Should Gophers fans be happy with Minnesota’s roller coaster 6-3 start?

A 6-3 record sounds solid, but the offense is sputtering and the program feels stuck in neutral in P.J. Fleck's ninth season on the job.

Nov 1, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck reacts during overtime against the Michigan State Spartans at Huntington Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

After a narrow 23-20 overtime win over Michigan State in Week 10, the Minnesota Golden Gophers are 6-3. It's a record many fans would've been happy with before the season, but it's hard to ignore that it has been a roller coaster journey. Let's break down what has been a chaotic season before Minnesota's second and final bye week of 2025.

Favorable schedule

You can only play the teams in front of you, but the Gophers have beaten two teams with a winning record this season, Buffalo (5-4) and Nebraska (6-3), both at home. They've lost their three road games by an average of 30.0 points against California, Ohio State and Iowa. Three of their Big Ten victories have come against teams that find themselves in the bottom five of the conference standings: Rutgers (4-5), Purdue (2-7) and Michigan State (3-6). They won those games by an average of 4.3 points.

Minnesota is 5-1 straight up as a betting favorite this season, and 1-2 as a betting underdog. P.J. Fleck has the Gophers performing at the same level they have been for the past eight seasons. They had their annual questionable loss at Cal, but overall, they've beaten most of the teams they're supposed to beat, and they've lost to the teams they were expected to lose to.

Minnesota's offense is bad right now

It's hard to find any metric that would support the Gophers' offense being considered good at this point in the season. Out of the 18 Big Ten teams, their 23.8 points per game ranks 14th, their 313.1 total yards per game is 17th, their 109.8 rushing yards per game ranks 16th, and their 203.3 passing yards per game ranks 11th. Most of those numbers are inflated by a 66-0 win over Northwestern State in Week 2.

Greg Harbuagh Jr. is in his third season calling plays for Minnesota's offense. They ranked 110th in college football with 20.9 points per game in 2023. The offense made substantial improvements last season with 26.2 points per game, but they have taken a serious step back this season. Narrow wins over Rutgers, Purdue and Michigan State have masked a serious issue.

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Injuries have played a role

Minnesota's star running back Darius Taylor has missed three games due to injury, and he played only one snap against Iowa. The Gophers' secondary has seen both starting cornerbacks miss time and a few more reserves have been out. They were also down two rotational receivers, Kenric Lanier II and Logan Loya, against Michigan State. They have combined for 12 catches this season.

With highly-touted transfer running back A.J. Turner suffering a season-ending knee injury, redshirt freshman Fame Ijeboi has filled in admirably for Taylor. He has 82 carries for 384 yards and two touchdowns, along with 10 catches for 44 yards and one touchdown.

The Gophers' backfield ailments have stuck a wrench in some of their offensive plans, but the other short-term flare-ups are nothing different than what almost every other college football team in the country is dealing with week-to-week.

Program expectations

The first nine games of the 2025 season have been eerily similar to what we've seen over the last four seasons. They're still substantially behind top-tier Big Ten programs like Ohio State, and they're no closer to consistently competing with Iowa than when Fleck took over the program in 2017.

There's zero reason to apologize for a 6-3 record, but it's hard to ignore how Fleck reacted to an overtime win against a last-place Big Ten team one week after losing their biggest game of the season by 38 points. If Minnesota's goal as a program is to win one of its two rivalry games en route to 7-5 or 8-4, with an appearance in a second-tier bowl game, Fleck will have done his job well.

If the Gophers want more, then some changes may be needed to reach a higher level.