Mark the calendar for a Halloween treat: the Gophers and Indiana are set to square off on October 31, 2026. Kickoff time hasn't been announced yet, per Gopher Sports.
Whether Minnesota hosts this one at Huntington Bank Stadium or hits the road hasn't been published yet, so fans will have to wait on that detail. What we do know is where it falls on the calendar, and it's a spot with some intrigue. This is late-season Big Ten football, the kind of game that tends to carry real weight for both bowl positioning and conference standings by the time Halloween rolls around.
The Indiana date is part of a Big Ten stretch that also includes Michigan on October 3 and Purdue on October 10, giving the Gophers a demanding month before they even get to the Hoosiers. Minnesota opens the 2026 season on September 3 against Eastern Illinois, followed by Mississippi State on September 12, Akron on September 19 and Washington on September 26, before the Big Ten grind kicks into gear.
Indiana has been a program on the rise in recent years, and any October or November date against the Hoosiers now carries more juice than it used to. For Minnesota, this game lands in that stretch of the schedule where the Gophers' bowl hopes and Big Ten West-style ambitions typically start coming into focus. There's no way to know yet what either team's record or ranking will look like by the time late October arrives, but the date itself is worth circling now.
As kickoff time and site details get released closer to the season, expect more specifics on this one. For now, Gophers fans can pencil in Halloween night, or afternoon, for a Big Ten matchup against Indiana.