With Athan Kaliakmanis at quarterback, Gophers football loses 45-17 at Penn State

STATE COLLEGE, PA. – Upon first glance, the task appeared daunting. Gophers redshirt freshman quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis was thrust into the starting lineup at No. 16 Penn State on Saturday night in front of the Nittany Lions' raucous "White Out" crowd of 109,817.

And upon second glance, it was daunting — but not just for the young QB, but for the Gophers defense, too.

Embattled Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford completed 23 of 31 passes for 295 yards and four touchdowns, leading Penn State to a 45-17 victory over the Gophers, who dropped to 4-3 overall and 1-3 in the Big Ten with their third consecutive loss.

The Nittany Lions (6-1, 3-1) used a trio of third-quarter touchdowns to run away after the Gophers pulled within 17-10 with 32 seconds left in the first half on a 90-yard drive capped by Mohamed Ibrahim's 3-yard TD run.

Kaliakmanis, replacing injured starter Tanner Morgan, completed nine of 22 passes for 175 yards and a touchdown with an interception. He also rushed seven times for 45 yards.

"We knew it'd be a challenge for us, especially starting Athan," Gophers coach P.J. Fleck said. "He handled himself very well. … To handle your first start in front of 110,000 people on the road, I couldn't be more proud of him."

Ibrahim carried 30 times for 102 yards, extending his streak of 100-yard rushing performances to 15 games and tying Darrell Thompson for most touchdowns in program history with 43.

The Gophers defense had trouble stopping Penn State's big plays. Through three quarters, the Nittany Lions had nine pass plays of 15 yards or longer and six runs of 10 yards or longer. Penn State amassed 479 yards of offense.

"Defensively, I thought it was very disappointing performance, and that falls on me," Fleck said. "I'm the head football coach, and I gotta get them to play better."

A key sequence came in the third quarter with the Gophers down 24-10 and possessing the ball at the Penn State 34-yard line. On second down, Kaliakmanis threw a pass toward Mike Brown-Stephens, who fell while being covered. Ji'Ayir Brown intercepted the pass and returned it 35 yards. The Nittany Lions cashed that in with a 16-yard TD run by Nick Singleton for a 31-10 lead. On the play before the TD, the Gophers appeared to stop Penn State on third-and-10 by forcing an incompletion, but cornerback Terell Smith was called for pass interference.

In the first quarter, the Gophers got a big defensive play when Clifford overthrew Parker Washington on a deep pass, and Minnesota cornerback Justin Walley caught the ball over his shoulder and returned the interception 37 yards to the Penn State 14.

The Gophers couldn't fully cash in, though, settling for Matthew Trickett's 35-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead with 1:57 left in the first quarter. Runs of 2 and 1 yards by Ibrahim, a false start penalty and a 1-yard loss by Ibrahim on third-and-12 pushed the Gophers back.

"I felt like we were beating ourselves,'' said tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford, whose team had five false start penalties in the first half.

On Penn State's ensuing possession, Clifford got tight end Theo Johnson involved, hitting him for 25 yards on third-and-9 from the 26, then 18 yards to the Minnesota 31. The Gophers defense stiffened, holding Singleton to 2 yards on third-and-4. Jake Pinegar's 41-yard field goal tied the score 3-3 with 13:55 left in the second quarter.

Penn State used a couple of big plays to take a 10-3 lead. After Singleton took a screen pass 22 yards to the Minnesota 38, Clifford found a wide-open tight end Tyler Warren over the middle for a 38-yard TD connection with 9:05 left in the second quarter.

The Penn State offense kept rolling as Clifford found Mitchell Tinsley on a deep out for a 30-yard gain to the Minnesota 24. Two plays later, Clifford hit Johnson for an 18-yard TD pass and 17-3 lead with 4:01 left in the second quarter. At that point, Nittany Lions tight ends had four receptions for 99 yards and two TDs.

"There were a lot of uncharacteristic things we saw," said Gophers linebacker Mariano Sori-Marin, who had a game-high 15 tackles. "Guys uncovered, breakdowns in coverage, breakdowns in tackling."

The Gophers offense came alive late in the second quarter, driving 90 yards in nine plays and cutting Penn State's lead to 17-10 with 32 seconds left on Ibrahim's 3-yard run. Key on the drive was Kaliakmanis' 33-yard hookup with Le'Meke Brockington on third-and-8 from the 12. Kaliakmanis had gains of 11 and 16 yards on the march, and Ibrahim carried five times for 30 yards.

"Guts," Fleck said of his thoughts on Kaliakmanis on that drive. "The kid's gonna be a really good player, everyone. That's what I take from this. You always look for the silver lining."

Minnesota reached its 36 on the first possession of the second half, and Mark Crawford's tipped punt gave Penn State the ball at its 36. The Nittany Lions needed only four plays to stretch the lead to 24-10. Clifford lofted a ball to Washington for 35-yard TD connection with 11:59 left in the third quarter.

Kaliakmanis hit Spann-Ford for a 2-yard TD pass with 8:03 left in the fourth quarter to make it 38-17. Singleton increased the lead to 45-17 on a 30-yard TD run with 6:35 to play after an unsuccessful Gophers onside kick.

Afterward, Sori-Marin faced the reality of the past three games for the Gophers and what they must do moving forward to salvage the season.

"We're going to have to look at this film, and we're going to have to swallow it," he said. "We've got five games left. We're going to have to make a decision as a defense and as a team of what we're going to do going forward."