Minnesota
Penn State Vs. Minnesota: Keys to the Game
Penn State is entering its penultimate game of the 2024 regular season, a final away matchup at Minnesota to face P.J. Fleck’s Golden Gophers. Minnesota (6-4) stands in the way of a potential 11-1 finish for the Nittany Lions. And while Fleck’s squad is unranked and a 12-point underdog, according to DraftKings, it has enough talent to cause fits for Penn State.
The Nittany Lions (9-1) have excelled this season when favored to win, avoiding letdowns against unranked opponents. A 33-30 overtime victory over USC is the closest call that James Franklin’s group has had. To maintain that success, Penn State will need some strong execution against a rested and well-prepared Minnesota squad.
Penn State vs. Minnesota predictions
Protecting the ball
Minnesota’s defense feasts on turnovers. While they’ve mostly come through 16 interceptions, the Golden Gophers also have forced seven fumbles, recovering four. Ball security, of course, is key in every game but will become especially important for Penn State when facing an opportunistic defense that tends to end up with the ball one way or another.
“They do have some ball hawks in their secondary, but they make plays when the plays come to them,” Penn State quarterback Drew Allar said. “I can’t just give them opportunities, because they’ll capitalize on it. And you know, a decent amount of their picks have actually been forced by their D-line, whether it’s like, a tipped pass that just falls into a linebacker or the quarterback getting hit and the ball … just finds a way to their hands.”
One mistake from Allar or Beau Pribula through the air could easily become a wasted possession for Penn State. With the Nittany Lions ranked fourth in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, they can’t afford to give Minnesota’s offense extra scoring chances and find fuel for a potential home upset. The turnover battle could wind up telling the story of Saturday’s game, especially if it happens to swing in Minnesota’s favor.
“We’ve always preached about ball security, no matter what, who we’re going against, and it’s definitely a talking point for us every week, so we’re going to take great pride in that,” Allar said. “Obviously, with a team like this, the way they’re built, they’re similar to us in the fact that they want to control the ball and they want to force turnovers. So we’re just going to have to be disciplined and stick to our game plan.”
An efficient offensive ground game
Going back to its success in favorable matchups, Penn State is 66-3 against unranked teams since 2016, when factoring out the 2020 season. For as much criticism as Franklin and the Nittany Lions faced for losing to Ohio State a few weeks ago, and for losses against other top-5 opponents in past seasons, they almost always take care of business when they’re “supposed” to win. And one key in avoiding potential upsets is keeping the opposing team’s offense off the field.
Against unranked, but certainly capable opponents in West Virginia, USC, Wisconsin and Washington, running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen racked up a combined 494 rushing yards on 99 attempts, nearly 5 yards per carry. As Penn State faces a similar opponent this week, controlling the clock and letting two of the top backs in the Big Ten go to work can help the Nittany Lions diminish any momentum Minnesota finds.
With Fleck’s secondary also being one of the conference’s best, Penn State would be wise to avoid risking any big-shot throws and attack the defense where it’s most vulnerable. The Golden Gophers allow 119.8 rushing yards per game — and in each of its conference losses to Iowa, Michigan and Rutgers, Minnesota allowed at least 109 rushing yards.
“I would say where we need to get better at is just being able to strain a little bit more in the run game, and get more finishes and more movement against teams to create more running lanes for Nick [Singleton] and Kaytron [Allen],” offensive lineman Anthony Donkoh said Wednesday. “I feel like going into [practice] and going into this game, we’re going to have a really good plan to be able to combat [Minnesota’s takeaways].”
Andy Kotelnicki brings his Minnesota roots to Penn State’s offense
Make Darius Taylor’s day a rough one
Minnesota starting back Darius Taylor has three games this season with at least 120 rushing yards. Minnesota won each game, including a 25-17 victory over ranked Illinois. In the Golden Gophers’ three conference losses, Taylor managed just 32.7 rushing yards per game and ran for 3.0 yards per carry.
Taylor adds some complexity as a strong receiving back (312 receiving yards), but when he’s running well out of the backfield, Minnesota’s offense has clicked much more. Quarterback Max Brosmer, completing 67.1 percent of his passes this season, is also at his best when he has a strong ground game to lean on, focusing on his efficiency and avoiding turnovers rather than having to do the heavy lifting offensively.
In 2022, Penn State successfully slowed Minnesota quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis in a blowout win. But when the Golden Gophers pulled off a 31-26 upset in 2019, the Nittany Lions’ defense let quarterback Tanner Morgan do whatever he wanted, racking up 339 yards and three touchdowns on 18-for-20 passing. That type of production from Brosmer would be disastrous this time around. But should the Nittany Lions handle Taylor and Minnesota’s run game well, containing the Golden Gophers’ senior quarterback should become simpler.
“[Brosmer] I think is playing really well. … In the last three or four games he’s done a really good job of protecting the football. Their running back, No. 1, Darius Taylor, is a big back and has been playing really well for the last two years,” Franklin said. “… We’re going to have to go and play well to find a way to get a win on the road here in the Big Ten.”
The Nittany Lions will take on Minnesota at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday on CBS.
More Penn State Football
Is Penn State’s defense getting overlooked this season?
For James Franklin, another pivotal moment at Minnesota
James Franklin weighs in on the Big Ten, SEC and the College Football Playoff
Daniel Mader, a May 2024 graduate of Penn State, is an Editorial Intern with The Sporting News. As a student journalist with The Daily Collegian, he served as a sports editor and covered Nittany Lions women’s basketball, men’s volleyball and more. He has also covered Penn State football for NBC Sports and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, with additional work in the Centre Daily Times, Lancaster Online and more. Follow him on X @DanielMader_ or Instagram @dmadersports.
With family by his side, Dennis “Bud” Peterson went to be with the Lord on the morning of June 1, 2026.
He was born at Drake, North Dakota on April 2, 1932 in the home of his parents Nick and Helen Peterson. The family moved to Duluth at the beginning of World War II.
After graduation from Duluth Central High School Bud served in the US Army in Korea during the Korean War, and received an Honorable Discharge with the rank of Sergeant. He used his GI Bill benefits to attend UMD receiving an Associate Degree, and also earned his Commercial Instrument Pilot rating.
Bud was a longtime employee of St. Louis County retiring as Supervisor of Roads and Bridges. In retirement he served as Boiler Engineer and a do it all repairman for Duluth Gospel Tabernacle. He generously devoted his time and talents as a consummate do it yourself repairman to all of his family.
Dennis is preceded in death by his parents, Nick & Helen Peterson; brother, Robert Peterson; sister, June (Don) Kruger; and infant brother and sister, James and Delores Peterson.
He is survived by his sister, Carol (Eli) Miletich; and numerous nieces and nephews all of whom he loved dearly.
At Bud’s request, his family will be holding a private funeral service. Arrangements by Dougherty Funeral Home 218-727-3555.
The Minnesota Department of Human Services is reexamining over 5,000 Medicaid service providers across the state in an effort to combat fraud.
The federal government said it would pull $2 billion in annual Medicaid funding from Minnesota in January if the state didn’t make changes.
The Minnesota Department of Human Services set out to revalidate thousands of providers in programs deemed high risk for fraud by asking providers to submit verification paperwork and making unannounced site visits. The deadline passed on Sunday.
The latest data, published on May 27, shows 1,009 providers approved, 1,151 disenrolled and over 3,000 providers with pending applications.
Paige Berland and Camille Heyman run Minnesota Behavioral Specialists, providing autism care to children through two locations in the metro area. The women say that after submitting their paperwork, they received letters from DHS with determinations for both locations: the Bloomington center was terminated and the Eagan office was approved.
“It doesn’t make sense, everything is the same minus the location,” Berland said. “So why was one approved and one wasn’t approved?”
The termination letter said the Bloomington center was denied because they failed to disclose a managing employee during a site visit. Berland disputes that and said she already submitted an appeal.
“We were told to keep running, keep continuing as we are while we go through this process,” she said. “It just means that we don’t have the money coming in.”
Josh Berg with Accessible Space says they’re also in limbo. Berg said they offer integrated community supports, which means caretakers provide in-unit assistance for people with spinal cord injuries and disabilities.
“Most of the folks that we support are wheelchair-bound,” Berg said. “Helping with meals, helping with medications, helping them just live their lives.”
Berg said that of the seven locations where people are housed, the Department of Human Services terminated five and approved two. He believes the timeline to conduct this revalidation process was too aggressive. He said Accessible Space has also submitted an appeal.
“We’re not able to bill for services, we’re not able to start new services for anybody or change any of the supports that they receive,” he said.
Both Berg and Berland say they agree fraud needs to be dealt with, but they hope Minnesotans who truly need services aren’t left without the services they need.
“Not just the clients rely on services, but the families do too, so we can’t stop services; that’s not an option on our plate,” Berland said. “We want to continue to provide these services; they are medically necessary.”
The Minnesota Department of Human Services said a disenrollment letter could be sent for a few reasons, including failure to submit revalidation application after two notification attempts, failure to provide all requested documents within the required timeframe and failure to meet the criteria required during an on-site visit.
A spokesperson for the Department of Human Services said it’s currently in the process of compiling data from the thousands of applications, but didn’t say when the department would share those final numbers.
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