Takeaways: Penn State football never wavers while thwarting upset bid

Penn State football survived against Minnesota on Saturday, 26-25, to keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive. The game was in question from wire to wire, but in the end, the Nittany Lions prevailed. Heading into the final week of the regular season, the perception of James Franklin and the program remains optimistic.

What are we taking away from this nail-biter of a win?

James Franklin goes for the win

© Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

There has been much criticism of James Franklin during his time as the Penn State football coach over in-game decision-making. These critiques mostly come up in marquee games against teams like Ohio State and Michigan. However, it also has been a factor in upset losses to Minnesota, Illinois, and others over the years.

Saturday’s matchup against Minnesota ended up being an unexpected big game for Franklin and the Nittany Lions. While the Gophers aren’t a nationally ranked team this year, they still are a solid football program that provides a challenging road environment for a team trying to finish the season 11-1 and make the College Football Playoff.

Franklin made the decision to go for it on 4th-and-1 on three separate occasions on Penn State’s final drive. The first, however, was the riskiest and was a key play in deciding the game. The Nittany Lions called a fake punt from their own 34-yard line that resulted in Luke Reynolds racing outside to pick up 32 yards and keep the drive alive.

It wasn’t the first time we’ve seen Penn State football gamble under Franklin. For instance, he ran a fake field goal against Michigan in 2021. Yet this play was different. Penn State had the clock on its side with the chance to force Minnesota to drive the length of the field to win the game. Instead, Franklin chose to end the game on his own terms. The Nittany Lions got a great look and capitalized.

After Tyler Warren was stuffed on third down a few plays later, Franklin was again forced to make a decision. This time, it was between sending Ryan Barker out for a 42-yard field goal attempt or going for it.

He opted for the latter. A tush push run by Drew Allar converted and forced Minnesota to use its timeouts. Presented with the same scenario just plays later, Allar connected with Warren inside the five-yard line, where the star tight end promptly went down in bounds to end the game.

In total, the 12-play, 72-yard drive ate up the last 5:48 of regulation and never gave the Gophers a chance to go down and win the game. While many might not have been pleased with Franklin’s decision-making in the past, it worked to perfection on Saturday.

Penn State football never panicked

© Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Penn State never panicked despite falling behind early and a bunch of fluky plays and unlucky bounces. The Nittany Lions went three-and-out twice and were stopped on fourth down to start the game.

James Franklin’s squad quickly found itself down 10-0 but never wavered, tying the game with a deep strike to Omari Evans and a Dom DeLuca interception that led to a field goal. A blocked punt helped give Minnesota the lead shortly before the half, but Drew Allar drove Penn State 75 yards in six plays, taking only 44 seconds to reach the end zone. Despite the quick strike offense, a special teams miscue gave the Gophers two points on a blocked extra point, putting the Nittany Lions behind by three going into the half.

As we have seen all year, Penn State football adjusted and dominated the second half. After Minnesota kicked a field goal to open the third quarter and the Nittany Lions ended their first series with a botched pooch punt by Tyler Warren, things looked grim.

But Penn State followed it up with a five-play 57-yard touchdown drive, a seven-play 26-yard field goal drive, and a 12-play 72-yard drive to take the lead. Meanwhile, the defense only gave up two field goals and forced a fumble on the Gophers’ four second-half drives.

The success in the second half is something that we have seen all season for Penn State football. I don’t know what the coaching staff tells the players at the half, or maybe it is simply scheme adjustments, but the Nittany Lions have looked significantly different in the second half all season.

Once again, when it mattered the most, Penn State found a way to get stops and score when it needed to. The result was the 10th win of the season. There is just something about a team that won’t quit; it sort of has the feeling of the 2016 Big Ten Championship team. While that team leaned on an explosive offense to put teams away in the second half, the 2024 Nittany Lions lean on an elite defense to do so.

Penn State has given up just four second-half touchdowns in 11 games this season, two of which came in garbage time against UCLA and Purdue.  The Nittany Lions are outscoring opponents 176-55 in the 2nd half this season, 120-46 in Big Ten play. It seems that all the miscues that Tom Allen’s group makes in the first half magically go away in the second.

While Maryland shouldn’t provide much of a test this weekend, it will be interesting to see if this streak continues against a playoff-caliber team. So far against two ranked opponents, the Nittany Lions outscored Illinois 14-0 but were outscored 6-3 by Ohio State in the second half.

Tyler Warren deserves to go to New York

© Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Penn State football has begun its push for tight end Tyler Warren to be invited to New York City for this year’s Heisman Trophy ceremony. A recent video posted on the program’s social media accounts featured future NFL Hall of Fame tight end Rob Gronkowski hyping up the Nittany Lions’ do-it-all weapon.

While it’s extremely unlikely that Warren would win, getting the invite certainly would be well deserved. Warren again went over the century mark against Minnesota with eight receptions for 102 yards. You can argue that the Nittany Lions wouldn’t be in the CFP discussion without him. Penn State certainly would have lost to USC, where Warren recorded a record 17 catches.

So far on the season Tyler Warren leads the team in both receptions (75) and receiving yards (910), and receiving touchdowns (five). To put that in perspective, Harrison Wallace III is second on the team with 35 catches for 579 yards, while Nicholas Singleton is second in touchdowns with four. If that wasn’t enough, Warren’s four rushing touchdowns only trails Singleton and Kaytron Allen, who each have five.

Heading into the Maryland game, Warren is 90 yards shy of 1,000 on the season.

Warren will have one more game this weekend to add to his season stats. He is 90 yards away from 1,000 on the season, something that only been accomplished six times in Penn State football history: Bobby Engram (1994, 1995), Allen Robinson (2012, 2013), Chris Godwin (2015), and Jahan Dotson (2021). Warren would be the first tight end to join the list, an even more impressive performance considering the position.

It’ll be a special Senior Day for perhaps the greatest tight end to ever don the Blue and White. Hopefully, Warren can end the regular season with another record-breaking performance.

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