Weather was really the only thing that halted linebacker Matt Kingsbury and his Gophers teammates Saturday afternoon.

With 6:15 remaining in the fourth quarter of a 66-0 blowout victory against overmatched FCS foe Northwestern (Louisiana) State at Huntington Bank Stadium, the two coaching staffs mutually agreed to call things early rather than endure a severe-weather delay.

Before that, though, Minnesota piled up its highest point total in a single game since a 66-10 win over Murray State on Oct. 27, 2001.

“Going into a game, no matter who we’re playing, it’s Minnesota vs. Minnesota,” said Kingsbury, who had two fumble recoveries, including one he returned 25 yards for a touchdown at the end of the first quarter.

“Our goal is to be 1-0 every week. We’re not looking at the score. We didn’t care about the opponent. We’re going against Minnesota at the end of the day, and we’re just having fun with our friends.”

The fun came early and often as the Gophers scored on their first eight offensive possessions (recording touchdowns on the first six and the eighth), and added a pair of first-quarter defensive touchdowns, including Kingsbury’s fumble return.

In all, Minnesota piled up 484 yards of total offense. The Demons – who last week snapped a 20-game, 1,027-day losing streak with a 20-10 win over Alcorn State in their season opener – finished with only 42 and just a pair of first downs.

“We knew it was about us (today),” said Gophers coach P.J. Fleck, whose team opened its season with a 23-10 home win over Buffalo on Aug. 28. “We knew we had to start fast, accelerate in the middle and finish strong, and I thought our players accomplished that. We had a lot of things we needed to improve on from last week to this week in all three phases and I thought we did that, especially when the 1’s were in there.

“We played 76 players today. Mission accomplished.”

Indeed, on a day when the final outcome was never in doubt, the only drama the Gophers faced came when running back Darius Taylor – the team’s leading rusher a year ago – left the game after appearing to grab the back of his leg following a 17-yard run on Minnesota’s first offensive series.

Afterward, Fleck termed Taylor’s initial diagnosis as positive, but said he wasn’t going to put him back in the game. He added the running back will be evaluated as the team goes through the coming week.

“You immediately feel for the person because you know everything (they’ve) been through – what they invest in themselves, how hard they work and the time they spend in the training room to prevent these kinds of things,” Fleck said.

“But it’s football. (Injuries) happen.”

Other than that, though, it was all smiles for Fleck’s team.

The tone was set on the opening play from scrimmage when defensive back John Nestor picked off a pass and raced 29 yards down the Northwestern State sideline for a touchdown that put the Gophers on top 7-0.

“It was definitely good to get started early and get a jump on everything,” Nestor said. “But I just thought we played a great game overall as a defense.”

Including scoring a second defensive touchdown on Kingsbury’s fumble return with 27 seconds left in the first quarter. But, by that point, the Gophers offense had also scored three times.

It added up to 35 first-quarter points – the most Minnesota, which held a 135 to (-10) edge in first-quarter offense, has scored in a single quarter dating back to at least 1973 (as far back as complete records go).

“I brought our offense up after the first quarter and told them we had to keep our foot on the pedal,” said redshirt freshman quarterback Drake Lindsey, who was 8 of 9 passing for 139 yards and a touchdown before exiting his second collegiate start in the second quarter.

“Games like this are going to happen sometimes and that’s when you have to take advantage of it.”

The Gophers continued to do that in the second quarter, extending the margin to 59-0 at halftime. By that time, Lindsey had already given way to Stillwater’s Max Shikenjanski at quarterback.

The sophomore connected with running back Fame Ijeboi on a 22-yard touchdown pass in his first collegiate series under center, then scored on an 8-yard run in the third quarter.

That’s where the scoring ended, though the Gophers had two drives that were stopped short of the end zone – one on an interception at the Demons’ 29 in the third quarter and another on downs at the Northwestern State 2 just before the game was called.

A touchdown on either of those drives would have meant crossing the 70-point mark for the first time since an 81-0 win over Butler on Nov. 13, 1926 – just over 99 years ago when Herb Joesting, the “Owatonna Thunderbolt,” was an All-American fullback for the Gophers.

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But Fleck was happy enough with his team’s play, as it allowed him to take a look at a lot of players who may need to be called on as the season moves along.

“We were going to score often and score fast, then get to a lot of the players that we need to bring the floor of this program up,” he said of his team’s approach Saturday. “The deeper we are, the better we’re going to be for this 10-game stretch of all power four (conference) football.”

That stretch begins with a road matchup against California (of the Atlantic Coast Conference) at 9:30 p.m. (CDT) next Saturday, then it’s back home to open Big Ten play against Rutgers on Sept. 27.

“Now football begins,” Fleck said. “That’s no disrespect to our first two opponents, but you all know what I’m talking about. Power four football starts now.”

Briefly

With the victory Saturday, Fleck became the fifth Gophers head coach to reach 60 wins at the school joining Henry L. Williams, Bernie Bierman, Murray Warmath and Glen Mason. … The Gophers improved to 63-4 all-time against current FCS teams, and have now won eight-straight against opponents from that level – including a 5-0 record during Fleck’s tenure as head coach. … The Big Ten Network broadcast crew for Saturday’s game had a definite Gopher feel. Former Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan handled the color commentating duties while former Gopher women’s golfer Emma Carpenter was on sideline reporting duty.

