MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Here at TCF Bank Stadium, the skies are thick and grey with cloud cover. Temperatures are in the high 30s, but with winds that are swirling up to 20 mph, it seems a lot colder on the FieldTurf surface.
The stadium runs east-west instead of the usual north-south, an accommodation so that fans can see the Minneapolis skyline to the west. As such, the wind swirls. Big time. So much so, in fact, that the wind blows west out of the west end zone. And the it blows east out of the east end zone.
It looks to be a day for running, not passing.
And the Gophers (7-2, 302 Big Ten) are adept at the run. Although their QB, Philip Nelson, threw for 298 yards and four TDs in a down-to-the-wire 42-39 win at Indiana, the Gophers are a ground-oriented team.
They run two-and-a-half times as much as they pass, gaining 221 yards per game on 46 carries a game. They throw just 20.5 times per game, at 145-yards-per game. Rushing leader David Cobb averages 89.2 yards per game for Minnesota.
The rushing attack has served Minnesota well. They have won their last three games and if they beat Penn State today, it will be the first time since 1973 that they have won four straight Big Ten games in a row in the same season.
Penn State (5-3, 2-2 in the Big Ten), which first took to the field at 8:25 a.m. here (an hour behind State College time) for a first quick feel for the turf and the wind, is trying to win two in a row. The Lions have done that just once in 2013, when they won their first two games of the season, against Syracuse and Eastern Michigan.
The first Penn State player out for official warm-up? Linebacker Ben Kline, who worked on his footwork a few minutes alone at midfield, anxious to build on his season-high eight-tackle performance last week.
In some ways, TCF Bank is like MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where Penn State beat Syracuse 23-17. It’s new and sleek (built in 2009), with big HD scoreboards, with an intimate feel to the venue.
After MetLife, in Penn State’s only other road games this year, it lost 44-24 at Indiana and 63-14 at Ohio Stare.
The Nittany Lions, too, will need a ground game if they hope to win. Bill Belton ran for a career-high 201 yards last week in Penn State’s 24-17 win over Illinois and over the past three games, he has 284 yards on 85 carries. Penn State coach Bill O’Brien went easy on Belton in practice early in the week, allowing the running back’s battered body to get some rest.
O’Brien also might need to call on Zack Zwinak, who has just 11 carries for 59 yards in the past three games – if he doesn’t fumble the opportunity. His time has been limited after a spate of dropped balls, including key fumbles against UCF, Michigan and Ohio State.
Still, there will be pressure on PSU freshman Christian Hackenberg. Since Penn State started Big Ten play, Hackenberg’s passing completion rate has dropped from 65.4% to 55.2%, although his TD output as jumped from four in the first four games to eight in the past four games. Today, he’ll need a high percentage rate and a TD pass or two.
Weather that will happen or not, we’ll see.
