The glow of the overtime win has not left the Gophers -- and it may not all season.

Playing a Purdue team that had beaten Minnesota seven straight times, the Gophers dominated early, appeared to give the game away in the fourth quarter but then bounced back to tie it in the final two minutes before winning it in the extra sessions.

There has been extra energy and increased confidence in the locker room since the win.

"Obviously, everybody comes in here with a lot better frame of mind having fought your way to victory rather than fought your way to defeat," said head coach Glen Mason.

RB Laurence Maroney was among those who gave everything he had. He ran for 217 yards and was named co-Big Ten offensive player of the week with Michigan State's Drew Stanton.

"We learned a lot," Maroney said. "We learned to play together as a team and to never give up. This just lets us know what we're capable of doing. We went out there and never gave up, just kept fighting."

TE Matt Spaeth, who caught the tying TD pass from Bryan Cupito, said the nature of the win is likely to pay dividends down the road. "I think it helps tremendously because it gives us some confidence the next time we're down and have to battle back from some adversity," tight end Matt Spaeth said. "We know we've been there before against a good team. We know we can do it."

Mason liked the no-quit attitude of his team, but was unhappy that the game came down to the end-of-game execution because the Gophers dominated the statistical battle. Minnesota outgained Purdue 572-426.

"We should have been in control," Mason said. "We're capable of playing a lot better. That's the challenge for us. Believe me, there is so much room for improvement in that film."

The Gophers have a chance to back that up this week at Penn State.

SCOUTING THE OFFENSE: Laurence Maroney continues to play like a future first-round pick. He carried the ball a career-high 46 times against Purdue and was happy to do it. Penn State has a tough run defense, but that unit gave up 198 rushing yards to Northwestern so Maroney should find a few creases. Look for Bryan Cupito to show significant improvement after leading the come-from-behind effort against Purdue.

SCOUTING THE DEFENSE: The defense has far more life under first-year defensive coordinator David Lockwood than it did in previous years. While they Gophers gave up 426 yards to the Boilermakers, they came up with key stops when the game was on the line and registered three interceptions.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "This definitely gives us a lot of confidence as a team. We want to fight to the last play. We did that. The Big Ten is a tough league so I think we're going to have a lot of close games like this." -- Minnesota WR Logan Payne on the value of the overtime win over Purdue in the Big Ten opener.

THIS WEEK'S GAME: at Penn State, Oct. 1 -- Both of these teams have had sensational starts and come into this game undefeated. The Gophers have shown more heart than in recent years, while the Nittany Lions have found a big-play passing game with Michael Robinson at quarterback and his crew of freshman speedsters at the WR position. The Gophers need to contain Derrick Williams, Justin King and Deon Butler.

PLAYERS TO WATCH: QB Bryan Cupito -- He has completed 55-of-98 passes for 895 yards with eight TDs and five interceptions. Cupito came of age late in the fourth quarter against Purdue when he led Purdue down the field on a game-tying drive that culminated with his eight-yard TD pass to Logan Payne and then his successful option run on the conversion. Cupito threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown prior to the drive, but he was able to shake that poor play off.

RB Laurence Maroney -- He is significantly better this year than he was in the past and he was great in 2003 and 2004. Maroney has great moves in the open field, but he is a punishing between-the-tackles runner.

WR Logan Payne -- He caught three passes for 30 yards against Purdue, including the game-tying TD in the fourth quarter. He knows how to get open against zone coverage and has solid hands.

MLB Mike Sherels -- He is the anchor of the defense and the team's leading tackler with 27 stops. He also has 3.5 TFL, two recovered fumbles, one interception and one sack.

ROSTER REPORT: Offensive lineman Joe Ainslie (hand) is questionable against Penn State.