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After a strange, short season thanks to COVID, a full, 12-game season awaits PJ Fleck and Minnesota.

As we inch closer to the season, The Gopher Report will rank each opponent from easiest to hardest.

Today we continue our Ranking The Schedule series with a look at Maryland

Maryland at Minnesota

Saturday, October 23rd | TBD

Huntington Bank Stadium | Minneapolis, Minnesota

TV: ESPN Networks TBD

2-3 Overall record

@ Northwestern - Loss, 43-3

Minnesota - Win, 45-44

@ Penn State - Win, 35-19

@ Indiana - Loss, 27-11

Rutgers - Loss, 27-24

Taulia Tagovailoa - Quarterback - Junior

After taking over the starting job last season, Tagovailoa had some pretty good and other pretty bad moments. He completed 62% of his passes, but also threw the same amount of interceptions as touchdowns. Of course the expectation is that he will be greatly improved in his second year as the starter, so Minnesota will need to rattle him early on to keep his production to a minimum.

Mosiah Nasili-Kite - Defensive Lineman - Junior

The former JUCO playmaker kept up his production in the FBS, totaling 20 tackles, five tackles for loss for 22 yards and four sacks for 19 yards in five games. Nasili-Kite clogs up the inside and frequently finds his way into the backfield.

Dontay Demus - Wide Receiver - Senior

Demus led Maryland in every receiving category last year, and will be looking to improve those numbers again in his final season. Demus has been a big time producer since his first year in college, and will be a guy that the Gopher defensive backs need to key on all game.

After an early overtime loss to Maryland on their turf last season, Minnesota will get a shot at redemption this year in Minneapolis.

Maryland is a relatively hard team to judge in the preseason. The Terps have been rather up-and-down for the last few seasons, beating the likes of Minnesota or Penn State one week and then getting beat by 40 the next.

The team lost a lot to the transfer portal, but there is a lot of production returning to Maryland this season, including starting quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa. If the Terps can put it together for a few weeks in a row, they should be able to have a better season than they have in the last couple years.

Will they be good enough to go back-to-back against Minnesota, though? I suppose we will find out in week 8.

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