This Saturday, the Minnesota Golden Gophers will have an opportunity at a signature win when they face the No. 4 Penn State Nittany Lions at Huntington Bank Stadium. The Nittany Lions enter this weekend with a 9-1 record and are coming off back-to-back wins against the Washington Huskies and Purdue Boilermakers.

Prior to Saturday afternoon's clash in the Twin Cities between the Gophers and Nittany Lions, Gophers Nation takes a first look at Penn State.

Where: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Stadium: Huntington Bank Stadium

Time: 2:30 p.m. CT

Television: CBS - Brad Nessler (PxP), Gary Danielson (Color), Jenny Dell (Sidelines)

Odds: Penn State opened as a 14.5-point favorite, the over/under is 47.5 points

This is a highly familiar spot for Penn State. The Nittany Lions find themselves late in the season on the verge of a potential College Football Playoff berth. After often being one of the first teams looking in from the outside, the Nittany Lions are in a great spot to make the College Football Playoffs for the first time this postseason.

The Nittany Lions enter the week as the No. 4 team in the College Football Playoff rankings and it seems likely they'll remain the No. 4 team when the updated rankings are released on Tuesday. The Nittany Lions' only loss this season came to the Ohio State Buckeyes, in a game in which the Nittany Lions were able to get just three points on three trips to the red zone.

After losing to Ohio State, the Nittany Lions have bounced back very well, defeating Washington and Purdue the last two weeks 84-16 and outgaining them 1,024 to 495.

Notably, a win on Saturday for Penn State would be the Nittany Lions' third-straight season of at least 10 wins. If the Nittany Lions do pick up win No. 10 on Saturday, it would be the first time since the 1980-92 seasons that the program has had three straight seasons of 10+ wins.

Since the beginning of the 2022 season, the Penn State Nittany Lions have been amongst the best programs in the country when it comes to beating teams they're expected to beat. In their past 31 games, the Nittany Lions are 30-1 as a favorite. Their lone loss in that time was to the Ole Miss Rebels in last year's Peach Bowl, a game that saw several Nittany Lions decide to opt out of the game. That's certainly not good news for the Gophers this weekend who enter the game as a 14.5-point favorite.

Penn State will have the most talented team to come to Huntington Bank Stadium this Saturday and they're led by two likely unanimous All-Americans.

On offense, tight end Tyler Warren is a shoo-in for the John Mackey Award, given to the country's best tight end. The senior this season has 67 receptions for 808 yards and five touchdowns. He's also a threat on the ground as Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki loves to use the 6-foot-6, 249-pound Warren in the wildcat. The result? 16 carries for 157 yards and four touchdowns.

Defensively, defensive end Abdul Carter is among the best defenders in the country this season. A former linebacker, Carter moved to defensive end this past offseason and after a slow start, the future first-round pick has flourished. He's up to 45 tackles this season including 18 tackles for loss and eight sacks.

Saturday's matchup will be the 17th all-time between the two programs who first met in 1993, a 38-20 win for Penn State. After Penn State won three-straight to open the series, the Gophers won the next four between 1999 to 2004, including upsetting a top-five ranked Nittany Lions team in 1999. Since that four-game winning streak, Penn State has won six of eight matchups.

That being said, the Nittany Lions' last trip to Huntington Bank Stadium was a nightmarish one as the Golden Gophers upset then No. 9 Penn State 31-26.

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