On the heels of its best game of the season, Penn State will look to string together its first winning streak of the year Saturday when the Nittany Lions (3-2, 1-1 Big Ten) head to Minneapolis to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers (2-3, 0-2).

The game will kick off from the Metrodome at noon eastern (11 a.m. CDT), the earliest start to a Penn State game since last year's triumph at Northwestern.

A strong performance against Minnesota will no doubt boost Penn State's confidence heading into next week's showdown with Michigan at Beaver Stadium, but the Lions know they must first tend to the task at hand.

"I'm definitely fired up," Penn State safety Donnie Johnson said. "This game is more important than the game against Michigan because we have to win this one for the Michigan game to be as important."

Minnesota relies -- as usual -- very heavily upon its running game to carry its offense, but this year the Gophers have more confidence in their air attack, which features a multitude of seniors in quarterback Bryan Cupito, tall receivers Ernie Wheelwright and Logan Payne, and tight end Matt Spaeth.

The bulk of Minnesota's carries go to Amir Pinnix and converted linebacker Alex Daniels, who will have their work cut out for them when going up against Penn State's steady rush defense, which, to the dismay of opponents, has regained its trademark swagger from previous years.

Linebacker Dan Connor said the swagger has returned, but paused a minute before describing exactly what that meant.

"It's the confidence to take a risk in order to make a big play," Connor explained. "To have confidence enough in yourself and your assignment to get out of it for a second to make that big play and change the game."

Such swagger was evident last year when Penn State limited the Gophers vaunted rushing game to 113 yards on the ground en route to a 44-14 blowout.

"That was very important for us to win the way we did," linebacker Paul Posluszny said. "That was definitely a big confidence booster."

This year, Penn State's offense could benefit greatly from such a confidence booster at the expense of the Gophers. The Lions have yet to put together back-to-back games in which they passed the ball well, and Minnesota's defense is far from impenetrable.

Minnesota ranks 98th in the country against the run, and is 82nd against the pass.

"Michigan had a kind of a field day, throwing the ball against Minnesota [last week]," quarterback Anthony Morelli said. "Hopefully, we'll be able to throw the ball like that. If not, I think we've established a pretty solid running game with Tony Hunt and the offensive line."

While Hunt has posted three consecutive 100-yard performances, the offensive line may not be as sturdy as Morelli might hope.

All-American tackle Levi Brown will miss his second game in a row with a knee injury, and head coach Joe Paterno doubts guard Robert Price's shoulder injury will allow him to play.

"I am concerned," Paterno said. "We are going to have to play some people who have really not had much experience. The ones who are going to play have not had much experience, but the ones behind them have had less."

A prime time date with Michigan is on deck, but Johnson is mindful of the always-dreaded trap game.

"Our goal is Rose Bowl," Johnson said. "And we can forget about the Rose Bowl if we lose this game."