Darius Taylor, Minnesota's engine at running back, looked fully healthy in that opener too — 14 carries, 5 catches and 3 total touchdowns — and how he holds up behind a physical SEC front is as big a swing factor as anything scheme-related. Return man Javon Tracy adding a pair of punt-return touchdowns gave the Gophers a wild card few offenses account for. Both sides of the ball look live enough that the total on the board already reads closer to a shootout number than a typical Week 2 line.
Games between the SEC and Big Ten outside of bowl season are rare, and Fleck has made a habit of scheduling one nearly every year he's been in Minneapolis. This one arrives with a Gold Out crowd promised at Huntington Bank Stadium and a real measuring-stick feel for a Gophers program that hasn't beaten an SEC opponent since edging Auburn in the Outback Bowl to close out the 2019 season.
Neither team has been tested yet — Mississippi State ran up 762 yards on a Sun Belt opponent, Minnesota blew out an FCS team by 52 — so this is the first real data point for either program in 2026. Mississippi State finished a rough 5-8 last fall and is leaning hard on Taylor to be the corner-turner; Minnesota's counting on last year's foundation plus a healthy backfield to make good on Fleck's non-conference gamble.