SARTELL, Minn. — DNA testing has confirmed the human remains found in a 1960s-era car in the Mississippi River at Sartell belong to Roy George Benn, according to the Benton County Sheriff’s Office.

The Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office identified Benn’s remains on Thursday and said it will continue to investigate his cause of death.

Benn, 59, was last seen on Sept. 25, 1967, in a cafe in Sartell. He was reported to have been carrying a large amount of cash at the time of his disappearance.

An angler with sonar on his boat detected what appeared to be a submerged vehicle last month. The Stearns-Benton County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team recovered the 1963 Buick Electra, which was later confirmed to be registered to Benn, from the river near Riverside Avenue in Sartell.

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A 35-year-old man is facing a second-degree intentional murder charge in the poisoning death of his St. Cloud roommate.

Stuart William Hanmer was charged in Stearns County Court on Friday. Authorities say that Hanmer poisoned Cody Ernst, 33, of St. Cloud, Hanmer’s roommate at Hope Recovery Living, a St. Cloud sober living house.

Ernst lived at the facility for six months and Hanmer, of Moorhead, moved in on May 3, according to the criminal complaint.

Ernst died on June 22 as a result of complications related to thallium ingestion, according to St. Cloud police. Thallium is a toxic heavy metal, and tasteless and odorless element. It was historically used as a rodenticide and insecticide, but was banned for U.S. household use in 1965, according to the National Institute of Health.

“A pharmacist with poison control indicated that the level of Thallium present in the patient was likely ingested, as there would be no other way to get this level of exposure from environmental means,” the complaint says.

According to the charges, investigators found the following internet searches made from April 4-6 on one of Hanmer’s devices:

“How long does it take if thallium poisons you”
“How much thallium nitrate is fatal”
“Is thallium the most toxic”
“Is thallium metal in elemental form toxic”
“How do you crystalize thallium sulfate”
“Buy element thallium”

Officers found three online transactions from April 5-6 in which Hanmer purchased 25 grams of thallium metal for $162.56, according to the complaint.

Hanmer signed for a package on May 14, two days before Ernst was hospitalized, according to the charges. An expert in metals and environmental toxins believed Ernst was poisoned on May 14 or 15, according to the charges.

On May 14-15, Hanmer’s devices included additional internet searches, such as “How much thallium is lethal” and “How long does it take for thallium symptoms to present in humans,” according to the complaint.

According to the complaint, Hanmer watched a video on how to create thallium sulfate on April 5 and May 15. The video shows powder crystallized thallium sulfate, and a speaker in the video said, “that’s like, enough crystallized thallium sulfate to kill 15 grown men,” according to the charges.

Ernst was taken to the emergency room at St. Cloud Hospital on May 16. Ernst reported that he had “smoked” on May 15 before having an “episode of vomiting and seizure-like activity,” according to the complaint.

On July 7, investigators met with Hanmer, who said he and Ernst “would often smoke marijuana and drink coffee together in the mornings,” according to the charges. Hanmer told investigators that he was at the residence when Ernst had a seizure and that he “wasn’t aware of what thallium poisoning was until after hearing (Ernst) passed away.”

Hanmer was arrested Wednesday after a months-long, multi-agency investigation, according to St. Cloud police. Hanmer had a first appearance in Stearns County District Court on Friday.

A second-degree intentional murder charge carries a maximum sentence of 40 years.

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Postal traffic into the United States plunged by more than 80% after the Trump administration ended a tariff exemption for low-cost imports, the United Nations postal agency said Saturday.

The Universal Postal Union says it has started rolling out new measures that can help postal operators around the world calculate and collect duties, or taxes, after the U.S. eliminated the so-called “de minimis exemption” for lower-value parcels.

Eighty-eight postal operators have told the UPU that they have suspended some or all postal services to the United States until a solution is implemented with regard to U.S.-bound parcels valued at $800 or less, which had been the cutoff for imported goods to escape customs charges.

“The global network saw postal traffic to the U.S. come to a near-halt after the implementation of the new rules on Aug. 29, 2025, which for the first time placed the burden of customs duty collection and remittance on transportation carriers or U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency-approved qualified parties,” the UPU said in a statement.

The UPU said information exchanged between postal operators through its electronic network showed traffic from its 192 member countries — nearly all the world countries — had fallen 81% on Aug. 29, compared to a week earlier.

The Bern, Switzerland-based agency said the “major operational disruptions” have occurred because airlines and other carriers indicated they weren’t willing or able to collect such duties, and foreign postal operators had not established a link to CBP-qualified companies.

Before the measure took effect, the postal union sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to express concerns about its impact.

The de minimis exemption has existed in some form since 1938, and the administration says the exemption has become a loophole that foreign businesses exploit to evade tariffs and criminals use to get drugs into the U.S.

Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs now require vetting and are subject to their origin country’s applicable tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.

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While the change applies to the products of every country, U.S. residents will not have to pay duties on incoming gifts valued at up to $100, or on up to $200 worth of personal souvenirs from trips abroad, according to the White House.

The UPU said its members had not been given enough time or guidance to comply with the procedures outlined in the executive order U.S. President Donald Trump signed on July 30 to eliminate the duty-free eligibility of low-value goods.