Penn State heads into Saturday night’s meeting with Minnesota in Beaver Stadium looking for its third straight Big Ten win, and the path is pretty clear: keep the ground game rolling, keep Rocco Becht settled, and make life miserable for a quarterback who doesn’t move all that well.
The Nittany Lions have found something in the run game over the last two weeks, and that has to be the starting point again. Cam Wallace and Carson Hansen have separated themselves as Penn State’s top two backs for the rest of the season, and both have earned enough trust to keep sharing the load.
Wallace has been the more dangerous of the two because of his vision and long speed, which gives him a better chance to pop a few explosive runs against Minnesota. Hansen can still help, but he shouldn’t be counted on in the same way for chunk plays.
If Penn State’s offensive line keeps playing the way it has lately, both backs should have room to work, and that opens everything else up for offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser.
That run-game rhythm should also help Becht stay comfortable. He hasn’t been forced to carry the offense, and that’s been a good thing.
When the game comes to him naturally, he’s more decisive, more confident and more willing to push the ball to Chase Sowell down the sideline or fit throws into tighter windows. The season has had its rough stretches, but Becht is doing enough for Penn State to win right now, and after a four-game run where almost nothing seemed to go right, that matters.
If he stays in rhythm, he should avoid the kind of mistakes that could hand Minnesota extra chances.
Defensively, this matchup calls for a different approach than last week. Penn State handled Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. by keeping him contained in the pocket, even if that meant not chasing pressure as aggressively.
Minnesota’s Drake Lindsey presents the opposite kind of challenge. He’s not a quarterback the Nittany Lions need to worry about escaping and creating on the move, which means Penn State should be able to attack him more directly and try to force him off his spot.
Given how the pass rush has looked, that could mean more blitzing from defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn.
If that pressure shows up, Minnesota could be in trouble early and often.
The numbers point the same way. Penn State is a 9.5-point favorite, and a comfortable win feels more likely than a nail-biter.
The Gophers are described here as really bad on offense, and Penn State has the edge on both sides of the ball. The only reason the score might stay a little closer is the possibility of a turnover giving Minnesota a short field.
Even then, this looks like a game Penn State should control unless the Gophers are handed a few gifts the way Michigan was against the Nittany Lions.
A projected final of Penn State 27, Minnesota 13 fits that script.
If there’s one player to circle, it’s tight end Ben Brahmer. Minnesota’s defense is said to be a little worse than Washington’s, and Penn State put up 28 on Washington despite a sluggish second half.
Brahmer is the matchup problem in this offense, and Taylor Mouser should be able to feature him early and often. The prediction here has him finishing with six catches for 83 yards and two touchdowns in a convincing home win.
After the matchup breakdown, Matt Campbell’s comments about Penn State’s second-half issues cut straight to the biggest concern around the program. He called it “a real problem” and said, “My concern is I think there’s times where it’s a mental maturity piece of it, in my opinion, that you’re up in some of those games, and like it’s a mental relapse.
We got to figure it out. It starts with the head football coach making sure.
My bigger concern isn’t the fourth quarter. If you really do your research, if the games are a one-score game, 92% of those games, you go back and you study, and we had this study because we lived in this world for my entire career the last 10 years, that if you win the third quarter, you’re going to win the game, in a one-score game.
“That is probably my biggest frustration. That is an area we have been very good, and we have not been so far.
I think it’s 42 to 9 right now in Big Ten games that in the third quarter we’re getting outscored. Why is that?
What is that? Believe me, there is an elite sense of urgency from the head football coach, our staff, then obviously our players understand it’s not OK.
It’s an area that we have to demand a pathway forward.
“Whether that’s we got to do a better job at halftime, whether we have to have better schematic plans coming out of the second half, or we have to do a better job mentally getting our guys ready to go play the second half. Whatever those things are, I think it’s fair to shoot holes in all of it because it’s not getting done. We have to be better.”
In Other News...
Penn State Wrestling Lineup Just Raised Two Big Questions
Penn States 2026-27 wrestling roster is already loaded on paper, with 28 wrestlers, multiple national champions and senior world medalists giving Cael Sanderson another group that looks built to chase the top of the sport. Sanderson has now confirmed the weight-class assignments, which gives a clearer picture of how the lineup could take shape and where some of the biggest names are expected to land.
The roster also comes with a few moving parts beyond the obvious star power. Sanderson addressed the status and potential of several athletes as the season picture comes into focus, and the roster notes that two wrestlers are away on religious mission trips and will not compete this season. For a program that is used to having answers, those absences leave a couple of key questions hanging as the Nittany Lions sort out just how deep this lineup can be. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Faces A Bigger Concern Than One Encouraging Injury Update
Penn State got a bit of relief on the injury front this week with offensive lineman Malachi Goodman upgraded to probable for Saturdays game against Minnesota at Beaver Stadium. Wide receiver Koby Howard, meanwhile, is officially out, and the availability report still leaves plenty of uncertainty around the roster as the Nittany Lions continue to sort through who will be ready to go.
Jahmir Joseph, Jeremiah Cooper and Caleb Bacon are all listed as questionable, part of a larger group that includes five players ruled out, among them Howard and four defensive players. The encouraging news on Goodman helps, but the bigger issue for Penn State is how much depth it may have to lean on if those questionable defenders cannot answer the bell by kickoff. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Wrestling Opens With A Lineup Twist Fans Need To See
Penn State wrestling opens its 2026 season at Rec Hall against Bloomsburg, bringing back a matchup that was last played in 2011. The Nittany Lions are doing it with a lineup that already has a different look, headlined by Masanosuke Ono making his collegiate debut and Mitchell Mesenbrink moving up to 174 pounds, two moves that give the opener a little extra intrigue beyond the usual early-season tuneup.
Bloomsburg arrives with some momentum of its own after bouncing back from an opening loss to win its next two, and freshman Morgan Schwarz has been one of the early standouts. For Penn State, the bigger question is not just how the lineup settles in for one dual, but how these early wrinkles fit into the larger picture as the season gets rolling at Rec Hall. [Read more 🡒]