Penn State and Minnesota are about to add another chapter to a series that has swung both ways for more than three decades.
The Nittany Lions and Golden Gophers first met in 1993, and since then they’ve played 17 times for the Governor’s Victory Bell. Penn State holds the edge in the series, 11-6, but the back-and-forth nature of the matchup has been a constant theme.
Penn State came out fast in the early years. The first meeting ended in a 38-20 win for the Nittany Lions, with quarterback John Sacca connecting with Bobby Engram for three first-quarter touchdowns. The next year brought an even wider gap, as Penn State rolled to a 56-3 victory behind three passing touchdowns from Kerry Collins and three rushing scores from Ki-Jana Carter.
After a two-year gap in the series, Penn State picked up two more wins in 1997 and 1998, taking those games 16-15 and 27-17.
Then Minnesota turned the series on its head.
The Golden Gophers stunned No. 2 Penn State in 1999 with a 24-23 upset at Beaver Stadium, erasing a 7-0 Penn State lead by scoring 17 points in the final 18 minutes. Minnesota followed that with a 25-16 win in 2000, powered by four field goals from Dan Nystrom, and kept rolling with wins in 2003 and 2004 by scores of 20-14 and 16-7.
Penn State answered in 2005 and opened another four-game run of its own. That stretch started with a 44-14 win over No.
18 Minnesota, a game in which Tony Hunt, Derrick Williams and Rodney Kinlaw combined for five rushing touchdowns. The Nittany Lions then survived a one-point overtime game in 2006, with Hunt scoring the winner and Kevin Kelly adding the extra point.
Penn State also authored the first shutout in the series in 2009, holding Minnesota down while piling up 464 yards of offense. A year later, the Nittany Lions made it four straight with a 33-21 victory behind 130 passing yards and a touchdown from Rob Bolden, plus 71 rushing yards from Silas Redd.
Since then, the series has been much tighter. Neither team has put together more than two straight wins in the last 16 years.
Minnesota’s biggest win in the matchup came in 2013, when it beat Penn State 24-10. Zach Zwinak scored for the Nittany Lions in the first quarter and Sam Ficken added a second-quarter field goal, but Minnesota scored three first-half touchdowns and a field goal before both defenses took over in the second half.
Penn State got the next key moment in 2016, when Saquon Barkley took the opening overtime handoff and scored to lift the Nittany Lions to a 29-26 win.
The 2019 game went Minnesota’s way, too, and it came with a heavy price for Penn State’s offense. Sean Clifford threw three interceptions, and the first two were turned into touchdowns by No.
17 Minnesota. The Golden Gophers led 24-13 at halftime and held off the comeback attempt behind three touchdown passes from Tanner Morgan.
Penn State responded in style in 2022 at Beaver Stadium for the White Out, blasting Minnesota 45-17. Clifford threw touchdowns to Tyler Warren and Theo Johnson in the second quarter, then hit Parker Washington and Mitchell Tinsley for scores in the third. Nick Singleton also found the end zone on the ground, and Penn State used field position to help put the game away despite outgaining Minnesota by just 139 yards.
The last meeting, in 2024, produced the fourth one-point game in series history. Minnesota jumped ahead 10-0 before Drew Allar found Omari Evans for a 45-yard touchdown.
After Penn State added a field goal and Minnesota answered with another touchdown, Allar scored on a four-yard run, but Ryan Barker’s extra point was blocked and returned for two points. Penn State moved in front in the third quarter on Singleton’s 12-yard touchdown run, then held on after both teams traded field goals.
The Nittany Lions finished it off with a fake punt and another fourth-down conversion to win in Minneapolis.
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Penn State Wrestling Suddenly Has A Braeden Davis Problem
Braeden Davis is suddenly missing from Penn States wrestling roster just as the season is about to get underway, and the timing makes the situation hard to ignore. A wrestler who has already carved out a significant place in the program, Davis won a Big Ten title and earned All-American honors during his time in Happy Valley, making his absence a notable development for a team that usually enters the year with championship expectations.
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Penn State heads into a tricky Big Ten road test against Minnesota with both teams coming off a demanding stretch, and the matchup looks like it could be decided in the trenches. The Gophers have already been tested by quality opponents, and the Nittany Lions know they will need clean work from both lines, steady special teams play and sharp execution from their skill players to avoid letting a physical game drift into a grind.
Injuries and recent player developments only add to the uncertainty around this one, with both sides carrying some fresh questions into kickoff. For Penn State, the concern is less about one isolated area than the overall balance of the matchup, because Minnesota has enough across the board to make this a difficult afternoon if the Lions are even a little off in any phase. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Faces One Brutal Reality In Its Quarterback Search
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For Penn State, the timing makes the challenge even sharper. Rocco Becht is set to depart, leaving Alex Manske as an unproven option, and the Nittany Lions have to navigate a search in a market where Mississippi State quarterback Kamario Taylor is reportedly finalizing a deal worth up to $9 million with incentives. The concern is not just finding the right fit on the field, but whether Penn State can keep pace financially with the schools chasing the same elite quarterbacks. [Read more 🡒]