The Minnesota Golden Gophers college football team competes as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, representing the University of Minnesota in the West Division of the Big Ten Conference.Minnesota was one of seven original founding members of the Big Ten Conference, then known as the Western Conference, in 1896. The Big Ten Conference introduced divisional play in 2011; the divisional winners advance to the Big Ten Championship Game to determine the conference champion.