Inside the Penn State fake punt call, final fourth down conversions in Lions’ 26-25 win over Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS — Penn State wanted to end the game on its terms. In the end, that’s why it went for a trio of fourth downs late in its 26-25 win over Minnesota. If the first didn’t work, the second two never would have happened. And, if the initial one failed, we’d probably be having a very different conversation about a 9-2 Nittany Lion team instead of a 10-1 one.

Facing 4th and 1 with about four minutes to play at its own 34, all signs pointed to a Penn State punt. Center Nick Dawkins and his teammates were busy looking at the sideline iPads to see what went wrong on the three plays before it. Only head coach James Franklin, anyone who could hear his headset communication, and the 11 Nittany Lions on the field knew the plan.

A handful of times previously this season, Franklin had sent in a fake punt just like the one Penn State ran here. In every prior instance, lineman Dominic Rulli, who serves as one of three blockers in front of punter Riley Thompson, didn’t see the look needed to run it and thus checked the team into a regular punt. This time though, as Minnesota ran its defense off the field and its punt team on, the redshirt sophomore saw exactly what he needed to for the fake to be a go. Long snapper Tyler Duzansky snapped it to backup tight end Luke Reynolds, who ripped off a 32-yard run to the Golden Gophers’ 34. Suddenly, the Lions went from needing to hang on for dear life on defense to having a shot to run the clock out on offense with 3:38 to go.

More: Penn State-Minnesota takeaways: Lions overcome injuries, periods of ineptitude, to beat the Golden Gophers

“Luke Reynolds, that was a huge play for him,” Franklin said. “Blocked extremely well. So, that’s been cooking, I guess, with Thanksgiving coming up, or marinating for a while, all the way back to training camp. So we’ll put that one on the shelf and start, you know, start working the next one.”

Penn State would go on to gain nine yards on its next three plays. Minnesota used one of its final two timeouts to set up another 4th and 1, this one at its own 25. Allar went under center and snuck ahead to move the chains. Another nine yards and 93 seconds would run off the clock before the Lions found themselves in a similar situation. Allar dropped back on 4th and 1 at the Minnesota 14 with 26 seconds left. He wanted Nick Singleton in the flat, but Minnesota took that away, So, the junior turned to his left, extended the play, and found Tyler Warren all alone at the three. He secured the pass, fell over, and the Lions had survived in Minnesota.

“I just felt like we needed to try to end the game on our terms with the ball in our hand,” Franklin said. “Give them a ton of credit. They did a good job of producing yards and finding a way. Just proud of our guys.”

The post Inside the Penn State fake punt call, final fourth down conversions in Lions’ 26-25 win over Minnesota appeared first on On3.