Hello  and  welcome  back  to the  weekly  rundown  presented  by  the  Minnesota  Daily. I  am  your  host,  Paul  Hodowonick. And  if  I'm  not  mistaken, I  think  there  might  be  an  important  game  this  weekend. I  think  some  people  have  been  talking  about  it. I've  seen  some  things  on  Twitter. I'm  sure  you  guys  have  heard  some  whispers, and  of  course  I'm  joking. That  would  be  the  Gophers  taking  on Penn  State  this  Saturday at  11:00  A.M.  battle  a  top  15  teams. So  to  break  down  everything  about this  match  up  and  recent  Gopher  football  news, because  there's  been  a  lot  of  it. We  bring  back  our  football  reporters, Nick  Youngheim  and  John.  Nick,  how  you  doing? How's  it  going? Paul  and  Johnny  Danny,  just  living  the  dream. Alright.  We'll  make  sure  to  check  out  both  of their  work  on  both  of  their  works  on Minday.com  or  pick  up  a  paper  on campus  to  check  out  the  newly  printed  football  issue. So  I  want  to  get  into  some  headlines before  we  break  down  the  match  up. So  first  up, the  Tuesday  press  conference  was  a  little  bit  taken  over. Looked  like  a  45  minute  delay  or something  like  that?  Just  a  little  delay. I  may  have  missed  my  230  class. Yeah,  exactly.  I  guess  they're not  factoring  in  the  student  reporters, but  flex  sign  a  new  contract  seven  year  extension. So  not  seven  years  on  top  of  the  four. He  already  had  just  a  seven  year  extension. So  it'll  run  through  2026  if  he's  still  there, we'll  get  to  that  in  a  little  bit. But  it's  worth  32.2  million  dollar. If  you  average  out  the  4.6  million  annually, which  is  what  he  will  be  getting  in  the  first  year, I  think  that  has  $50,000  bumps  after  every  year, so  that  would  go  up  a  little  bit. And  then  it  also  includes  a  buy  out of  $10,000,000  that  first  year. And  then  it  drops  down  to  4.5  And  then farther  and  farther  down  as  we get  farther  into  the  schedule, which  or  into  the  contract, which  is  an  important  one  to  note. So  first  off,  I  just  kind  of want  to  get  why  this  was  the  move  for  both  of  them. So  first  off,  we'll  start  with  Fleck. Why  was  this  something that  Fleck  wanted  to  get  done  right  now? I  think  Fleck  wanted  to  get  it  done  because  I  think, God,  I  mean,  this  is  a  tough  one. I  think  Fleck  wanted  to  get  it  done  just  because, I  mean,  it  looks  good  for  recruits. Recruits  need  to  know  that you're  sticking  around  for  a  while. And  also  it's  a  guaranteed  pay  raise  for  him. I  mean,  I  was  still shocked  that  he's  making  less  than  Jeff  Brohm, especially  because  it  Gopher  programs a  lot  better  than  Purdue  right  now. So  I  was  a  little  shocked  at the  price  tag  being  as  low  as  it  is. But  I'm  not  surprised  at,  you  know, his  leverage  to  keep  the  buyout  low  after  next  year. And  even  then,  I  still  think  $10,000,000  is super  cheap  for  a  major  program  like  Notre  Dame. Yeah,  if  I'm  gonna  jump  in  really  quickly  here, just  about  that  Bram  point  that  you  made. It's  kind  of  surprising  when  you look  at  all  the  head  coaches. Brohm  is  actually  second  in  the Big  ten,  which  seems  kind  of  crazy. He's  already  making  6.6  I think  that  was  reactionary  to  them thinking  they  were  going  to  lose  him  to Louisville  over  the  summer. So  yeah,  I  te  yeah, like  James  Franklin  isn't  above  him. Like  Kirk  Barrens  of  Iowa  who's been  there  forever,  hasn't  been  above  him. The  new  Ohio  State  coach  isn't  above  him. So  I'm  not  surprised  he  didn't  get  that 6.6  He  probably  should  be  above  Bram, but  I'm  not  sure  Brahm's  worth that  Nick.  