The Gophers football team resembled its fan base in one respect this week. Current players sat down to watch as their predecessors put together highlight after highlight in Minnesota’s 31-26 upset of Penn State in 2019.

The positive plays were plentiful. Tanner Morgan’s three touchdown passes, including a 66-yard catch and run from Rashod Bateman to open the game; Mariano Sori-Marin’s pressure to force a lofted pass on Antoine Winfield’s second interception of the game; Tyler Johnson’s fighting off pass interference to make a one-handed catch on a 38-yard score; Chris Autman-Bell taking a screen pass and making multiple Nittany Lions miss on a 21-yard TD; Esezi Otomewo’s big sack; and Jordan Howden’s game-sealing pick.

With fourth-ranked Penn State coming into Huntington Bank Stadium on Saturday, the Gophers will look to pull off another upset. Their use of highlights fulfills one of their mottos: Embracing the past to create our future.

Minnesota (6-4, 4-3 Big Ten) will need to collect a similar amount of big plays and turnovers to pull off an upset as an 11-point underdog to the Nittany Lions (9-1, 6-1).

“It’s going to take our best players making plays like that,” head coach P.J. Fleck said about the 2019 victory. “Penn State’s going to say the same thing. We’re going to get their best shot. We know that. I don’t expect anything less from a James Franklin team, but we’ve got to coach them up so they get our best shot, too.”

Back in 2019, the Gophers were 8-0 and ranked 13th in the nation. Penn State was also 8-0 and ranked fourth. Minnesota had not beat a ranked team up to that point and doubt remained that Minnesota could play with traditional powerhouses.

After the win and fans stormed the field, the Gophers climbed the College Football Playoff rankings the next week. Five years on, it remains of the best wins of Fleck’s tenure since 2017.

“That was a great moment spring-boarding us into what we have done consistently,” Fleck told the Pioneer Press. “Then just giving us that ability that we can and that mindset that we can and we will. It’s just a matter of time. A lot of things have to line up for it to happen, but that is what is so fun about it.”

For the yesteryear Penn State game, Gophers defensive end Danny Striggow was a visiting recruit from Orono. He and other recruits were told not to storm the field because they were headed into the locker room postgame.

“That was a cool game,” Striggow said. “… I was there as a recruit, so it’s kind of funny to look back on it, just being able to experience that as a fan and as a recruit.”

Minnesota Gophers offensive lineman Axel Ruschmeyer (65) gets a high five from a fan after the Gophers beat Penn State, 31-26 in a NCAA Football game at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Saturday, Nov 9, 2019. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Now Stiggow will play in his 50th game in maroon and gold. “(We can) look back at what they did to win that game, learn from that game and go forward and apply it,” Striggow said.

Quarterback Max Brosmer said the 2019 Penn State game was the first one he watched to prepare for this year’s match-up.

“I was wondering how Minnesota beat them in ’19 and what kind of things worked well for them,” Brosmer said. “… How did they execute the small details well to finish and win that game? We took away some good stuff from that game and we will use that to the best of our advantage.”

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