The Minnesota Golden Gophers will look for back-to-back wins this weekend as they welcome the Nevada Wolfpack of the Mountain West Conference to Minneapolis on Saturday afternoon.
Gophers Nation takes a first look at the Wolfpack and Saturday's matchup below.
Game/Broadcast Details
Where: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Stadium: Huntington Bank Stadium
Time: 2:30 p.m. CT
Television: BTN
A new era underway in Reno
For the third time in four years, the Nevada Wolfpack have a new head coach, this time former Texas assistant Jeff Choate.
The 54-yard old Choate takes over a program that went 4-20 under former head coach Ken Wilson, a big step back from the four straight winning seasons that the program experienced under head coach Jay Norvell.
Coming into the season, the Wolfpack were expected to be one of the worst teams in the Group of Five, voted to finish last in the Mountain West Conference preseason poll. Through the first few weeks of the season, however, the Wolfpack have proven to be quite competitive and enter this week with a 1-2 record.
In week zero, the Wolfpack nearly upset SMU despite being a significant underdog. They then defeated Troy in week one 28-26 before narrowly falling to Georgia Southern this past weekend.
Quarterback Brandon Lewis off to a good start
Veteran quarterback Brandon Lewis is off to a very good start this season for the Wolfpack, completing 54-of-81 passing attempts for 561 yards and five touchdowns and no interceptions. He also has 44 carries for 208 yards and an additional touchdown.
Over his last two games, Lewis has been especially good completing 40-of-55 attempts for 429 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 131 rushing yards and a touchdown on 26 carries.
Gophers final tune up game before Big Ten play
Saturday will serve as Minnesota's final tune up game and non-conference matchup before Big Ten play starts on September 21 with the Iowa Hawkeyes coming to town. With Big Ten play looking daunting this year thanks to the expanded conference, picking up a second win ahead of conference play will be extremely important for the Gophers bowl hopes this postseason.
The Gophers last loss to a Mountain West program came in 1997 when they fell to the Hawai'i Warriors 17-3 in Honolulu.
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