Anything  to  add  for  that? Yeah,  I  mean,  I  don't  know  if  anybody  other than  Fleck  and  maybe his  immediate  family  will  know  for  sure. But  it  seems  like  with  the  team  sitting  at 80  right  before  November, this  just  seemed  like  the  perfect  time  to  strike  for  him. You  know,  like  John  said, this  is  kind  of  when  you'll  have  the  most  leverage. I  mean,  you  could  definitely  beat Penn  State  and  then  your  stock  will  rise  a  little  more. But  I  think  it  was  smart  right  now, especially  like  coming  off  of  the  buy  week, having  had  a  little  more  time  to  think  about  it, to  get  this  done  right  now  and, you  know,  give  the  team  and  fans something  to  be  a  little  more  excited about  heading  into  this  week. Not  that  they  probably  needed. Yeah,  it's  also  a  guarantee. I  mean,  if  he  would  lose  the  next  four  games, I  think  that  contract  number could  he  wouldn't  be  as  hot  as  commodity, maybe  he  wouldn't  have  got  the  contract  that  he  did. So  I  don't  know.  I  think  it's  just  good  for  both. It  provides  a  little  bit  of  stability, although  those  buyouts  are  super  small. So  I  think  one  thing  that  I  was  thinking  about  is  they could  just  keep  renegotiating his  contract  as  the  team  gets  better. Because  he  sure  seems  to  avoid  every, he  says  he  wants  to  be  here  but  there's  something  in his  tone  of  voice  where  he  keeps  you, like  not  100%  sure  that  he's  gonna  stay. Yeah,  I  was  going  to  jump in  after  we  talked  about  the  team, but  we'll  just  get  to  it  now  because  you  brought  it  up. Sorry.  No,  no  worries. Any  sense  that  like  'cause  when  I just  was  looking  at  the  transcripts because  I  was  in  class  two,  I  didn't  hear  it. He's  saying,  you  know,  this  program  needs  a  ference. Like  we  need  to  be  here  for  a  long  time. I  want  to  be  here  for  a  long  time. And  I  know  that's  just  stuff  you  say. But  he  came  out  and  said  a  lot  of  things  that make  it  sound  like  he  really  wants  to  be  here. And  I  was  like,  is  this  a  Kyrie  Irving  type  situation? Is  he  going  to  leave  next  year  after  he  said  that? Oh,  things  have  changed.  Things  are  different  now. It's  not  what  I  saw  then  like  are  there senses  that  he  wants  to  leave  or  are we  taking  those  words  at  face  value? It's  really  hard  to  know.  I  mean Offer  from  a  team  like  a  Notre  Dame  in  a  Florida  state. That  is  hard  for  a  coach  to  turn  down. But  he  was  spot  on  when  he said  what  the  Gophers  program  needed was  somebody  like  a  Kirk  Fair  and someone  like  Barry  Alvarez  at  Wisconsin. And  what  he  did  look  at  even  like Pat  Fitzgerald  at  Northwestern  and  some  of these  big  ten  west  programs that  don't  necessarily  have  great  recruiting  bases, But  they've  been  able  to  be  really successful  because  they've  had a  coach  for  a  really  long  time that's  been  able  to  implement  his  culture. I  think  if  you're  going  to  win  at  a  school  like Minnesota  with  any  sort  of  consistency, you're  going  to  need  stability At  the  head  coach  position. Yeah.  Oh,  sorry.  No,  yeah. I  just  he  says  that  and  like  I  said, I  talked  about  the  buyout, you  know,  being  lower  and  lower. And  I  don't  know  if  he's  just  using  that  as  leverage. But  either  way,  I  mean, 10  million  is  not  a  lot  in  year  one. If  a  team  like  Notre  Dame  or  USC  comes,  especially  USC, with  all  the  boosters,  they  have  a  Notre  Dame, they  have  huge  boosters  to  buy  that  out. And  then  it  just  gets  cheaper  and  cheaper. I  don't  know  if  that's  a  leverage  tactic because  that  really  looks  like  you're looking  for  a  way  out  or  you're  just looking  to  leverage  that  into  a  lot  more  money. It  could  be  both. Yeah.  