How much has Darius Taylor's health impacted Gopher football's offense?

Minnesota's star running back has dealt with injuries throughout his college career.

Oct 11, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers running back Darius Taylor (1) warms up before the game against the Purdue Boilermakers at Huntington Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Darius Taylor broke onto the scene as a true freshman with at least 138 rushing yards and one touchdown in his first three career starts. Minnesota has played 14 games since that stretch where its star running back hasn't received at least 10 touches due to injury. Let's take a look at how differently their offense performs when he's on the field.

Taylor's college debut coincides with former Gophers tight ends coach Greg Harbaugh Jr. being promoted to co-offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and play-caller. Minnesota has played 25 games in that time frame, which gives us more than enough of a sample size to grade its offensive performance when Taylor is playing a big role, vs. when he is not.

Gophers offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh Jr. | University of Minnesota

Note: Taylor had only one carry in his very first college game. This season, he had four touches against Northwestern State, nine against Ohio State and only one against Iowa, so for this exercise, I opted to include those four games with the rest of the games he missed due to injury.

35 games (since 2023)

Taylor's status	Record	Rushing yards	Total yards
10+ touches	14-6	143.5 yards/game	331.0 yards/game
Less than 10 touches/OUT	6-9	111.2 yards/game	267.8 yards/game

When you have an offensive weapon as dynamic as Taylor, it makes sense for an offense to be less productive without him. Minnesota wins 70% of its games when he's on the field, and only 40% when he's injured. The Gophers' rushing production as a team decreases by more than 30 yards per game, and their total offense gains more than 60 fewer yards per game.

Oct 12, 2024; Pasadena, California, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers running back Darius Taylor (1) scores the game-winning touchdown against the UCLA Bruins in the closing seconds at Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images | Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images

Games against power conference opponents (since 2023)

Note: I excluded games against Eastern Michigan, Louisiana, Bowling Green, Rhode Island, Nevada, Buffalo and Northwestern State.

Taylor's status	Record	Rushing yards	Total yards
10+ touches	9-6	120.0 yards/game	311.7 yards/game
Less than 10 touches/OUT	4-9	93.0 yards/game	245.0 yards/game

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When you exclude the FCS and the group of five opponents, the difference is similar. The Gophers win 60% of their power conference games when Taylor plays, and they win only 30.7% when he's banged up. Their rushing yards go down by 27 per game, and their total yards have taken a big 66.7 yards-per-game drop off.

Conclusion

Any offense in college football is going to be worse when you take away a player with more than 2,500 yards from scrimmage and 18 total touchdowns. How much is Taylor worth to Minnesota's offense? At least 60 yards per game. He did not reach that 10+ touch mark in all three of the Gophers' losses this season. With marquee matchups against Oregon, Northwestern and Wisconsin looming, it will be important that he gets healthy during their final bye week of 2025.