College Football

Minnesota football schedule 2013: Dates, toughest opponents and more

Can Jerry Kill get the Gophers back into the middle tier of the Big Ten? It’s going to be difficult against this schedule.

by Patrick Vint

Aug 30, 2013, 4:00 PM UTC

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

It’s year three under Jerry Kill at Minnesota, with mixed results so far. The good news: Minnesota made its first bowl game in three seasons last year, a surprise trip to the Meineke Car Care Bowl after a 6-6 campaign. The bad news: that 6-6 record included a third-straight 2-6 Big Ten finish and a last-place position in the Legends division. It has now been a decade since Minnesota last posted a winning record in conference play, and there is little to indicate that the Gophers’ inauspicious streak will end soon.

2013 Minnesota schedule


Date	Opponent	Conf.	Projected ranking
8/29/2013	UNLV	MWC	107
9/7/2013	at New Mexico State	WAC	123
9/14/2013	Western Illinois	FCS
9/21/2013	San Jose State	MWC	68
9/28/2013	Iowa	Big 10	40
10/5/2013	at Michigan	Big 10	28
10/12/2013	Open date
10/19/2013	at Northwestern	Big 10	35
10/26/2013	Nebraska	Big 10	20
11/2/2013	at Indiana	Big 10	62
11/9/2013	Penn State	Big 10	22
11/16/2013	Open date
11/23/2013	Wisconsin	Big 10	14
11/30/2013	at Michigan State	Big 10	18
12/7/2013	Big Ten Championship
Date	Opponent	Conf.	Projected ranking

Projections from Football Outsiders’ 2013 college football almanac.

More: Comprehensive Minnesota football coverage at The Daily Gopher.

Minnesota faces three western programs in non-conference play, including the road leg of a home-and-home with New Mexico State. It should be a fairly straightforward slate for the Gophers, as UNLV and NMSU appear destined to continue floundering and San Jose State replaces the most successful coach in program history. While the program has a history of dropping games to FCS opponents, Western Illinois is coming off a 3-8 season and doesn’t have the pedigree of the Dakota schools that usually give the Gophers fits.

Big Ten play starts with the battle for Floyd of Rosedale, a game that has been won in three consecutive seasons by the team that ends the year with the worse record. Minnesota’s Leaders division crossovers -- Penn State and Indiana, along with their annual meeting with Wisconsin -- could certainly be better. The November slate is particularly brutal, with home games against the Nittany Lions and Badgers before a season finale road trip to East Lansing. Still, the soft non-conference schedule and Big Ten games against Iowa, Indiana, and Northwestern give the Gophers an outside chance of again reaching bowl eligibility. Anything beyond that could be a bridge too far for Kill’s team.