This Saturday, the Golden Gophers and Nittany Lions will do battle for the Governor's Victory Bell, the only one of four rivalry trophies currently in the Gophers' possession. The Victory Bell has resided in Minnesota for the last four years, due to two straight Gopher victories over the Lions and the rotation of Minnesota and Penn State off of each other's schedules in 2001 and 2002.

Penn State's offense this season has been uncharacteristically anemic. The Lions rank 95th nationally and 10th in the Big Ten in total offense with 310 yards per game, and 89th nationally and 10th in conference in scoring offense with 19.8 points per game. PSU ranks 44th nationally and 6th in the conference in rushing, averaging 172.5 yards per game on the ground, and rank 104th nationally and 10th in the conference in passing yards, gaining just 137.8 yards per game through the air.

Meanwhile, Minnesota ranks 5th in the nation and first in the Big Ten in total defense, yielding a mere 251 total yards per game, and 12th nationally and third in the conference in scoring defense, allowing 12.8 points per game. The Gophers are 47th nationally and 7th in the conference in rushing defense and 6th in the nation and second in the Big Ten in passing defense, giving up 123 yards per game rushing and 128 yards per game passing.

Just as with the PSU defensive line, the Nittany Lion offensive line suffered heavy losses from last year. Gone are four veteran starters, including three honorable mention all-conference linemen. Now starting for the Lions are freshman LT Levi Brown (6'5", 309 lbs.), sophomore LG Charles Rush (6'2", 297 lbs.), senior C Dave Costlow (6'3", 280 lbs.), sophomore RG Tyler Reed(6'4", 309 lbs.), and senior RT Chris McKelvy (6'4", 320 lbs.). Junior LG Scott Davis (6'3", 291 lbs.) could start in place of Rush, and senior RT Damone Jones (6'5", 314 lbs.) could start in front of Scott. There is a lot of burgeoning talent on this unit, but they have not yet begun to play cohesively. As a result, the rushing game has floundered. To their credit, the o-line has surrendered only three sacks in the first third of the 2003 season.

The Gophers, starting senior Dan Kwapinski (6'5", 275 lbs.) or sophomore Anthony Montgomery (6'5", 315 lbs.) at nose tackle, junior Darrell Reid (6'2", 270 lbs.) at tackle, and sophomore Mark Losli (6'6", 275 lbs.) and senior Paul Nixon (6'1", 245 lbs.) at defensive end, are improving incrementally. Reid, Losli, and freshman reserve DE Eric Clark (6'4", 240 lbs.) have tallied half of the Gophers' 10 sacks. Minnesota's strength, size and depth on the defensive line have improved dramatically over the last couple of years.

Minnesota's d-line must step up and put more pressure on opposing quarterbacks to have success in the Big Ten. They are not getting beat off the line as much as they were last year, and that has led to improved run defense for the team. Penn State's o-line is a serious weakness on the offense. If they cannot get in synch quickly, it will make for a lot of frustrated PSU coaches, players, and fans.

Larry Johnson led the nation in rushing last year, amassing over 2,000 yards, and was the most dominating running back the Big Ten has seen since Ron Dayne. Unfortunately for the Nittany Lions, he is not back this year, and, as a result, PSU's leading rusher, true freshman RB Austin Scott, is averaging 62 yards per game (91st nationally and 11th in the Big Ten). Fifth-year senior Ricky Upton is the other primary option at tailback. Penn State does have a good fullback in senior Sean McHugh. Perhaps he should be called "McHuge"--he is 6'6" and 263 lbs. Scott looks to have real talent, but he is being asked to carry the team as a true freshman. That's a lot to put on the shoulders of a new player. Multithreat sophomore QB Michael Robinson occasionally lines up at tailback, and is averaging over 30 yards per game on the ground. Starting quarterback and junior Zack Mills can run out of the pocket as well.

