It took everything that they had but No. 4 Penn State on Saturday survived an upset scare by the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Huntington Bank Stadium. The Nittany Lions after finding themselves trailing 10-0 early in the second quarter and 19-16 at halftime, outscored the Gophers 10-6 in the second half to walk away with their 10th victory of the season.
in the win, Penn State outgained the Gophers 361-281. Quarterback Drew Allar had another strong game for the Nittany Lions completing 21-of-28 passing attempts for 244 yards and a touchdown. Tyler Warren continues to be the program's MVP with eight receptions for 102 yards while the Penn State rushing attack did just enough with 33 carries for 117 yards and two touchdowns.
Defensively, the Nittany Lions kept the Gophers to just 175 passing yards 106 rushing yards, and 3.6 yards per carry. Tom Allen's defense allowed just one full-field scoring drive, coming on the Gophers' first drive of the game.
Minnesota's only other touchdown in the game came on a short field following a semi-blocked Riley Thompson punt.
But who were the top performers according to Pro Football Focus?
Happy Valley Insider subscribers can take a look at the full PFF's grades and advanced stats for the Nittany Lions in our Lions Den forum, by clicking here.
TOP THREE PERFORMERS
OVERALL GRADE: 84.3
It shouldn't be a surprise but Warren was the Nittany Lions' top overall performer on Saturday with an 84.3 overall offensive grade. The senior tight end had eight receptions for 102 yards in the game.
Following the Nittany Lions' win, Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck unprompted praised Warren.
"I still don't know why people don't talk about him for the Heisman Trophy," Fleck said. "I'm not saying he's gonna win it but I'm not sure why I've seen a top ten, he's not in it."
"We did everything, had to take him out of the game and he still had eight catches for 102 yards," he added. "When somebody builds a game plan around you and you still do that and you still find a way to, you know, do all the other things he did, special player."
Warren through 11 games has totaled 75 receptions for 910 yards and five touchdowns as well as 18 carries for 157 yards and four touchdowns.
OVERALL GRADE: 78.0
It was an interesting game for Allar as at times early on, it appeared that the junior quarterback was going through some struggles with some poor misses. However, once the dust settled, it was a pretty good day for Nittany Lions' signal caller. As noted above, Allar finished the day with 21 completions on 28 attempts for 244 yards and one touchdown. He also had a rushing touchdown.
With one regular season game remaining, Allar has completed 72.2% of his passes this season for 2,497 yards and 17 touchdowns to five interceptions. He also has four rushing touchdowns on the year, bringing his total touchdowns to 21.
OVERALL GRADE: 78.0
One of the leaders of Penn State's defense, DeLuca had a big interception in Saturday's game in the first half that allowed the Nittany Lions to tie the game at 10-10. He finished the game with three tackles while having a quality day when dropping into coverage allowing just 14 yards on four targets. The West Pittston native now has 21 total tackles on the season including 11 solo tackles and one interception.
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