And  I'm  thinking  maybe  for  those  USC's, those  Notre  Dames,  there  might  not be  a  buyout  number  too  high. So  at  that  point,  that  $10,000,000 takes  out  like  just  another  jump  up, like  major  jump  up. But  not  maybe  one  of  those  top  ten  programs. So  maybe  it  eliminates  one  of  those because  I'm  not  sure  you're  right, if  there's  ever  a  buyout that  is  too  much  for  some  of  those  programs, but  maybe  taking  out  some  of  the  other  ones that  maybe  he'd  leave  for  now. Why  does  it  make  sense  for  the  team? It  seems  kind  of  obvious,  but  give  us, lay  out  the  reasons  about  why the  gophers  want  to  keep him  and  why  they  want  to  keep  him. Right  now,  I  think  it  goes  back  to  what  I  just  said. They  need  somebody  who's  going  to  be  able to  keep  a  consistent  culture. And  I  mean,  you  look  at  what  he's  done  eight  no, for  the  first  time  since  1941. And  the  relative  quickness  with which  he's  had  the  success being  only  in  his  third  season. I  mean,  I  think  this  quick  turnaround, the  Gopher  program  has  already  reached heights  it  hasn't  reached  in  a  long  time. And,  you  know,  there's really  nothing  to  suggest  that  if  Fleck  were  to  leave, they'd  be  able  to  keep on  this  pace  that  they're  on  right  now. Yeah,  I  mean,  just  look  at  it.  We're  not  worried. We're  the  program  is  number  13  in  the  country. And  yeah,  he  definitely  provides  that  stability. And  like  I  talked  about  before,  it looks  good  for  recruits. And  if  he  wants  to stay  and  build  this  into  a  powerhouse,  I  mean, this  deal  looks  fantastic  for  the  gophers, but  I  definitely  think  it'll  be  renegotiated. But  yeah,  it's  a  win  win. And  especially  Mark  Coyle  talked about  his  relationship  with Fleck  and  how  much  they  get  along. They're  two  opposite  personalities, but  they  love  each  other  and  I think  the  general  respect  for  each  other  is  there. And  they  definitely  wanted  to  hammer something  out  to  keep  him  here  long  term. And  I  think  if  it's  going  to  come  to  the  table again  in  a  year  or  two,  they'll  pay  him. Yeah,  it's  interesting,  just  one  more  note that  it's  a  seven  year  deal  because obviously  that  deal  would  get reworked  if  somehow  he  was  still  here  in  two  years, that  deal  would  get  reworked. More  money,  bigger  buyouts. So  maybe  that  seven  year  is  more  of  a  PR, you  just  like,  hey,  we're  here  until  2026. But  there's  no  way  that  if he's  still  here  in  two  years  that, that  wouldn't  get  reworked 100%  Now  I  want  to  go  to  one  other  piece  of  news. The  first  college  football  playoff  poll  rankings, whatever  you  want  to  call  it,  came  out  golfers  are  17th. That's  in  opposition  to  their  number 13  ranking  in  the  AP  poll. In  the  coaches  poll.  So  I think  the  national  people said  it  was  because  of  the  strength  of  schedule. Is  that  what  we're  taking  it  as, why  they're  may  be  17th  above? I  think  it  was  like  six  teams that  already  have  two  losses. Yeah,  I  think  if  you  look at  where  those  rankings  you're  at  right  now, it  seems  evident  to  me  that  the  committee  was  valuing quality  wins  and  strength  of  schedule  to have  teams  like  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  Kansas  State. Two  lost  teams  ahead  of  Minnesota. That  caught  me  a  little  off  guard. So  it  seems  low  for  ranking, but  at  the  same  time, they're  still  undefeated  right  now. There  are  four  games  left  in  the  season. You  know,  you  know  what  was  