Penn State Football: Will Nittany Lions avoid upset vs. Minnesota?

Penn State football travels to the Twin Cities to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers in Big ten action. Here’s a preview, prediction and how to watch.

This time of year in college football we begin to separate the wheat from the chaff. Teams that had good starts to their seasons either rise to the top or fall at the hands of the truly elite teams.

These are the type of games where we begin to see teams that will compete for their conference’s championship separate from teams that have benefited from a favorable front end schedule.

This is what most people say about the Minnesota Golden Gophers’ schedule. There wasn’t much to write home about in their non-conference except a close call against the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State. In fact, all of their non-conference victories were one possession games.

The Gophers were probably written off because of those close wins against bad teams. They turned the corner after the Purdue game. Their conference schedule isn’t a murderer’s row of elite teams in the Big Ten, but they are out scoring their opponents 42-10 after the Purdue game.

Coach PJ Fleck said something to get those young men to row the boat. Penn State came into this season a year away by most prognosticators. Instead, they’ve flipped the script and find themselves in the thick of the College Football Playoff race.

The initial rankings have the Nittany Lions No. 4 ahead of defending national champion Clemson. The Nittany Lions have speed all over the field — the fastest being their diminutive dynamo in 5-foot-9 receiver K.J. Hamler.

What everyone wants to see is can Minnesota score against the Nittany Lion defense, and can the offense be more than Hamler or bust?

Here’s more information about the game:

Date: Saturday, Nov. 9
Time: Noon EST
Location: Minneapolis, Minn.
Venue: TCF Bank Stadium
TV: ABC
Live Stream: WatchESPN

Keys to Victory

Penn State has the obvious talent advantage. They have the four and five-star caliber players on their team. This cycle’s recruiting numbers are indicative of the advantage Penn State has. They are third in the conference in recruiting; Minnesota is ninth. Penn State has nine four stars; Minnesota has one. This shows itself in Penn State’s team speed.

Minnesota plays sound, physical football, but you can’t hit what you can’t catch.

Penn State hasn’t shown the ability to sustain offense for four quarters. They score in streaks. They might score 14 and then go away for two quarters. This game will tell us if this is an issue that needs to be fixed, or a result of playing some of the better defenses in the country in the early part of their schedule.

Minnesota wants to run the football, and shorten the game. However, they have quite the 1-2 punch at receiver in Rashod Bateman and Tyler Johnson — if the offensive line can give quarterback Tanner Morgan time to push the ball down the field.

Odds

Courtesy of The Action Network

Line: Penn State -7
Over/Under: 48

Prediction

We will see if the Minnesota defense is as advertised. This is by far the best offensive talent they’ve seen all season. Penn State has speed all over the field, and that’s going to be difficult for Minnesota to contain. My concern for the Nittany Lions is their offense can be Hamler or bust and get stagnant.

However, Minnesota is going to have issues protecting Morgan against a defense that’s seventh in the nation with 30 sacks. Penn State might go away offensively, but Minnesota might have issues scoring points.

Final Score: Minnesota 17, Penn State 31