Minnesota Golden Gophers vs Penn State Nittany Lions Match Player Stats On Oct 01, 2016

The Sports Xchange
Oct 1, 2016

Saquon Barkley ripped off a 25-yard touchdown run up the middle to lift Penn State to a 29-26 overtime win over Minnesota on Saturday in a Big Ten game in State College, Pa.

Emmit Carpenter kicked a 46-yard field goal on Minnesota's possession in overtime before Barkley scored the winning points on the next play.

Earlier in the fourth quarter, Carpenter made a go-ahead field goal from 40 yards for a 23-20 Minnesota lead.

Barkley finished with 63 yards on 20 carries and Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley completed 19 of 40 passes for 335 yards and a touchdown. He added 73 rushing yards and another score for the Nittany Lions (3-2, 1-1 Big Ten), who battled back from a 13-3 halftime deficit.

Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks rushed for 104 and 100 yards, respectively, for Minnesota and Mitch Leidner completed 24 of 40 passes for 241 yards with a touchdown and interception for the Golden Gophers (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten).

Brooks and tight end Drew Wolitarsky added touchdowns for Minnesota and Irvin Charles hauled in an 80-yard score from McSorley to spark Penn State's second-half comeback.

After Carpenter began the scoring with a 37-yard field goal, the Nittany Lions tied it in the second quarter with a field goal from Tyler Davis when they failed to convert third-and-goal from their own 1-yard-line.

Liedner, who struggled to find his receivers early, came around midway through the first half. He went 4 of 4 on Minnesota's fifth possession and found Wolitarsky over the middle for a 9-yard touchdown to give Minnesota a 10-3 lead. The Gophers took a 10-point lead into halftime after Carpenter's 35-yard field goal.

Penn State's offense got on track with big plays in the second half. Entering the third quarter having failed on eight third-down tries, McSorley avoided pressure, stepped up in the pocket and zipped a pass to Charles, who outran Minnesota's safeties to score.

Davis added a 27-yard field goal to tie it and McSorley used his legs to put Penn State ahead 20-13 on the next drive. After faking a handoff to Barkley, McSorley pivoted to his left and beat Minnesota’s pursuit inside the pylon.

The Gophers got a big play of their own to tie it near the end of the third quarter. Facing a third-and-4, Leidner handed off to Shannon Brooks, who shot through an open hole on a stretch and raced untouched for a 37-yard touchdown.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Minnesota was threatening from Penn State's 13. But Leidner sailed a pass toward the corner of the end zone with eight Nittany Lions in coverage where it was intercepted by Jordan Smith.

Leidner recovered to steer Minnesota into position for Carpenter to kick a 37-yard field goal before McSorley completed two passes for 27 yards and ran for 26 to set Davis up for a 40-yarder that forced overtime.