going  to  happen  either  way. If  they  lose  these  upcoming  games,  they're  going  to  drop. If  they  win,  they'll  keep  rising. It  really  shouldn't  concern  them  at  all. Yeah,  it  definitely  shouldn't  concern  them. And  don't  think  that  they're  not  using  that  as bulletin  board  material  either. But  yeah,  yeah, the  62  lost  teams  ahead  of  them  kind  of  blows  my  mind, but  it's  the  first  one  they come  out  and  they  play  at  this  game  competitively. They  lose  by  less  than  ten. I  think  they  could  even  jump  up. You  know,  because  it's  Penn  State's  top  five  team, the  nation  number  four  in the  college  football  playoff  poll. Yeah,  it  should  definitely  be  pointed out  that  moving  forward, the  Gophers  strength  of  schedule, the  remaining  opponents, it's  the  12th  toughest  schedule in  the  nation  going  forward. And  that's  the  most,  that's the  toughest  schedule  of  any  of  the  undefeated  teams. So  strength  of  schedule, especially  if  they  win  the  west  and  play a  team  like  Ohio  State  or  Penn  State  again, the  Big  Ten  championship, not  going  to  be  an  issue  for  the  Gophers  moving  forward. Yeah,  and  I  think  it's  important  to  point out  in  that  top  four,  they  have  LSU, Alabama,  they're  playing  Penn  State, Ohio  State,  they're  gonna  play. And  I  think  one  of  the  reasonings that  they  were  pointing  to  on  that  broadcast  is  like, you  might  as  well  put  them  in.  Because  if In  this  week  or  like  if  Alabama, LSU,  one  of  them  is  going  to  stay  in  there. One  of  them  probably  is  going  to  drop  out. So  this  first  ranking, if  someone's  going  to  drop  out. So  they  might  as  well  be  in  there  right  there  anyways. And  so  we  still  have  a  long  way  to  go. But  if  they  win,  I  see  them  jumping  up  far  above. Probably  all  those  two  lost  teams,  you'd  think. Because  then  there's  that  first  quality  win against  a  team  that  was  number  four. So  that's  another  piece  of optimism  to  keep  for Gopher  fans,  hoping  they  can  pull  it  out. And  let's  preview  that  game. Now,  like  we  just  said, Penn  State's  fourth  in the  college  football  playoff  rankings, Fifth  in  the  AP  poll. There  are  eight  on  the  season, and  they're  a  seven  point  favorite  heading into  a  road  game  for  them. Here  in  Minnesota,  their  schedule  was  relatively  easy. I  think  they  had  Maryland  and Purdue  early  on  in  the  Big  Ten  schedule, along  with  their  non  conference, which  wasn't  like  a  hugely  challenging  schedule, especially  for  a  Penn  state. But  these  last  three  weeks  have  been  impressive. They  beat  Iowa,  Michigan,  Michigan  State. Iowa  and  Michigan  are  both  ranked Michigan  State.  You  can  never  count  out. I  don't  think  in  football they're  always  going  to  be  a  tough  out. So  they've  kind  of ramped  it  up  recently  and  they've  shown that  they  mean  business and  they  deserve  that  number  four  ranking. So  I  want  to  break  down  both  sides  of  the  ball. First  we'll  start  on  offense. What  makes  them  really  good  on  the  side  of  the  ball? They've  really  excelled  in  the  passing  game  this  year. Sean  Clifford  has  been  outstanding  for  them. Only  three  interceptions.  