1971 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team

The 1971 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represented the University of Minnesota in the 1971 Big Ten Conference football season. In their 18th and final year under head coach Murray Warmath, the Golden Gophers compiled a 4–7 record and were outscored by their opponents by a combined total of 278 to 212.^[1]

Defensive end Tom Chandler received the team's Most Valuable Player award. End Doug Kingsriter was named an All-American by the Associated Press and Bob Hope. Kingsriter and linebacker Bill Light were named All-Big Ten first team. Quarterback Craig Curry, fullback Ernie Cook and offensive tackle Jack Babcock were named All-Big Ten second team. Offensive lineman Bart Buetow and linebacker Ron King were named Academic All-Big Ten.^[2]

Total attendance for the season was 207,662, which averaged to 34,610. The season high for attendance was against Michigan.^[3]

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 11	Indiana	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN	W 28–0	28,549	[4][5]
September 18	at No. 1 Nebraska*	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry)	L 7–35	68,187
September 25	Washington State*	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN	L 20–31	32,020
October 2	Kansas*	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN	W 38–20	29,093–30,090
October 9	at Purdue	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	L 13–27	64,281
October 16	at Iowa	Iowa Stadium Iowa City, IA (rivalry)	W 19–14	51,488
October 23	No. 3 Michigan	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN (Little Brown Jug)	L 7–35	44,176
October 30	No. 10 Ohio State	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN	L 12–14	36,281
November 6	at Northwestern	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL	L 20–41	31,217
November 13	at Michigan State	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI	L 25–40	61,419
November 20	Wisconsin	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN (rivalry)	W 23–21	34,738
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game