SEC & Big Ten Week 11 Roundup: Gophers make statement against No. 4 Penn State
Minnesota improved to 9-0 on the year and snapped a 13-game losing streak against ranked opponents on Saturday as the Golden Gophers took down previously unbeaten Penn State 31-26 at TCF Bank Stadium.
The Gophers jumped out to an early lead as Antoine Winfield, Jr. picked off Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford on the game’s opening drive, setting up a 66-yard touchdown touchdown pass from Tanner Morgan to Rashod Bateman. Bateman ultimately finished the game with seven catches for 203 yards, the second-most in program history.
The Nittany Lions answered with a 45-yard touchdown run by Journey Brown to knot the score at 7-7, but the Gophers reclaimed the lead with another impressive drive capped by a 21-yard touchdown pass from Morgan to Chris Autman-Bell.
In the second quarter, Winfield snatched his second interception of the game, setting up Morgan for his third and final touchdown pass of the day, a 38-yard pitch and catch with Tyler Johnson. After the teams traded field goals, Minnesota took a 24-13 lead into the locker room.
Penn State was able to cut the lead to five in the third quarter, but the Gophers extended their lead once again early in fourth, when Seth Green ran the ball in from 1-yard out to take a 31-19 lead. The Nittany Lions answered once more and pulled within a score late in the fourth, but the Gophers intercepted Clifford with 1:01 remaining in the game to seal the win.
Now let’s check out a few more highlights from an exciting Week 11 in the SEC and Big Ten:
No. 2 LSU 46, No. 3 Alabama 41: Joe Burrow passed for 393 yards and three touchdowns as the Tigers ended an eight-game losing streak to Crimson Tide. LSU is now 9-0 for the first time since 2011 – the year of its last win over ‘Bama – and is 8-1 in its last nine games against Top 10 opponents, including a 4-0 mark this season.
Purdue 24, Northwestern 22: The Boilermakers rallied after falling behind 14-0 early and pulled out a win behind Aidan O’Connell’s 271 yards passing and J.D. Dellinger’s 39-yard, game-winning field goal with three seconds left to play.
Illinois 37, Michigan State 34: After trailing 28-3 in the second quarter and 31-10 at the end of the third, Illinois rallied in the fourth to defeat Michigan State 37-34. The victory marked the largest comeback in Illini history, topping 20-point comebacks against Michigan and Rutgers in 1999 and 2005, respectively.
No. 13 Wisconsin 24, No. 18 Iowa 22: Jonathan Taylor rushed for a season-high 250 yards and became the only running back to rush for more than 100 yards against the Hawkeyes this season, as Wisconsin topped Iowa to improve to 7-2 on the year. Taylor’s 250 yards are the most ever by a Wisconsin player against the Hawkeyes, surpassing the previous record of 216, set by Ron Dayne in 1999.
No. 6 Georgia 27, Missouri 0: Georgia held Mizzou to 198 yards of offense as the Bulldogs defense secured their third shutout this season. The ‘Dawgs remain the nation’s only FBS team to not allow a rushing score this season.
Tennessee 17, Kentucky 13: After entering the half down 13-3, Tennessee quarterback Jarrett Guarantano threw two third-quarter touchdown passes to give the Vols the lead, which the Tennessee defense protected with a late goal-line stand to preserve the comeback win.