He's  also, he  can  do  some  good  things  with his  legs,  he  can  move  around. And  then  he's  got  a  top  notch  receiver  and  KJ. Hamler,  currently  six  in  the  Big  ten. And  receiving  yards,  and  I  believe  tied  for first  among  receivers  with  eight  receiving  touchdowns. Really  good  in  terms  of  his  speed. They'll  use  them  on  special  teams  to  definitely  a  guy, they'll  try  to  get the  ball  in  his  hands  as  much  as  possible. Yeah,  I  mean  Shaun  Clifford  though, he  also  gets  it  done  with  his  legs. I  mean  Penn  State  has four  rushers  that  they  can  use  at  any  time. And  Sean  Clifford  is  the  third  leading  rusher. So  they  have  five  guys  who  can  run the  ball  and  then  not  only  on  the  receiving  game, not  only  Hamler  handlers  a  stud. He's  probably  going  to  be  at  least  a  second  round  pick. But  they  also  have  Pat  Fryer, Muth,  who  has  taken  over  that  tight  end  role. And  he  has  seven  touchdowns  on  the  year, 25  receptions  for  291  yards. I  mean,  this  guy  is  a  beast. I  mean,  not  only  do you  have  to  stop  Hamler  on  the  outside, you're  gonna  have  to  stop  Friar Meuth  who's  going  to  just  wreak havoc  over  the  middle  and  definitely  in  the  red  zone. Yeah,  The  gophers  don't  have  that  tight  end  presence. But  when  you  guys  were  laying  that  out, it  sounded  kind  of  similar  to  what  we've  got  here. A  lot  of  rushers  that  can  rush the  ball  quarterback  who  is  mobile. Morgan  isn't  as  mobile  as  Clifford, but  Morgan  can  move  around  the  pocket especially  and  can  get  out  and  scramble. And  then  a  star  wide  receiver,  we've  got  a  pair  of  them. I'm  not  sure  if  either  of  them maybe  get  to  that  Hamler  range, but  they're  all  right  in  that  area. So  similarities,  and  I  know  my  friend  sent  me  texts about  all  the  statistical  similarities that  these  teams  share  in  a  lot  of  ways. So  on  often  side  of  the  ball, there's  a  lot  of  things  that  mirror  each  other. And  so  now  I  want  to  go  to  defense. What  they  do  well  on  defense, Penn  State  and  what  they  do well  on  defense  is  stop  the  run. I  mean,  this  is  depending  on  what  category  you  look  at, the  they're  ranked  one  or  two  in  terms  of  yards per  game  or  yards  per  attempt  by  opposing  rusher. So  this  is  going  to  be  a  huge  test  for the  Minnesota  run  game  which  has  been absolutely  cruising  the  last  five  or  six  weeks. Yeah,  I  believe  they're  almost  half  a  yard  better  in yards  per  attempt  than the  second  best  team  in  the  nation  right  now, allowing  less  than  2  yards  per  carry  to  opponent. Some  got  a  really strong  defensive  front,  they  can  rotate. A  lot  of  guys  in  there  get  fresh  bodies, yetter  gross  mat,  they're defensive  And  potential  first  round  pick. He  will  be  a  first  round  pick  for  sure.  He's  that  good. And  then  they  also  have  a  good  secondary as  well.  They  ranked  top  ten. And  pass  defense  efficiency, so  a  hard  team  to  score  against. So  you  talk  about  that  really  effective  rush  defense. I  know  Gophers  always talk  about  how  we  want  to  establish  the  run. Is  that  the  same  message?  The  same. We're  just  going  to  keep  churning  it  out. We're  going  to  try  to  keep  working them  down  and  just  continuing  to  run  the  ball, even  though  they  know  that this  rush  defense  is  super  dominant. Yeah.  Offensive  Coordinator  Kirk  Saka  for  the  Gophers. He  pretty  much  said,  we're  not going  to  change  our  game.  We're  going  to  do  what  we  do. And  that's  the  zone  scheme  as  well as  they've  been  doing  the  outside zone  scheme  the  last  couple  weeks. The  Gophers  want  to  establish  time  of  possession. And  Saca  kind  of  talked  about  how  Fleck  loves  that  term. He  loves  having  time  of  possession  and  the  gophers, they're  gonna  pound  it,  but  I  think  it's going  to  come  down  to  Tanner  Morgan. Yeah.  You  saw  it  early  in  the  season, even  when  the  run  game  wasn't  having  a  lot of  success  in  those  first  couple  weeks. They  kept  with  it  even  late  in  games. They  kept  trying  to  get  yards  on  the  ground. And  I  mean  now the  running  back  core  is a  lot  healthier  than  it  was  then.  