A month ago the Minnesota Gophers were 4-0 and the talk of college football, with some going as far as saying P.J. Fleck’s team was a possible College Football Playoff contender. Those talks are gone and so are any about Minnesota contending for the Big Ten West division title after they were routed at Penn State 45-17 Saturday night.
The blowout loss on national television is the third straight for the Gophers (4-3 overall, 1-3 Big Ten), who lost on homecoming to Purdue and at Illinois last Saturday.
More than 109,000 fans packed Happy Valley on Penn State’s annual white out night and they roared from start to finish as Minnesota struggled on offense for a third straight week, this time with redshirt freshman Athan Kaliakmanis at quarterback in place of a concussed Tanner Morgan.
Making his first start of any kind since his junior year of high school in 2019, Kaliakmanis finished 9-of-22 for 175 yards, one touchdown and one interception. His lone touchdown pass went to tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford in the fourth quarter.
Mohamed Ibrahim rushed for 101 yards for his NCAA record-tying 15th consecutive game eclipsing the century mark, but it took him 29 carries to get there as Penn State loaded the box and dared the Gophers to throw.
On the other side, Sean Clifford shredded the Gophers for 295 yards and four touchdown passed and the Nittany Lions gashed the Gophers for 162 yards on the ground.
The loss drops Minnesota to fifth in the Big Ten West.
- Illinois (6-1, 3-1)
- Purdue (5-3, 3-2)
- Nebraska (3-4, 2-2)
- Wisconsin (4-4, 2-3)
- Minnesota (4-3), 1-3)
- Iowa (3-4, 1-3)
- Northwestern (1-6, 1-3)
Up next: Gophers vs. Rutgers, Oct. 29 at 1:30 p.m.
