It's Penn State-Minnesota week: Game time, spread, channel, streaming info, storylines, more

It is Minnesota week, Penn State fans. The No. 4 Nittany Lions play their final road game of the regular season on Saturday when they take on the Golden Gophers in Minneapolis. PSU is fresh off an 49-10 road win over Purdue.

“I think we had a really good taste of what we can do last week when, obviously we had a good first half,” junior offensive tackle Drew Shelton said. “The talkall week has just been, how can we sustain that for four quarters? So just knowing that, when we play games, they’re going to need to be four quarter games.”

Get ready for Lions-Golden Gophers with our early game preview.

Time and TV info

Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m ET (that will be 2:30 p.m. in Minneapolis) at Huntington Bank Stadium. CBS will televise the contest. Its top crew of Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson, and Jenny Dell will be on the call for the second week in a row.

What is the Penn State-Minnesota spread?

This line has been moving all over the place. FanDuel initially opened it at 15.5 late Saturday night. It was down to 12 and even 11 by Sunday morning and afternoon. As of Monday morning, it sits at PSU -12.5 with a total of 45.5 on FanDuel. DraftKings has it at -11.5 and 45.

Game week schedule for the Lions

Penn State is on its regular game week schedule. Head coach James Franklin will meet with reporters Monday at Beaver Stadium and Wednesday post-practice inside Holuba Hall. He should also be on the second half hour of the Penn State Coaches Show, which airs from 6-7 p.m. ET on Thursday night, although his coordinators filled that time slot last week. An assistant coach will speak with reporters earlier that day. A media practice viewing window is set for Wednesday night. And, Players will hold ZOOM call with reporters Tuesday and Wednesday.

What’s up with Minnesota?

The Golden Gophers are coming out of their final bye week of the season. Minnesota is 6-4 and had a four-game winning week snapped last Saturday when it lost 26-19 at Rutgers. Quarterback Max Brosmer leads the offense. Receiver Daniel Jackson is among the Big Ten’s best from a statistical perspective at the position. He has 63 receptions for 712 yards and three touchdowns. Safety Koi Perich leads the Big Ten with five interceptions. Minnesota is very similar to Washington in the sense that it has a top 15 defense but an offense that ranks outside of the top 100, which has been one of its biggest issues this season.

Weather report

A dry day is expected. Here’s the latest from Weather.com: “Partly cloudy. High 34. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph.”

Early Penn State-Minnesota storylines

—Dani Dennis-Sutton says he thinks he will be back to 100 percent next week. That’s bad news for the Golden Gophers. He was very disruptive against Purdue and figures to be even more so this week. That’s something to keep an eye on.

–Will the Nittany Lions receivers be more involved this week? Trey Wallace did catch a long touchdown pass but otherwise the touches for the receivers were limited. Obviously, Tyler Warren’s big day and the fact that the backups were in early played a big role in that. But, more is still needed from this group.

–Speaking of Warren, what can he do for an encore? It feels like we ask that question weekly and he continues to find new ways to impress us.

–Will Minnesota do anything differently this week? Coming out of the bye and in search of a win, it should pull out all of the stops, and Penn State must be ready for any tricks and surprises.