That  helps. Offensive  line  has  come  a  long  way  but  like  you  said, I  think  Tanner  Morgan  is gonna  have  to  make  some  throws  and  I  mean, Shah  Bateman  and  Tyler  Johnson  on  the  outside. And  then  guys  like  Chris  Autman,  Bell, Demetrius  Douglas,  that  receiving  core,  I  mean Penn  State's  a  really  good  past  defense,  like  I  said. But  I  think  they  have  some  chances  to exploit  some  match  ups  on the  outside  with  their  receiver  depth. Yeah,  I  mean,  if  you  look  at  Penn  State's  defense, I  mean,  they're  gonna  force  Morgan to  probably  make  some  big  plays. He's  going  to  have  to  throw  it  deep  there. If  you're  Penn  State and  you  have  the  defense  that  you  do, they're  not  as  good  as  the  golfers, but  they're  still  top  50  in  the  nation. They're  going  to  probably  take  away  the  slants. I  mean,  we  haven't,  the  golfers  haven't  faced a  good  defense  that  could  really  take away  Bateman  and  as  well  as  Johnson. And  they're,  they're  going  to  force  Morgan  to probably  throw  the  ball more  than  15  yards  down  the  field. All  right.  So  now  I  want  to  think  you  guys  to  think about  Saturday  03:00  P.M.  Games  over. Gophers  won.  They  won  by  six. They  won  by  three,  they  won  by  whatever. What  would  that  win  mean  to  the  program? Well,  I  think  it'll  be  huge. It  would  probably  be  their  biggest  win since  who  knows  when? I  mean,  definitely  in  the  TCF  Bank  Stadium  era,  I  mean, they'll  possibly  be,  you  know, win  away  from  clinching  the  Big  Ten  West  potentially. I  think  it'll  be  just  absolutely  momentous. Yeah.  Wasn't  this  the  20th  anniversary  of this  week  when  the  Gophers  beat  Penn  State, who  was  the  top  three  team  in  the  nation? So  this  would  be  huge, this  would  put  the  Gophers  on  the  map. I  mean,  it  wouldn't  matter  if  they  lost the  rest  of  the  three  games  following, they  would  probably  still  be  a  top  20  team  in  the  nation. I  mean,  this  would  be  a  win that  Fleck  would  just  be  able  to  take  everywhere  on the  recruiting  trail  as  well  as you  get  his  players  hyped  up  for  the  next  three  games. But  you  know,  it's  always  a  one game  season  with  this  club, so  I  don't  think  it  does  anything  for  the  players. I  think  they'll  love  it.  But  I  think they'll  move  on  to  the  next  game, like  they  do  for  every  single  other  one. I  want  you  to  finish  this  hypothetical,  the  Gophers  win. If  I  think  that what  the  Gophers  have  done  so well  over  the  last  few  weeks, and  Coach  has  talked  about  this  a  little  bit, is  success  on  first  down  and creating  manageable  third  down  situations. I  think  the  Running  Backs  and  the  offensive  line  are really  going  to  have  to  step  up against  their  toughest  challenge  so  far. It's  going  to  make  a  big  difference  to  the  gophers if  they  can  get  in  third  and  three, third  and  two,  instead  of  third  and  seven, third  and  eight,  if  they  can  get  third  and  manageable, consistently  pick  up  those  first  downs and  keep  the  drive  moving, keep  the  Penn  State  offense  off  the  field. I  think  that's  going  to  be  the  big  key. Yeah,  for  me  I'd  have  to say  I  think  it  comes  down  to  tan. If  Tanner  Morgan  is  able  to  throw the  ball  and  have  a  couple  big  plays  down the  field  to  get  the  gophers  on the  opposite  side  of  the  Penn  State  territory, I  think  they'll  have  a  good  shot. But  then  I  think this  game  is  going  to  more  rely  on  the  defense. I  think  the  defense  is  going  to  have  to  step  