Penn State certainly had a frustrating setback last week with an abysmal 41-17 loss to Michigan on the road in Ann Arbor.

The Nittany Lions were physically dominated on both sides of the line of scrimmage with the Wolverines rushing for 418 yards and four touchdowns, while allowing just 111 yards on the ground with most of that coming on a Sean Clifford 62-yard rush in the second quarter.

Penn State fans were anxious to see if the run game and the offensive line play was truly improved as it looked to be in the Nittany Lions previous five games. Unfortunately, when put up against a legitimate test in the trenches, the push up front was yet again non-existent, and the scoreboard was yet again a reminder of that.

Think about this, Penn State has had skill players drafted in recent years like, Saquon Barkley, Chris Godwin, Miles Sanders, Mike Gesicki, KJ Hamler, Pat Freiermuth, Jahan Dotson and others that have made a significant impact for their teams in the NFL, and yet the Nittany Lions have not been able to get over the hump and into the College Football Playoffs. The reasoning for that and the reason why Penn State is just 2-14 under James Franklin against top 10 teams is that the offensive line has not been able to adopt a physical and nasty mentality that you need to both win the Big Ten and compete with the top teams in the country, such as Alabama, Georgia and Clemson.

Overall, the Penn State coaches simply need to get better at developing talent in the middle of the trenches on both offense and defense. Defensively, the Nittany Lions have not had a defensive tackle drafted in the first or second round since 2016 (Austin Johnson). Devon Still (2012), Jordan Hill (2013), DaQuan Jones (2014) and Johnson in the early 2010’s were the type of defensive tackles that made a difference on almost every snap and it showed, but of late Penn State hasn’t been able to develop or recruit any defensive tackles that have been able to make that same type of impact. PJ Mustipher was on track to become that type of player in the middle, but he hasn’t looked quite the same since he was injured a year ago at Iowa.

The Nittany Lions will be tested physically yet again when they face Minnesota (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC) tonight in their annual white out game. As I mentioned in my preseason schedule breakdown and predictions, I thought tonight’s game would be the most important game on Penn State’s schedule. Figuring, the Nittany Lions would come out of Ann Arbor with an “L” this is one that Penn State needed to get before facing off with a loaded Ohio State squad. Well, unfortunately that prognostication came to fruition and the prediction still stands today.

The Gophers like to run the football and are good at doing so with running back Mohamed Ibrahim, who has rushed for 694 yards and nine touchdowns. Minnesota averages 227.3 rushing yards per game on the season. Just what the Penn State faithful wanted to hear, right?

I don’t expect Gophers starting quarterback Tanner Morgan to play after being carted off the field last week, but reports are indicating it will game time decision on his status, which means Minnesota will probably rely even more heavily on the run, especially since Morgan and his backup in Athan Kaliakmanis have thrown for zero touchdowns and six interceptions over their last two games.

A positive for the Penn State defense this season has been its ability to force turnovers. The Nittany Lions have forced 13 takeaways, including seven fumbles and six interceptions. Penn State’s 13 takeaways are good for 13th in the country.

Freshmen running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen combined for just 12 carries and 35 yards last week against Michigan. That absolutely can’t happen this week or the Nittany Lions will once again be staring defeat right in the face. Also, for the Penn State faithful expecting to see more of freshman quarterback Drew Allar this week, don’t get your hopes up. Coach Franklin indicated in his Tuesday press conference that Sean Clifford has “earned the right” to be on the field for Penn State, despite all the noise surrounding the program this season and over the past few seasons that Clifford isn’t the answer at quarterback.

The line on this game is Penn State -4.5. In the white out environment, I do expect the defense to play better against the run and I do expect them to force a few turnovers. It’s important for the Nittany Lions offense to get a few short fields to try and get going after a not so great showing last week.

I think that the electricity of the white out will energize both the Penn State offense and defense. I think Singleton and Allen are able to bounce back and I think you could see a big play from wide receiver Parker Washington on special teams ... but this game won’t be easy.

My pick is Penn State 27, Minnesota 17