It will be the Southeastern Conference against the Big Ten Conference when Mississippi State faces Minnesota on Saturday in Minneapolis in the first matchup between the programs.
It will be the second of three SEC/Big Ten battles on Saturday, with No. 11 Oklahoma visiting Michigan early and No. 1 Ohio State traveling to No. 4 Texas at night.
The Golden Gophers are playing host to an SEC team for the first time since 1959, when they earned a 20-6 victory over Vanderbilt.
Mississippi State and Minnesota are coming off blowout victories to start their seasons and stepping up their level of competition to prepare for the treacherous road ahead.
Mississippi State earned a 62-13 victory last Saturday over UL Monroe behind a school-record 762 yards of total offense and 354 passing yards from quarterback Kamario Taylor.
And yet, Bulldogs head coach Jeff Lebby said there is room for improvement. Taylor agreed.
“I’m not too satisfied with my performance,” said Taylor, who was 22-of-34 passing with four touchdowns. “I missed a couple throws, ones I shouldn’t be missing. I made a couple bad reads. Just trying to continue to stack goals, go back to the drawing board, learn from what I did and continue to be consistent with it.”
On defense, Mississippi State gave up 278 total yards.
Minnesota piled up 495 yards of total offense in a 59-7 victory over Eastern Illinois last Thursday that also featured two punt-return touchdowns by Javon Tracy. The fifth-year player, who set a school record with 167 return yards, was returning punts in a game for the first time in his college career.
Tracy’s busy night also included five receptions for 98 yards to finish the game with 265 all-purpose yards. Quarterback Drake Lindsey, who was around SEC football while growing up in Arkansas, passed for 264 yards and a touchdown.
Golden Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck wants Lindsey to focus on his play Saturday, not on the opponent.
“I told him I don’t care who we play, the mind space and the head space you were in (against Eastern Illinois), that’s where you need to live,” Fleck said. “We have 11 games guaranteed left, and they all mean the same. They’re all championship games. The brain space, mind space, be there.”
The game did include a setback for the Golden Gophers, with freshman running back Ryan Estrada lost for the season to a knee injury. Estrada had 10 yards rushing and two receptions for 12 yards in his debut.