up. I  think  we  saw  them  get  attacked, picked  apart  in  the  run  game  early  on  in the  season  by  not  terrible  schools, Georgia  Southern,  as  well  as  South  Dakota  State. The  past  defense  will  be  fine. I  think  the  run  defense  will  have  to  play top  notch  in  order  to  keep  this  game. One  thing  I'm  interested  to  see  is  the  crowd. I  think  it's  been  topic of  contention  throughout  the  season. People  tweeting  out  photos  in the  second  half  of  students  leaving  it, not  looking  that  full  and  saying, oh,  the  gophers  deserve  better. Like  where  is  this  fan  base? This  fan  base  is  gonna  come  out  this  weekend. It  feels  like  the  game  just sold  out  before  we  started  this  podcast. Game  just  sold  out,  which  to maybe  other  people  listening  is  like, how  would  it  not  have  sold  out? It's  just  not  the  culture  that's  been  here. I  think  it's  developing  towards  that. But  a  sell  out  is  a  big  deal. I  think  there's  going  to  be  a  ton  of  fans. There's  obviously  going  to  be  a  good traveling  section  of  Penn  State  fans. But  I  think  this  is  going  to  be  a  crazy  game. People  thought  College  Game  Day  was  going  to  come  back. I've  had  like  family, friends  who've  graduated  and  are gone  trying  to  hit  me  up  for  tickets  already. Like  people  are  coming  back. People  are  excited  for  this  game, so  I'm  excited  to  see  what  kind  of  effect  that  has. Penn  State's  used  to  playing  in  front  of a  huge  crowd  in  Death  Valley, but  at  the  same  time,  the  Gophers haven't  really  played  with  this  sort of  home  field  advantage. So  I'm  excited  to  see  what's  going  to  happen  there. I  want  to  jump  right  to  predictions. I  think  it's  kind  of  a  consensus that  most  people  think  barring  something, it's  Penn  State's  game  to  lose. What  are  your  thoughts  on  that? I  think  Penn  State rightfully  so  is  the  favorite  in  this  game. Minnesota  right  now  has  to  prove that  they  can  show  up  in  these  moments. That's  not  something  they've  done  historically, but  this  is  definitely  a  very  different  Gopher  team to  what  they've  had  in  the  past. I  don't  think  they'll  shy  away  from  it  at  all. And  I  think  that  they'll show  that  they  belong  out  there  on  Saturday, whether  they  win  or  not,  do  you  have  a  score? I'm  going  to  say  Penn  State  takes  it  27,  24. It  could  be  really  close  game. Could  come  down  to  special  teams  or  something. And  looking  at  some  of  the  team  efficiencies  right  now, Penn  State,  one  of  the  best  special  teams  in  the  nation. Gophers  ranked  way  down  towards  the  bottom. So  they're  pretty  something  like  that  to keep  an  eye  on,  I  think. Yeah,  probably  like  a  field  goal  game, something  really  close,  but  Penn  State  narrow  victory. I  think  the  opposite. I  thought  the  spread  was  a  little  less. I  mean,  I  think  there's  a  few  people who  I  know  who  are,  you  know, picking  Penn  State  to win  this  game  and  cover  the  spread  easily, which  is  6.5  Right  now, I  think  Penn  State  easily  covers the  spread  and  they  win  35  to  24. I  just  think  this  team  is  super  athletic. I  don't  think  that  they  can.  