On Thursday afternoon, the Big Ten released the conference opponents for each of the conference's 16 football programs for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
The 2024 and 2025 schedules will be the first under the 16-team Big Ten with the additions of USC and UCLA. It will also be the introduction of the Flex-Protect scheduling format.
Under the new format, each program will have nine-conference games with three "protected" opponents. While it varies for each school, Minnesota will have two truly protected opponents in Iowa and Wisconsin while having a two-play opponent in Nebraska. They will be guaranteed to play Iowa and Wisconsin yearly beyond the 2025 season while they will play Nebraska in 2024 and 2025 before the Conruhskers are rotated out for a new one.
In 2024, the Gophers will host Iowa, Northwestern, Ohio State, Rutgers, while traveling to Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, UCLA, and Wisconsin.
In 2025, the Gophers will host five Big Ten opponents in Maryland, Michigan State, Nebraska, USC, and Wisconsin. They will then travel to Illinois, Iowa, Penn State, and Purdue.
With the Gophers set to travel to UCLA in 2024, it will be the first meeting between the two programs since 1978 and the fourth overall. The Gophers previously won in 1962 and 1977 before losing in 1978. For USC, however, it will be the ninth meeting all-time between the two programs and the first since 2011. The two schools previously met as part of a home-and-home in 2010 and 2011 with USC winning both matchups. The Gophers have only one win all-time against USC, that coming in 1955. The two programs also tied in 1965 while USC has won each of the last five matchups dating back to 1968.,
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