Mark the calendar: the Gophers and Michigan are set to meet on October 3, 2026, with kickoff time still to be announced. It's the fifth game on Minnesota's 2026 football schedule, per Gopher Sports, landing right as the non-conference tune-ups give way to the meat of the Big Ten grind.
Whether this one is a trip to Ann Arbor or a game at Huntington Bank Stadium hasn't been published yet, so we're not going to guess. What we do know is the shape of the schedule around it. Minnesota opens the season September 3 against Eastern Illinois, then works through Mississippi State on September 12, Akron on September 19 and Washington on September 26 before Michigan comes calling on October 3.
That four-game run to start the year gives fans a chance to see where this team stands before Michigan shows up, and it sets up a stretch that keeps rolling right into Purdue on October 10 and Indiana on October 31, per Gopher Sports. A Big Ten Wolverines game in early October has a way of feeling like the first real gut-check of a season, and this one lands at exactly that point on the calendar.
It's still July of 2026 and there's a full offseason before any of this matters on the field, but for Gophers fans planning out their fall, October 3 is worth circling. Home or away details, kickoff time and everything else will fill in as the schedule gets closer — for now, it's simply Minnesota and Michigan, set for the first Saturday in October.