Minnesota wins at ranked Washington; Michigan next on Fox for Little Brown Jug

Minnesota's win at ranked Washington, coming off a lopsided loss to Mississippi State and a slow night against Akron, sets up a home date with Michigan on Fox's Big Noon Saturday.

Minnesota came away from Husky Stadium in Seattle on September 26 with a road win over a ranked Washington team, the high point of a season that is only about a third of the way complete. The win set up next Saturday's home game against Michigan, which Fox will carry in its Big Noon Saturday window with the Little Brown Jug at stake.

Getting there was rocky. After the season opener, Minnesota was routed by Mississippi State in a game the report said was never close — the offense could not run the ball and the defense appeared lost. Warning signs surfaced again in the Eastern Illinois game, and the Gophers labored through three quarters against Akron before a shift late in the third quarter of that night.

The Mississippi State defeat has aged better than it felt at the time. The Bulldogs have since posted back-to-back wins over ranked teams and climbed to No. 16 in the country, and the report calls them the biggest surprise in the SEC this season. It was Kamario Taylor's Mississippi State offense that overwhelmed Minnesota's defense under Danny Collins in that matchup.

On offense, the report describes quarterback Drake Lindsey as the identity of the unit — Minnesota at one point threw more than 40 passes in a game while all but setting the run aside. The staff has since adjusted, and the ground game is finding its footing behind an offensive line the report rates among the best in pass protection. The open question is whether that group can consistently open holes for running backs Darius Taylor and TJ Thomas; the bar, per the report, is not a dominant rushing attack, just one defenses have to account for.

The defense delivered its answer in Seattle. By the report's account it was the unit's most complete outing of the season, and possibly of Danny Collins' tenure: the defensive line recorded five of the team's seven sacks, kept Washington's Demon Williams Jr. in check, and cleared the way for the linebackers and secondary to make plays behind them.

Michigan arrives next, and the report casts the matchup as a steep one. The Wolverines' defense is described as legitimate, and quarterback Bryce Underwood is beginning to look like the player he was projected to be. Skeptics of Minnesota's start point to the flaws exposed two weeks ago; optimists see a young quarterback improving and a coaching staff finding better ways to deploy its personnel.

The schedule does not soften after Washington, either. Iowa is playing well, Wisconsin is coming off its best win in years, Northwestern has Aiden Chiles in form, and UCLA — in the report's estimation — is competent for the first time in several seasons.

Recent history offers Minnesota a template for a slow start turning around. The 2019 team, according to the report, was three plays from beginning the year 0-3: it took a fumbled snap in the South Dakota State game, double overtime at Fresno State and a converted third-and-29 against Georgia Southern to avoid it before that season turned dramatically. The first real evidence of whether 2026 follows a similar path arrives Saturday against Michigan on Fox.