With Tanner Morgan officially out for Minnesota, the offense will rely entirely on Mohamed Ibrahim, one of the best running backs in the sport. While Ibrahim is tremendous, he and the Golden Gophers will face a tough road environment while being led by a backup quarterback who threw two interceptions in six pass attempts a week ago. Penn State is in a solid bounce-back spot at home against a team that is reeling after having lost consecutive games.

Penn State suffered a humbling loss at Michigan last Saturday, but all that really did was indicate that the separation between the top two and the rest of the league is still pretty pronounced. The second tier in the Big Ten still appears to be Penn State’s alone. Minnesota’s defense and running game are pretty good, but the Golden Gophers may be without senior QB Tanner Morgan, who left last week’s loss at Illinois with an injury. I’d like the Nittany Lions by about a TD if Morgan plays and another TD if he doesn’t.

Minnesota and Penn State have gone over the total in five of their last seven meetings, including the last two, and I’m expecting them to get over this low total. Minnesota is going to have success running the ball all game, especially after watching Michigan put up 418 yards rushing on Penn State last week. Penn State averages a 31-19 score and Minnesota averages a 34-11 score. Over is the top play in this game.