No. 4 Penn State survives Minnesota, keeping potential home bid in College Football Playoff alive
Shaking off a slow start, the Nittany Lions stormed back from 10 points down to remain a one-loss team heading into the regular season finale against Maryland next Saturday
MINNEAPOLIS — Penn State coach James Franklin pulled out gutsy calls on Saturday amid chaos as the No. 4 Nittany Lions edged a 26-25 road victory over Minnesota.
Penn State (10-1, 7-1 Big Ten) trailed early but legged out a battle of trick-play calls between Franklin and Golden Gophers coach P.J. Fleck.
Fleck, Franklin go toe-to-toe
With the score knotted at 10 late in the second quarter and Penn State at its own 7-yard line, Minnesota (6-5, 4-4) blocked a punt and recovered the ball at the PSU 21-yard line.Fleck immediately called for a reverse flea-flicker for a touchdown pass.
The play helped the Golden Gophers take a 19-16 lead into halftime.
Franklin got him back in the fourth quarter.
Up 26-25 at its own 34-yard line, Penn State sent out the punt unit on fourth-and-1 with 3 minutes, 47 seconds left to apparently give Minnesota the ball back — until it didn’t.
Franklin opted to direct-snap to freshman tight end Luke Reynolds, who took it for a 32-yard gain. Penn State picked up two more fourth-down conversions to close it out, with the latter coming as quarterback Drew Allar rolled out and threw to an open tight end, Tyler Warrenas time expired.
Another slow start for Penn State
After the problem of starting slow out of the gate seemed to fade in the past few games, it returned Saturday for the Nittany Lions. Minnesota built a 10-0 lead early as both Penn State’s run offense and defense struggled. The Nittany Lions went into the half with just 10 rushing yards, compared to the Golden Gophers’ 84.
Missed tackles and blown gap assignments were a big part of the troubles. Both units picked it up as Allar hit receiver Omari Evans for a 45-yard touchdown to cut PSU’s deficit to 10-7, but Minnesota kept it close to the very end.
Defense steps up
The slow start wasn’t forever. Linebacker Dom DeLuca helped turn the tide with an interception that led to a Penn State field goal that tied the game at 10. The Nittany Lions started the fourth quarter with a bang as safety Zakee Wheatley forced a fumble leading to a field goal that gave them a 23-22 lead.
Despite its struggles, Penn State showed up when it mattered, finishing with nine tackles for loss.
Special teams troubles
James Franklin implored for an explosive play from the special teams unit two weeks ago, but Saturday, it gave up a few instead. The unit’s struggles were so bad Penn State opted for a pooch punt in enemy territory from tight end Tyler Warren.
The blocked punt continued a career-low year for junior punter Riley Thompson, who entered the game with 42.7 yards per punt.
Going into halftime, Penn State responded with a touchdown, but a missed assignment led to a blocked kick returned by Minnesota for two points.
Up next
Penn State will spend its Thanksgiving on campus before hosting Maryland next Saturday (3:30 p.m., Big Ten Network).