Minnesota-Penn St. Preview

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• Royster Leads Penn State In 20-0 Rout

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Top 25 Overview

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA - 3:30 PM ET After pasting FCS school Eastern Illinois last week, Penn State resumes its Big Ten schedule by hosting Minnesota. The Gophers, ranked last in the Big Ten in total offense, face a Nittany Lions team that's first in conference play in defense. Penn State has won six of 10 meetings against Minnesota.

Complete Top 25 Overview

Matchup
	W-L	PF	PA	HOME	ROAD	DIV	CONF
MINN	4-3	162	163	2-2	2-1	2-2	2-2
PSU	6-1	207	61	5-1	1-0	2-1	2-1
· Complete Standings

Record When Scoring... (Since 2001)
	20 OR MORE	30 OR MORE	40 OR MORE	50 OR MORE
MINN	50-31-0	41-13-0	26-2-0	6-0-0
PSU	61-10-0	46-2-0	23-0-0	8-0-0
	LESS THAN 20	LESS THAN 30	LESS THAN 40	LESS THAN 50
MINN	4-20-0	13-38-0	28-49-0	48-51-0
PSU	5-28-0	20-36-0	43-38-0	58-38-0

TEAM AVERAGES & NCAA RANKS
OFFENSE	TM	PER GAME AVERAGE / NCAA RANK
Total Yards	MINN	295.8 / 114th
	PSU	412.5 / 36th
Passing Yards	MINN	218.8 / 75th
	PSU	246.6 / 44th
Rushing Yards	MINN	97.6 / 109th
	PSU	173.6 / 43rd
Points Scored	MINN	21.6 / 70th
	PSU	29.7 / 48th
Full Team Stats: Minnesota | Penn State

THIS WEEK'S LINE
FAVORITE	SPREAD	UNDERDOG	OVER/UNDER
PENNST	17	MINNESOTA	44
Full Daily Lines

Individual Leaders

Minnesota Passing   CMP% YDS TD INT Weber 51.6 2321 12 14 Gray 38.5 51 1 1

Penn State Passing   CMP% YDS TD INT Clark 61.9 2787 23 10 Newsom... 72.7 66 0 0

Minnesota Rushing   CAR YDS AVG TD Bennet... 98 376 3.8 6 Whaley 77 325 4.2 2

Penn State Rushing   CAR YDS AVG TD Royste... 188 1104 5.9 6 Green 64 284 4.4 3

Minnesota Receiving   REC YDS AVG TD Decker 50 758 15.2 5 Tow-Ar... 35 458 13.1 2

Penn State Receiving   REC YDS AVG TD Moye 45 732 16.3 5 Zug 42 549 13.1 7

Full Player Stats: Minnesota | Penn State

Penn State's defense has never been a question mark this season, and its once-shaky offense seems to be turning the corner after a sloppy start.

Minnesota's offense, on the other hand, remains a work in progress.

That could be bad news for the Golden Gophers on Saturday at Beaver Stadium, where the 14th-ranked Nittany Lions look to turn the Big Ten's top-ranked defense loose on the conference's lowest-rated offense.

Penn State (5-1, 1-1) turned the ball over six times during its first three games, and though it outscored its opponents 90-20 in cruising to a 3-0 start, coach Joe Paterno's team hardly looked like the offensive juggernaut it was during last season's Rose Bowl run.

Those inconsistencies caught up with the Nittany Lions in their conference opener, as they committed four turnovers and were held to 307 total yards in a 21-10 home loss to then-unranked Iowa.

Penn State has picked it up offensively in its last two games, averaging 533.0 yards -- including an impressive 311.5 on the ground -- in a pair of easy victories. Evan Royster and Stephfon Green each topped 100 yards rushing in a 35-17 win at Illinois on Oct. 3, then Daryll Clark threw for three touchdowns and ran for another in a 52-3 rout of Football Championship Subdivision foe Eastern Illinois last Saturday.

"We're not anywhere near as good as where we have to be, but we think we are a better football team than three or four weeks ago," Paterno said. "We played with a little more poise."

The Nittany Lions' defense has been tough all season, allowing 255.7 yards per game to rank eighth in the nation in total defense and sixth in scoring defense (10.2 points per game). But considering the highest-ranked offense Penn State has beaten was Illinois -- 84th at 341.6 yards per game -- it's difficult to gauge how good defensive coordinator Tom Bradley's unit is.

Minnesota's offense fits right in with the rest of the struggling groups the Nittany Lions have faced, with the Golden Gophers (4-2, 2-1) ranking 99th in total offense (319.7 yards per game).

Minnesota does, however, boast the best receiving threat in the conference in All-Big Ten senior wideout Eric Decker. Decker caught 84 passes for 1,074 yards as a junior, and he's well on pace to top that with 46 receptions and 689 yards -- good for third in the country -- through six games.

"I think we'll know a lot more (about our secondary) after this week," Paterno said.

Decker had four catches for 66 yards and a touchdown against Penn State as a freshman in 2006 in a 28-27 overtime loss at the Metrodome in the last meeting between the teams.

"He has great hands so we have to be physical with him," Nittany Lions cornerback A.J. Wallace said of Decker, a 27th round draft pick of the Minnesota Twins in June. "We know they're going to go at him early and try to get him involved, to get him in his rhythm."

Decker will be trying to atone for his least productive game of the season, when he hauled in three catches for 50 yards -- part of a mere 74-yard passing day for quarterback Adam Weber -- against Purdue last Saturday. The Gophers, though, ran for 207 yards and four touchdowns and returned a blocked field goal for a touchdown in sealing their first conference victory at new TCF Bank Stadium, 35-20.

Minnesota had averaged 96.0 yards on the ground coming in.

"It's just been a matter of time," Weber said. "More reps, and an attitude and a big drive or play gains confidence, especially for those front five guys. They kind of build off each other, and when the running backs are running as hard as they are it's kind of a back and forth thing."

Penn State is eighth in the nation in rushing defense -- allowing 81.8 yards per game -- largely thanks to a line anchored by tackle Jared Odrick.

The Nittany Lions might be even tougher to run on if they get linebacker Sean Lee back Saturday. Lee, who was on the All-Big Ten second team as a junior in 2007, missed last season with a torn right ACL and has been out since spraining his left knee Sept. 19 against Temple.

Lee said Tuesday he feels as if he's ready to go, though Paterno cautioned the team doctor would have the final say.

Penn State has won six of 10 meetings against Minnesota, including three of five in Happy Valley, since joining the conference in 1993. The Nittany Lions have never lost consecutive home games to unranked Big Ten opponents.