Penn State looks to continue its late-season push against Minnesota

Penn State football coach Matt Campbell has watched and waited for the Nittany Lions to find their rhythm in every facet of the game.

Campbell, of course, has liked what he has seen the last two weeks, a decisive home victory over Purdue and a hard-fought win at Washington.

“We are growing a lot closer to the team that we want to be,” he said, “who we’ve got the ability to become. I think that part’s impressive. This group has continued to get better every week.”

Penn State (2-4 Big Ten, 5-4) will look for its third consecutive win Saturday night at 7 p.m. (TV-FS1) against Minnesota (3-3, 5-4) at Beaver Stadium.

The Lions are 9.5-point favorites to beat the Golden Gophers. They’re also expected to be favored the next two weeks against Rutgers and Maryland.

Campbell has emphasized having a strong finish, similar to last year when he guided Iowa State to four straight season-ending victories after a four-game losing streak.

“I think it’s always a work in progress,” he said. “I don’t care who you are, where it is, what point of the season it is. That’s always the challenge, trying to get in the most consistent rhythm to win the football game. That’s what our job is.”

Penn State’s offense appeared to find its rhythm and its identity the last two games, running for 443 yards behind Carson Hansen and Cam Wallace. In addition, quarterback Rocco Becht has been efficient, passing for 415 yards and three touchdowns without a turnover.

“From an offensive standpoint, you feel like we’ve been able to do that (regain a rhythm) at a really good pace here the last couple weeks, which has been great,” Campbell said. “There are times where we did that earlier, and it just wasn’t as consistent as we needed to be.”

The Lions have executed well on offense, despite missing wide receiver Chase Sowell against Purdue because of an ankle injury and continuing to be without wide receiver Koby Howard because of an unspecified injury.

Redshirt freshman Zay Robinson and freshman Amarion Jackson have filled the void, Robinson catching three passes for 37 yards and a TD and Jackson making two catches for 31 yards.

“It’s been really awesome to watch Amarion and Zay step in and actually make some splash plays and show their youthful talent,” Campbell said. “It hasn’t all been perfect for either of those guys. It’s exciting because that’s what you hope happens on good teams.”

Penn State’s defense limited Purdue and Washington to an average of 240 total yards per game and just three offensive touchdowns. The Huskies, though, found traction in the second half last week with their short passing game.

“Sometimes guys are trying to do too much defensively,” Campbell said. “That happened a couple times (last week) in the second half, where instead of doing your job you got out of rhythm. You’re trying to make a play and you put yourself behind the eight-ball.”

The depth in the secondary continues to grow. Ibn McDaniels, who transferred from Syracuse, intercepted a pass to stop Washington on a fourth-quarter drive after not playing much until the Purdue game. In addition, Jahmir Joseph, a redshirt freshman, has seen more and more time as the season has progressed.

“AC (Audavion Collins) and Daryus (Dixson) have been doing an outstanding job,” defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn said, “but there definitely were games earlier in the year when you wished you could take some snaps off their plate.

“Ibn and Jahmir had good springs and good camps, but you’ve seen them just take it up a notch as far as their consistency the past two or three weeks in practice. We just trust them in games.”

Minnesota, making its first trip to State College since 2022, has dropped three of its last four, including a 41-17 loss to Purdue, a 13-10 win over Iowa and a 23-16 overtime loss at Indiana.

“They’re playing way better than they did four or five weeks ago,” Gophers coach P.J. Fleck said about Penn State. “We’re going to have to play our best football game of the year.”

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Rich Scarcella’s pick

Penn State 24, Minnesota 14

With strong winds and temperatures in the 30s, this game will be won at the line of scrimmage. The Nittany Lions match up well with the Gophers, who are last in the Big Ten in rushing. Expect a low-scoring game and Penn State to win its third straight.