Scoggins: Friday night at Oregon will reveal Gophers’ true identity

The folks who set betting lines project the Gophers football team to get steamrolled off the field Friday night at Oregon. Being cast as a three-touchdown underdog in a conference game doesn’t paint a rosy outlook.

This will be the Gophers’ fourth road game this season. They performed poorly in the previous three and lost all of them.

They are walking into one of the toughest environments in college football against a top 10 opponent that doesn’t lose at home very often and is eyeing a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Iconic broadcaster Keith Jackson once described Oregon’s Autzen Stadium with an air of romanticism: “Per square yard, the loudest stadium in the history of the planet.”

Hence, the lopsided point spread for the Gophers’ maiden voyage to Eugene.

Gophers coach P.J. Fleck has stated on multiple occasions that he has a “really good football team.” Here’s the perfect opportunity to validate that endorsement, to play well against a talented team when the college football world expects a blowout and flip a narrative that they created themselves.

The Gophers are 6-3 overall, 4-2 in the Big Ten. They are closer to the top of the Big Ten standings than the bottom. Their record is good, not great, but right where most of us predicted before the season.

It’s the nature of their three losses that inspire a “yeah but” rebuttal when trying to discern what to make of the 2025 Gophers. Each loss has revealed a different type of dud.

They had a sloppy performance in a double-digit loss to Cal, which has proved to be a decidedly average ACC team.

They were completely out of their league talent-wise in a 39-point loss to No. 1 Ohio State.

They failed to get off the bus emotionally or competitively in a 41-3 loss at Iowa.

By contrast, their wins have come against two overmatched nonconference opponents and four Big Ten teams that have a combined conference record of 6-21. Dismantling Nebraska was a convincing win and complete performance that provided a glimpse of their potential.

College football is beautiful in its unpredictability.

Scheduling also matters in terms of the timing of matchups. The Gophers have no excuse to not throw their best punch and see where that lands.

Coming off the bye, they should be reasonably healthy and the fresher team after having a week to rest and recover.

Oregon is playing on a short week after surviving a tough, physical game at Iowa. The Ducks’ wide receiver position is decimated by injuries. They are running out of healthy pass catchers.

To be clear, this isn’t a setup for an upset prediction. I’m not sure even Sid Hartman would have picked the Gophers to win this game.

That’s not the goal here.

This is about proving they can rise to the moment against a high-level opponent, unleash their best version, and give themselves a chance, on the road, with a performance that shows they deserve to be called a “really good football team.”

The telltale sign will reveal itself along the line of scrimmage on both sides.

Oregon is one of only three FBS teams (joining Indiana and Texas Tech) that ranks in the top 15 in scoring offense, total offense, scoring defense and total defense. That balance and level of dominance doesn’t happen without being able to control the game in the trenches.

“Oregon presents a lot of challenges,” Fleck said. “They’re deep at every position. They’re good at every position. They don’t have many flaws, that’s for sure.”

Tall task, indeed.

The Gophers had two weeks to prepare a game plan and to get healthy.

That’s a gift in November.