I understand the desire of fans in northern climates to see overhyped SEC teams play in cold-weather playoff games. I do. But the thing about really, really cold weather is that it usually makes for bad football.

After it took advantage of a gift from its (tongue nailed to the side of cheek) old pal Michigan on Saturday, Penn State, against not all but many odds, will get to avoid the cold for at least one more game.

The Nittany Lions had a little trouble with ball security in their 44-7 pasting of Maryland in frosty Beaver Stadium. Nick Singleton fumbled on the first play of the game. Kaytron Allen had a bobbled snap not long after. Even the sticky-handed Tyler Warren dropped a pass. And, well, that’s what happens in cold weather. The hands get numb. The football gets slick. The arms and legs move fractionally slower.

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If Penn State WR Omari Evans was any more open he’d be a 7-11, but that separation didn’t occur by accident.

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“JUST CHUCK IT DEEEEP,” right?

I mean, clearly, the simple premise has been effective when involving Penn State WR 5-Omari Evans. 2022 vs. Ohio when Drew Allar entered the ballgame. 2023 vs. Michigan State at Ford Field. 2024 vs. West Virginia in the first half’s dying breaths. Now, add 2024 vs. Minnesota on the pile.

But guess what? This heave was calculated and nuanced, especially when you realize the decision to dial it up happened the play before. WTF do I mean? Let’s unpack this:

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It ended in, at least in the stat sheet, what appeared to be an obvious way — yet another pass completion from Drew Allar to Tyler Warren. A simple pitch and catch.

But nothing, not even that fourth-down toss, was simple in Penn State’s 26-25 win at Minnesota. With this town and this team, nothing ever is.

Saturday marked just the 17^th time in 32 Big Ten seasons that the Nittany Lions met the Golden Gophers on a football field, and though the Lions had won 10 of the previous 16 meetings, there had been a disproportionate number of concerning Gopher bites they had sustained from a team that hasn’t made much noise in the conference since the 1960s.

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