Minnesota QB Asad Abdul-Khaliq is having an outstanding season. Abdul-Khaliq is 50-76 passing for 717 yards and has 10 touchdown passes with only one interception. His current NCAA rankings are: #1 in Passing Efficiency with a rating of 185.8; #6 in Points Responsible For with 72 points, 18 points/game average. Abdul-Khaliq is also Minnesota's third leading rusher averaging 49 yards per game. Tight End Ben Utecht leads Minnesota in receiving with 17 catches and 5 touchdowns. Quoting Coach Tiller from the Coach Joe Tiller television show, "We think he (Utecht) is the best tight end in the Big Ten." Minnesota's offense averages 45 (70 percent) rushing plays and 20 (30 percent) passing
plays per game. Their top two rusher are Terry Jackson II (86.8 yards/game average) and Thomas Tapeh (66.2 yards/game average).

Defensively Minnesota is lead by LB Ben West with 24 solo tackles, 7 assists, and 3 tackles for loss. Free Safety Eli Ward is the second leading tackler with 14 solos, 10 assists, 1 tackle for loss, and has 2 of Minnesota's 3 interceptions. Freshman WLB Terrance Campbell has 16 solo tackles, 1 assist, and 2 tackles for loss. They defend an average of 34 (56 percent) rush plays and 27 (44 percent) pass plays per game. Their NCAA defense rankings are: #7 Pass Defense averaging 134.25 yards/game; #19 Pass Efficiency Defense, rating 96.71; #23 Rushing Defense averaging 98.0 yards/game. Opponents have scored a total of 49 point in four games (12.25 point/game).