Former Viking on the Minnesota Gophers Call this Weekend

The Minnesota Gophers are trying to get into the 2024 win column this weekend, vs the Rhode Island Rams. Not only is it difficult to find betting odds for this contest, but finding the actual game on Saturday will be different too.

Minnesota vs Rhode Island is not available on your standard TV package. Instead, this weekend’s contest is being streamed exclusively on Peacock, an NBC product. It’s part of the lucrative broadcasting deal the Big Ten inked prior to the 2023 season.

Kyle Rudolph on the Minnesota Gophers call vs Rams

Finding the game won’t be familiar, but the face you see before kickoff will be. The U announced on Thursday that former Minnesota Vikings tight end, Kyle Rudolph, will be the game’s TV analyst, next to play-by-play announcer, Brendan Burke.

Calling the Minnesota-Rhode Island game on @peacock on Saturday will be @brendanmburke, @KyleRudolph and @carolinepineda_

Saturday will be the first time calling a game for each of them at Huntington Bank Stadium.

Rudolph did pay at HBS in 2014-15 as a member of the @Vikings

— Paul Rovnak (@paulrovnak) September 5, 2024

Kyle Rudolph played with the Minnesota Vikings for 10 years, amassing 453 receptions, 4,488 yards and 48 touchdowns in purple. This is his second season working as an analyst for the Big Ten. He also called some USFL games in the summer of 2023.

He’s never worked a game at Huntington Bank Stadium, but Kyle did play home games there with the Vikings, during the 2014 and 2015 seasons, while we all waiting for US Bank Stadium to be constructed. Back then, it was TCF Bank Stadium.

Related: Max Brosmer is Not to Blame for Gophers Loss vs Tar Heels; Neither is PJ Fleck

The now 34-year-old Rudolph caught 36 passes, for 395 yards and 5 touchdowns, in 13 games at the since-rebranded stadium. His record was an impressive 9-4. How about he brings some of that hometown luck to the Minnesota Gophers this weekend?