I  think  the  Gopher is  going  to  have  a  lot  of  trouble  stopping  Clifford. I  mean  they  haven't  faced a  quarterback  like  him  yet  this  season. They  faced  a  string  of  backup  quarterbacks. This  kid's  the  real  deal. And  you  want  to  talk  about  filling  Trace  Mcsorley  shoes. He's  filled  them  and  he  might  even  be  better. So  yeah,  I  think  it'll be  close  until  about  mid  third  quarter. That's  when  we  see  Penn  State starts  to,  you  know,  really  pull  away. On  an  earlier  podcast  I  did  today, I  gave  the  Penn  State  student  newspaper, I  told  them  Penn  State  probably  31,  21. But  like  I'm  kind  of  feeling  like,  let's  just  go  for  it. So  I'm  gonna  reverse  that  pick. So  I'm  gonna  be  wrong  either  way. I'm  gonna  be  right  either  way. So  I  feel  good  about  that,  my  credibility  is  gone, which  I  don't  really  care  about  right  now. And  we'll  say  Minnesota  31,  Penn  State  21. I  don't  have  much  factual  things  to  back that  up  besides  the  fact  that  my  roommates  have been  parading  around  all  weekend ready  to  have  beaten  Penn  State. And  so  I'll  just  jump  on that  bandwagon  and  we'll  just  see  where  that  takes  me. So  any  final  thoughts  before  we  conclude? I  would  expect  that  this  is  just  going  to  be a  really  entertaining  game  to  tune  into  for  Gopher  fans. You  know,  if  you  followed  this  program  for  a  while, just  try  to  enjoy  this  moment, because  obviously  something  that people  here  in  Dinky  Town have  been  waiting  a  long  time  for. So  going  to  be  very  exciting  to watch  and  just  feel  the  atmosphere  on  Saturday. Yeah,  I  mean,  this  isn't  a  prime  time  middle  night  game, but  this  is  on  ABC  National  Network at  11:00  A.M.  People  will  be  tuning  in. Like  Nick  said,  this  is the  biggest  game  program  history in  probably  the  last  20  years. And  when  people  ask  me,  you  know,  what  can  I  expect? And  I'm  like,  just  enjoy  where the  gophers  are  at  right  now. You  don't  know  what  next  season  I'll bring  or  the  season  after  that  there? Eight.  No.  For  the  first  time since  World  War  Two.  Enjoy  it. All  right.  Well,  thanks  guys. We  look  forward  to  your  coverage  this  Saturday. Make  sure  to  check  out  Nick  and  John. They'll  be  live  tweeting  throughout  the  game  and they'll  have  articles  to  come  afterwards. In  other  news,  the  men's  hockey  team split  a  home  series  with  Notre  Dame  last  weekend, winning  on  a  Sammy  Walker  overtime  goal on  Friday  before  losing  53  on  Saturday. The  team  hits  the  road  for a  Big  Ten  match  up  at  Michigan. This  weekend,  the  women's  hockey  team had  its  biggest  series  of  the  season, tagging  on  top  ranked  Wisconsin last  week  After  winning  on  Friday. The  teams  tied  on  Saturday  until a  shootout  goal  from  Amy  Potomac  gave  them  a  win. After  toppling  the  number  one  team, the  golfers  took  over  the  ranking  from the  Badgers  and  sit  atop  the  national  polls. Then  on  Tuesday,  the  team  took  on  Hamlin  in an  exhibition  match  and  beat  them  behind  to  zero. The  volleyball  team  grabbed a  victory  over  Purdue  last  weekend, and  now  they  have  a  pair  of  games  this  weekend. First  taking  on  Maryland  on Friday  before  playing  Ohio  State  on  Sunday. Both  games  are  on  the  road. The  wrestling  team  opened  up  with  a  victory over  CSU  Bakersfield  2089, and  the  team  remains  without star  wrestler  Gable  Stevenson, who  remains  suspended  due  to his  arrest  for  criminal  misconduct. The  team  heads  to  Fargo  for  the  Bison  open  this  weekend. Bruins  basketball  team  kicked  off  their  season  against Missouri  State  on  Tuesday and  could  not  come  up  with  the  win, losing  77  to  69. While  their  male  counterparts also  kicked  off  the  season  on Tuesday  against  Cleveland  State  beating  them  85,  50. They  continue  their  season  with a  neutral  site  game  against Oklahoma  this  Saturday.  That's  all  for  this  week. We  will  be  back  again  next  week  to  give  you the  weekly  rundown  on  all  things  Gopher  sports. Don't  forget  to  share  subscribe  and  review. We'll  see  everyone  next  week.