Penn State Nittany Lions v. Minnesota Gophers college football game today

In Happy Valley, Penn State got back on the bike Saturday and looked to improve to 1-1 in the Big Ten against Minnesota.

The lead was short-lived though, as Barkley found a hole, juked a Minnesota defender and outran the rest for a touchdown on Penn State’s first snap.

The touchdown was Barkley’s seventh rushing score of the season, which is the most among Big Ten running backs.

Final totals, though: 20 carries for only 63 yards. “We love him and we’re glad he’s here”. It’s going to pop.

Eliminating inside zone reads isn’t an option, though. Or kick the ball too far (he never tries field goals from 45 yards out). In the loss to Michigan, Penn State allowed 515 yards to the Wolverines, including 326 rushing yards.

Penn State has a 2-2 record for the season after coming off a loss to Big Ten rival MI by a 49-10 final score.

The Penn State Nittany Lions play the Minnesota Gophers today in a conference game this Saturday afternoon on the 2016 college football schedule.

“It’s all about preventing the big play, and we’re having trouble with that”, Claeys said. “It’s not going to happen with him”. The offense is focused on their defense – what we are going to do.

Some of the Lions had pointed to Saturday’s game, as well as next week’s home date against Maryland, as critical to their season.

“I wish I could take you guys in this locker room right now”, Franklin said to a postgame interview room full of reporters and photographers.

“This is a game that we can really grow from”, he said.

“It was definitely something that our players needed”. He also wanted a victory for the Lions’ offensive line coach, Matt Limegrover, who spent five seasons as Minnesota’s offensive coordinator.

“We felt like he might have been wronged a little bit at Minnesota”, McSorley said. “We didn’t come out and play well enough in the third quarter”.

Then there was the matter of finishing.

The last time a Penn State player had 22 tackles was All-American linebacker Paul Posluszny in 2005 at Northwestern.

A Gophers touchdown chance went begging with 3:51 to go in regulation when Leidner floated a pass into the arms of senior cornerback Jordan Smith in the end zone to end the threat and keep things tied at 20.

Franklin said he spoke to Minnesota coach Tracy Claeys about the play.

“James is not on any hot seat”, Barbour said Wednesday, speaking at a casino in Blair County, responding to questions about a 49-10 loss to MI last week. “The heart he has, it’s incredible”.

“Nah. No, Saquon’s just the dude”, McSorley said.

“I’m glad we have a great sound system, and offense will spend a lot of time this week with the crowd noise and things like that blaring”.

Then McSorley shouldered the offense again, scrambling for 26 yards on a late third down that put the Lions into field-goal range. Coming into the game, Carpenter was 5-for-5 on field goal attempts.

Meanwhile, Minnesota quarterback Mitch Leidner is spreading the ball around and taking care of it.

Those clutch conversions set up redshirt junior kicker Tyler Davis’ game-tying 40-yard field goal. McSorely threw for 335 yards with zero turnovers on the day.

You would have thought that least a trace of Moorhead’s thinking included sticking with McSorley. He saw no one open. “That’s just a blessing from God and I want to thank the man upstairs for that”.