When the Gophers football team played UCLA at Rose Bowl Stadium last October, more than 12,000 maroon-and-gold fans made a pilgrimage to Pasadena, Calif.

The appeal of Minnesota not having played in the Rose Bowl Game since 1962 and the U having few other marquee road games on that schedule — save for a visit to Michigan’s Big House in late September — brought them out in droves.

This season’s slate of road games, however, is the best, top-to-bottom collection of unique venues and non-traditional opponents in recent memory.

“It’s tremendous,” Gophers deputy Athletics Director Mike Wierzbicki told the Pioneer Press about the road schedule. “Fans are jacked.”

It starts Saturday with a trip to play the California Golden Bears in Memorial Stadium in Berkeley. Thousands are expected to make

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