Gophers to kick off football season in primetime on ABC

The Minnesota Golden Gophers football team will begin its season later this month in primetime on ABC.

The Big Ten Conference announced Monday that Minnesota will host Michigan beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 24 in a nationally televised game.

Dating back to last season, the Gophers have played five of its past six games on network TV.

Additionally, the conference announced Minnesota will play three Friday games this season, two of which will be played at TCF Bank Stadium. Those games will be on Oct. 30 at Maryland, Nov. 13 vs. Iowa and Nov. 20 vs. Purdue.

As of Monday, the Gophers are ranked No. 24 in the Associated Press Poll, and Michigan is ranked No. 19.

If both remain ranked, the season opener would be the first time a Minnesota team ranked by the AP Poll will start a season against another ranked team. It would also mark the Gophers’ fifth ranked opponent in its last six games, dating back to last season.