Since P.J. Fleck took over in 2017, the Gophers have won seven of the last eight games in the series, and Friday night's win was the sixth straight. The Gophers have separated themselves from the Cornhuskers in the Big Ten's hierarchy, and here's why.

When Nebraska joined the Big Ten in 2011, Iowa immediately became its biggest rival in the conference. As the two most western schools in the conference up until last year, you could make an argument that Minnesota is second on that list for the Cornhuskers. The $5 Bits of Broken Chair Trophy is not officially recognized by either school as an official rivalry trophy, but the old Big Ten West foes have grown to have a friendly rivalry. The only issue is that rivalries are supposed to go back and forth, and Minnesota has a significant stranglehold on the series.

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The Cornhuskers were once at the top of the college football world in the 1990s. Their final two meetings with the Gophers before joining the Big Ten were a 48-0 beatdown in 1989 and a 56-0 blowout win in 1990. Six coaches later for both programs, Minnesota has flipped the script with six straight wins in the series.

Nebraska might have a bigger fanbase, better recruiting classes and a better homefield advantage, but Minnesota has cultural stability. Fleck has preached that the biggest thing Gophers football needed when he arrived in 2017 was stability, and he has provided that. Say what you want about the ceiling of his team, but he continues to separate Minnesota from programs like Nebraska and Wisconsin, which almost seemed impossible before he began his Gophers' tenure.

Minnesota's sustained culture played a big role in Friday night's win. Cornhuskers' head coach Matt Rhule has proven himself as a program rebuilder, but it's hard to ignore how rumors connecting him to Penn State could've impacted Nebraska's performance on the road on a short week.

Nebraska has played in only one bowl game since 2017. The Gophers have won six in the same period. I could list a dozen more stats about why Minnesota has performed as a much better program than Nebraska over the last decade, but at this point, it seems worn out. The Gophers now have another huge opportunity to make a statement on the road in Week 9 against Iowa.