![Minnesota's running back Rodney Smith rushed with the ball chased by Nebraska's linebacker Marcus Newby during the third quarter as the Gophers took on Nebraska, Saturday, November 11, 2017 at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, MN. ] ELIZABETH FLORES ' liz.flores@startribune.com](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/W52RZWHYI3OSQJNM6OCDX545DQ.jpg?&w=1080)
The Gophers and Nebraska are scheduled to play each other in the regular-season finale in 2020 and 2021, and both games are penciled in for Saturdays.
Nebraska athletic director Bill Moos earlier this week said those games will be moved to Black Friday – the day after Thanksgiving. Mark Coyle, the Gophers' AD, said any change would have to go through the Big Ten office but that he's supportive of a move.
"We'd have those conversations with the Big Ten Conference. We'd be open to those conversations,'' Coyle said Wednesday at the Gopher Road Trip stop at Cragun's Resort in Brainerd. "… We wouldn't be opposed to that.''
The Gophers are scheduled to play Nebraska in Lincoln on Nov. 28, 2020, and play host to the Cornhuskers on Nov. 27, 2021.
Nebraska's long-term goal is to get Iowa back on the schedule on Black Friday, and Moos said that will happen beginning in 2022. The Cornhuskers and Hawkeyes have played on Black Friday since the Huskers joined the Big Ten in 2011. Nebraska also played on that day from 1989 to 2010 when it was in the Big 12.
The Gophers and Wisconsin have played in the regular-season finale since 2014 and will through 2019. Coyle would welcome a return to that matchup in 2022.
"The rivalry we have with Wisconsin – the longest rivalry in college football -- there's some uniqueness and excitement around that game, and it's an important game for us and Wisconsin,'' Coyle said. "We would be supportive of playing Wisconsin that last game, but ultimately that's going to be decided by the Big Ten.''
Other tidbits from the Gopher Road Trip stops in St. Cloud and Brainerd: