Welcome back into the Penn State Pulse. I'm your host, Dylan Dawson. Penn State travels to the Twin Cities to take on a sneaky Minnesota team on Saturday. You guys know the deal. It's want to know every week. You can't look overlook anyone. This is a pretty good team the Ninny Lions are facing up against on the road. So let's jump into the basics. Minnesota is six and four overall in the year. They have a few pretty nice wins coming against Illinois, which I believe was on the road, and then they also be usc They also just came up just short in Ann Arbor, losing to Michigan twenty seven to twenty four on the road. This is a team that excels, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. They're allowing seventeen point seven points per game this season, which is good for twelfth in the country. They have a lot of playmakers on that side of the ball, which I'm gonna get into here in a little bit. Offensively, the Gophers aren't gonna value with a ton of explosives, but they've been that traditional, gritty, Big ten offense that finds a way to stay in games. Penn State has lost two straight road games at Minnesota when you look at the game history coming in twenty thirteen and of course twenty nineteen, which a lot of us remember. Unfortunately, that game has given me a lot of PDSD. So they'll look to snap that streak on Saturday. It's not much of one, but still regardless, we'd like to snap that. The line is sitting right now as I'm recording at Penn State minus eleven and a half. It's been anywhere between ten and a half and I believe fifteen and a half in the last week or so, so jumping around a good bit for some reason. So let's get into some guys to watch for Minnesota and we will begin at the QB spot with Max Brosmer. That is a New Hampshire transfer who's having a very good fifth season of college football, his first with the Gophers. He has thrown for twenty two hundred fifty one yards and fourteen touchdowns to four interceptions so far on the year. He's also completing a bit over sixty seven percent of his pass attempts. This is an experienced quarterback who doesn't make many mistakes and will keep you in a lot of games. I don't know if that reminds you, guys of anyone just off of that quick breakdown, but he honestly reminds me a bit of Sean Clifford. Running back Darius Taylor, that's probably their top guy on the offensive side of the ball. I think he's gonna give us Penn State fans some headaches this weekend. He is an explosive and physical runner who has been highly productive on the year with six hundred and seventy two yards and nine touchdowns on about five yards per carry. They feed him the ball a lot when he's successful. Minnesota's offense as a whole is typically successful, so Penn State will need to shut him down early and often. It's a similar situation to Tabbie Walker with Wisconsin. The offense kind of runs through him, as Minnesota's runs through Darius Taylor. They also tend to give him a heavier workload in their bigger games. When they played Illy and beat them, he carried twenty two times for one hundred and thirty one yards in a touchdown, and then he carried twenty five times against USC for one hundred and forty four yards, So they definitely like to give him the rock a little bit more in their bigger stages. The Gophers leading receiver is red shirt senior Daniel Jackson, who has collected sixty three catches for seven hundred and twelve yards and three touchdowns on the season. He is kind of your all around versatile receiver. They line him up both on the boundary and in the slot on occasion. Alright. Moving over to the defensive side of the ball, true freshman safety Coy Perrich is a star in the making. He's probably their top guy on that side of the ball. He already has five picks on the year to go along with twenty one tackles and a force fumble. Paris is a big, physical safety. I think he's like six two, six one or six two and about two hundred pounds. His elite ball skills, and it's not like he was a diamond in the rough as a recruit either. On three had this kid ranked as the number thirty five overall in the country and the number two safety in the class, and teams like Ohio State, USC and I believe Michigan were trying to flip them late, but the Gophers were able to keep the Minnesota native home, and it seems to already be paying dividends for them in just his freshman year. Oh right, defensive lineman John Joyner is the Gophers sack leader on the year with four and a half so far. He's listed about six five two sixty five, so he can line up anywhere along the line. He also has twenty eight tackles, two for his fumbles, and a pretty ridiculous seven passes defense. He gets those long arms up and knocks down a bunch of balls. They're leading tackler on the year is linebacker Cody Lindenberg, with seventy six through ten games. He also has six passes defense, a sack, and an interception. Lindenberg is a pretty big backer, standing at about six three two forty, but he's still deceptively quick for his size. All right, moving on, Let's now jump in to some game predictions. First up, these are two very good secondaries going up against two very good qbs. But I think the top guy at that position shines through on Saturday, So give me Drew Aller out passing Max brosmer By at least one hundred yards. Also, I apologize, I don't know if it's Brasma or Brosmer. I think I've said both so far, so just let's just roll with the punches here. Next up, Zion Tracy has been looking pretty good on those punt returns, and I think he is due to break one in the near future. So give me a Zion Tracy punt return touchdown against the Gophers. And finally, and I hope this is a jinx, I'm gonna say that PSU has a scoreless first quarter. Penn State has had slow starts in a lot of these road games, so it'll likely continue this Saturday. I think usc was really the only exception I wouldn't mind at all if this prediction was the one that I got wrong. And then for the score prediction, I do see Penn State eventually taking control of this game, probably at some point in the second half, and pulling away to win twenty four to thirteen. I think the offense struggles a bit, but scores when it matters and gets the job done against a stout and in my opinion, a bit underrated Minnesota d and the defense limits Minnesota to a pretty high degree, but the Gopher still find points at the end of a few drives. Right so that is going to do it for today's episode of the Penn State Pulse. Thank you all so much for tuning in as always, and I will see y'all after the game to break it down.

Welcome back into the Penn State Pulse. I'm your host, Dylan Dawson. Penn State travels to the Twin Cities to take on a sneaky Minnesota team on Saturday. You guys know the deal. It's want to know every week. You can't look overlook anyone. This is a pretty good team the Ninny Lions are facing up against on the road. So let's jump into the basics. Minnesota is six and four overall in the year. They have a few pretty nice wins coming against Illinois, which I believe was on the road, and then they also be usc They also just came up just short in Ann Arbor, losing to Michigan twenty seven to twenty four on the road. This is a team that excels, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. They're allowing seventeen point seven points per game this season, which is good for twelfth in the country. They have a lot of playmakers on that side of the ball, which I'm gonna get into here in a little bit. Offensively, the Gophers aren't gonna value with a ton of explosives, but they've been that traditional, gritty, Big ten offense that finds a way to stay in games. Penn State has lost two straight road games at Minnesota when you look at the game history coming in twenty thirteen and of course twenty nineteen, which a lot of us remember. Unfortunately, that game has given me a lot of PDSD. So they'll look to snap that streak on Saturday. It's not much of one, but still regardless, we'd like to snap that. The line is sitting right now as I'm recording at Penn State minus eleven and a half. It's been anywhere between ten and a half and I believe fifteen and a half in the last week or so, so jumping around a good bit for some reason. So let's get into some guys to watch for Minnesota and we will begin at the QB spot with Max Brosmer. That is a New Hampshire transfer who's having a very good fifth season of college football, his first with the Gophers. He has thrown for twenty two hundred fifty one yards and fourteen touchdowns to four interceptions so far on the year. He's also completing a bit over sixty seven percent of his pass attempts. This is an experienced quarterback who doesn't make many mistakes and will keep you in a lot of games. I don't know if that reminds you, guys of anyone just off of that quick breakdown, but he honestly reminds me a bit of Sean Clifford. Running back Darius Taylor, that's probably their top guy on the offensive side of the ball. I think he's gonna give us Penn State fans some headaches this weekend. He is an explosive and physical runner who has been highly productive on the year with six hundred and seventy two yards and nine touchdowns on about five yards per carry. They feed him the ball a lot when he's successful. Minnesota's offense as a whole is typically successful, so Penn State will need to shut him down early and often. It's a similar situation to Tabbie Walker with Wisconsin. The offense kind of runs through him, as Minnesota's runs through Darius Taylor. They also tend to give him a heavier workload in their bigger games. When they played Illy and beat them, he carried twenty two times for one hundred and thirty one yards in a touchdown, and then he carried twenty five times against USC for one hundred and forty four yards, So they definitely like to give him the rock a little bit more in their bigger stages. The Gophers leading receiver is red shirt senior Daniel Jackson, who has collected sixty three catches for seven hundred and twelve yards and three touchdowns on the season. He is kind of your all around versatile receiver. They line him up both on the boundary and in the slot on occasion. Alright. Moving over to the defensive side of the ball, true freshman safety Coy Perrich is a star in the making. He's probably their top guy on that side of the ball. He already has five picks on the year to go along with twenty one tackles and a force fumble. Paris is a big, physical safety. I think he's like six two, six one or six two and about two hundred pounds. His elite ball skills, and it's not like he was a diamond in the rough as a recruit either. On three had this kid ranked as the number thirty five overall in the country and the number two safety in the class, and teams like Ohio State, USC and I believe Michigan were trying to flip them late, but the Gophers were able to keep the Minnesota native home, and it seems to already be paying dividends for them in just his freshman year. Oh right, defensive lineman John Joyner is the Gophers sack leader on the year with four and a half so far. He's listed about six five two sixty five, so he can line up anywhere along the line. He also has twenty eight tackles, two for his fumbles, and a pretty ridiculous seven passes defense. He gets those long arms up and knocks down a bunch of balls. They're leading tackler on the year is linebacker Cody Lindenberg, with seventy six through ten games. He also has six passes defense, a sack, and an interception. Lindenberg is a pretty big backer, standing at about six three two forty, but he's still deceptively quick for his size. All right, moving on, Let's now jump in to some game predictions. First up, these are two very good secondaries going up against two very good qbs. But I think the top guy at that position shines through on Saturday, So give me Drew Aller out passing Max brosmer By at least one hundred yards. Also, I apologize, I don't know if it's Brasma or Brosmer. I think I've said both so far, so just let's just roll with the punches here. Next up, Zion Tracy has been looking pretty good on those punt returns, and I think he is due to break one in the near future. So give me a Zion Tracy punt return touchdown against the Gophers. And finally, and I hope this is a jinx, I'm gonna say that PSU has a scoreless first quarter. Penn State has had slow starts in a lot of these road games, so it'll likely continue this Saturday. I think usc was really the only exception I wouldn't mind at all if this prediction was the one that I got wrong. And then for the score prediction, I do see Penn State eventually taking control of this game, probably at some point in the second half, and pulling away to win twenty four to thirteen. I think the offense struggles a bit, but scores when it matters and gets the job done against a stout and in my opinion, a bit underrated Minnesota d and the defense limits Minnesota to a pretty high degree, but the Gopher still find points at the end of a few drives. Right so that is going to do it for today's episode of the Penn State Pulse. Thank you all so much for tuning in as always, and I will see y'all after the game to break it down.