Colorado State never let the Gophers get comfortable Saturday.
The Rams entered TCF Bank Stadium as 17-point underdogs and used a fourth-quarter fake punt to make it a one-possession game.
But on a day when their defense was maddeningly inconsistent, the Gophers did enough offensively again to avoid an upset.
Shannon Brooks returned from his foot injury to rush for 85 yards, Rodney Smith added 99 yards and two touchdowns, and the Gophers held off the Rams 31-24 before an announced crowd of 44,854.
"We're getting better each week," Smith said. "We're building confidence as a group, and I'm just confident heading into Big Ten play."
The Gophers (3-0) will need that offensive swagger next week, when they will play before an expected 106,000 fans at Penn State.
Defensively, they have given up 25 points per game, up from 18.5 in nonconference play last season. But they have yet to lay an egg on offense, as they did early last season, when it was like Easter every Saturday in September.
Last year, they scored 17 points against TCU, 23 at Colorado State, 10 against Kent State, and 27 against Ohio before getting blanked in the Big Ten opener at Northwestern.