Three-and-a-half weeks later, the Gophers are returning from their second bye week, are playing host to a team from the east side of the Big Ten and might need to put together their best performance of the season just to hang with Penn State.
Sure, some circumstances are similar, but it’ll be an entirely different opponent for the Gophers on Saturday at Huntington Bank Stadium. Fourth-ranked Penn State is in the thick of the Big Ten title race and is in line to make the field for the College Football Playoff.
“Two bye weeks are really beneficial for a football team, mentally, physically and emotionally, for their health,” Gophers coach P.J. Fleck said Monday. “… Not only that, we had to get better at the things we need to get better at with some self-scouting. It gave us a lot more time to work on Penn State as well and get a jump start on that.”
In Penn State, the Gophers (6-4, 4-3) are facing a team that provides a variety of looks on both offense and defense. The Nittany Lions rank 14th nationally in total offense with 454.1 yards per game, with 200 yards coming from the run game and 254.1 via the pass.
No one is more versatile than tight end Tyler Warren, a 6-6, 261-pound senior who has 67 receptions for 808 yards and five touchdowns this season. Warren, who also plays both wildcat formation quarterback and H-back, having rushed or 157 yards and five scores. In Penn State’s 49-10 win over Purdue on Saturday, Warren amassed 190 yards and two TDs on 11 touches.
“Consistency is the truest measure of performance, and I think that’s what you see every single week,” Fleck said of Warren, who had a 17-catch, 224-yard performance in a 33-30 win at USC on Oct. 12. “Really, really good player. We’ve got our hands full, put it that way.”