Penn State Football finally made an announcement regarding the 2022 Whiteout game on Wednesday.
The program confirmed that the tradition will take place against Minnesota this year, on October 22, rather than a week later against Ohio State which is typically the pick.
While TV rights and timing of the game had the most influence on the decision, a noon whiteout game just wouldn’t feel quite right.
But while the once-a-year event will take place against the Golden Gophers this time around, that doesn’t mean that it will be any less exciting.
Here are a few games against Minnesota that have been rather compelling in recent memory.
2016 – Penn State 29, Minnesota 26 (OT)
Who knows where the Penn State Football program would be without this signature overtime win from 2016.
Before the nine-game winning streak that led to a Rose Bowl appearance, the 2-2 Nittany Lions found themselves down three with under a minute left to an unranked team at home.
After a patented scramble into field goal range by Trace McSorley, kicker Tyler Davis was able to hit a 40-yard field goal with just a couple of ticks remaining and overtime would be required to decide this one.
In the extra frame, Saquon Barkley provided Penn State fans with one of the signature plays of his career as he took the first snap 25 yards to the house to give his team a critical win that would go on to propel them to a conference championship.
2019 – No. 17 Minnesota 31, No. 4 Penn State 26
The 2019 matchup between Penn State and Minnesota had a massive amount of anticipation as it was a battle of two 8-0 teams in the Big Ten.
In front of a raucous crowd at TCF Bank Stadium, Tanner Morgan and the Gopher offense had a big day with future NFL wideouts Rashod Bateman and Tyler Johnson going off for over 300 combined receiving yards.
But the Nittany Lions answered back on each punch thrown by P.J. Fleck’s team until the very end of the game when they needed a score to take the lead.
Penn State began to march down the field but a Sean Clifford interception in the end zone sealed the deal for Minnesota and gave them one of their most memorable victories under Fleck so far.
1999 – Minnesota 24, No. 2 Penn State 23
Another heartbreaker for Penn State came 20 years earlier at Beaver Stadium in what is likely the biggest upset in this rivalry’s history.
Penn State was 9-0 and the No. 2 team in the country heading into a matchup at home against a team that was coming off back to back losses and looking to become bowl eligible for the first time in 13 years.
Golden Gopher kicker Dan Nystrom was given an opportunity to complete the miraculous upset with a 32-yard field goal attempt which he nailed as time expired.
But Nystrom is not given that chance without a wild tipped pass that was caught on 4th-and-16 by Arland Bruce which gave Minnesota field position it needed with under two minutes remaining.
Penn State would go on to lose the following two games after its hot start to the season, meaning that this game will always go down as one of the bigger ‘what if’s’ in program history.
2006 – Penn State 28, Minnesota 27 (OT)
Another overtime winner for Penn State took place at the old Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis in 2006.
Penn State was coming off of an Orange Bowl winning season in 2005 and were looking to avoid a disappointing 3-3 start to begin 2006.
Each time one team scored, the other followed up with a touchdown of its own as nobody led by more than one score the entire game.
That meant that the contest would likely come down to who made the first mistake.
That mistake would end up being made by Gopher kicker Jason Giannini in overtime as he missed his lone extra point attempt following a Minnesota touchdown.
The Nittany Lions then scored on a Tony Hunt rushing touchdown and sealed the deal with a made PAT from Kevin Kelly to secure the one-point victory.
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