Minnesota showed some fight in the first half, only trailing Penn State 17-10 at the half. However, the Nittany Lions came out on fire in the second half, outscoring the Gophers 21-0 in the third quarter on their way to a 45-17 victory.
The Gophers were without quarterback Tanner Morgan, who was unavailable after suffering a concussion in last week's loss to Illinois. Instead, sophomore Athan Kaliakmanis got the start and had his ups and downs in a hostile environment in Happy Valley.
Minnesota struck early after a Justin Walley interception led to a Matthew Trickett 35-yard field goal to put the Gophers up 3-0.
Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford found tight end Tyler Warren over the middle for a 38-yard touchdown strike that put the Nittany Lions up 10-3 with 9:05 remaining in the second quarter.
Penn State wouldn't relinquish that lead the rest of the night.
Clifford would connect with another tight end, Theo Johnson, for an 18-yard touchdown strike that would put Penn State up 17-3 with 4:01 left in the second quarter.
Minnesota would respond with an impressive nine-play, 90-yard drive that featured a 33-yard strike from Kaliakmanis to wide receiver Lemeke Brockington. Kaliakmanis also had impressive runs of 11 and 16-yards. Running Mohamed Ibrahim punched it in the end zone from three-yards out to cut Penn State's lead to 17-10 at halftime.
Penn State would put the game away in the third quarter, scoring three touchdowns in the stanza. Those scores included a 35-yard reception by Parker Washington, a 16-yard rush by Nick Singleton, and a 20-yard reception by Mitchell Tinsley.
Kaliakmanis would tally his first collegiate touchdown midway through the fourth quarter, connecting with tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford on a two-yard score.
Afterwards, Penn State running back Nick Singleton would add to his touchdown total, bursting through Minnesota's defense for a 30-yard score to cap the scoring efforts on the night.
For Minnesota, Athan Kaliakmanis finished 9-for-22 for 175 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also rushed for 45 yards. Mohamed Ibrahim had 102 yards rushing on 30 carries while Brevyn Spann-Ford led all receivers with five catches for 68 yards and one touchdown.
Defensively, Minnesota gave up 479 yards of total yards against Penn State with 304 of those through the air and 175 on the ground. The Nittany Lions averaged 12.7 yards per completion and 5.1 yards per rush on the night.
Mariano Sori-Marin led the Gophers with 15 tackles.
For Penn State, Sean Clifford finished an efficient 22-of-31 passing for 295 yards with four touchdowns and one interception. Nick Singleton led the way on the ground with 79 yards and two scores. Eight receivers caught a pass for the Nittany Lions, led by tight end Tyler Johnson with five catches for 75 yards and one touchdown.
With the win, Penn State improves to 6-1 overall and 3-1 in the Big Ten. With Saturday's loss, Minnesota finds themselves in the midst of a three-game losing streak, setting at 4-3 overall and just 1-3 in the conference.
Minnesota will host Rutgers next Saturday, October 29th at 1:30 p.m. CST.
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