The Gophers' starting linebackers -- sophomore WLB Terrance Campbell, senior SLB Ben West, and sophomore DLB Kyle McKenzie -- are first, second, and fifth, respectively, on the team in tackles. This is an improvement over having defensive backs as the team's most prolific tacklers. Campbell and West each have four tackles for loss, and together they have five of the Gopheers' 10 total sacks. McKenzie has forced two fumbles. Earlier in the season, they were missing tackles right and left. The past week or so has proven helpful in the development of fundamentals, and the Gophers are now missing fewer tackles.

The Minnesota 'backers have been helped out quite a bit by the improvement of the defensive line. Not too many PSU fans expect Austin Scott to put up numbers like Larry Johnson immediately, but most of them would like to see improvement from the present results. The Gophers could do well to blitz frequently with the linebackers to exploit the relative inexperience of the Penn State o-line.

PSU's passing numbers are almost unthinkably poor. Only 15 D 1-A teams have lower productivity this season to date. Senior WR Tony Johnson leads the receivers with 55 receiving yards per game, and he lays claim to the Nittany Lions' lone, single, solitary receiving touchdown. The next-leading receivers are junior WR Gerald Smith, averaging 12.5 receiving yards per game, and then fullback Sean McHugh, with seven total catches and 12 receiving yards per game. Second-string sophomore WR Kinta Palmer is next, also averaging 12 yards per game. No other player averages more than ten receiving yards per game. Senior TE Mike Lukac does not factor into the passing game much. Junior QB Zach Mills has gone from being one of the Big Ten's most highly-touted quarterbacks as a freshman to throwing for a meager 120 yards per game with one passing TDs against three INTs this year. A fair amount of blame is due the receivers, who have been dropping many passes the last few weeks, even those thrown right on the numbers.

Minnesota's pass defense has climbed in the national rankings to sixth (second in the Big Ten after PSU), allowing only 128 yards per game through the air. Senior FS Eli Ward and senior SS Justin Isom are hard hitters who punish anyone who gets past the linebackers. Ward, a defensive captain and the team's third-leading tackler, can provide a sense of history for the others because he was on the traveling squad for the Gophers' big win in Happy Valley four years ago. This secondary has decent speed, size, and talent, but has not yet been really tested by a top-flight quarterback and receiving corps.

Penn State's passing yardage will increase significantly simply by the elimination of mistakes like dropped balls. Still, even if they do not drop a pass against the Gophers, Minnesota's secondary should be able to handle them. With a questionable offensive line, Mills may not get enough time to settle in and find his targets. Minnesota needs to come up with more interceptions. So far, against vastly inferior competition, the Gophers have only two INTs -- one by Eli Ward and one by Trumaine Banks.

The Nittany Lions have had trouble moving the ball in every game so far this year. That's a dramatic turnaround from the explosive 2002 Penn State offense. It is very difficult to find success immediately when it is necessary to replace 80% of the starting offensive line. Penn State still has good talent on offense, but much of it is raw. If the Gophers can play as well against better competition as they did against inferior opponents, the Lions will be in trouble.

Penn State junior kicker Robbie Gould is a respectable 6-8 on field goal attempts (hitting everything under 50 yards and missing two over 50 yards), and he is 7-9 on extra points. Minnesota's junior kicker and JUCO transfer Rhys Lloyd continues to impress everyone, going a perfect 4-4 on field goal attempts (including a 52-yarder and a 54-yarder), and going 11-11 on extra point attempts. The Nittany Lions' freshman punter, Jeremy Kapinos, is averaging 41.7 yards per punt for the year. Minnesota has tried Lloyd, senior TE Ben Utecht, and redshirt freshman Mark Rivers at punter, but appear to have settled on Lloyd (40.4 yard average) as the primary punter, with Rivers (42.5 yard average) as a backup. Penn State ranks 106th nationally in kickoff returns (16.3 yards) and 74th in punt returns (8.3 yards). Tony Johnson is the primary kick returner for PSU; sophomore strong safety Calvin Lowry is the primary punt returner. Minnesota ranks 5th nationally (31.9 yards) in kickoff returns and 20th in punt returns (13.9 yards), thanks mainly to the talents of RB Marion Barber III, RB Laurence Maroney, and CB Trumaine Banks.

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