Instant Analysis: Penn State makes a gutsy call to seal the win over Minnesota
Penn State Football was up by one point with less than five minutes left in the game and facing fourth down. Penn State head coach James Franklin ran his punt team on the field and then made a game-defining, potentially season-defining call. He green-lighted a fake punt call. The result was a 35-yard run by freshman Luke Reynolds and a 26-25 win.
Penn State reporter Greg Pickel discusses the decision and the game overall in this week’s Instant Analysis recap. Check out the complete video on the Blue White Illustrated YouTube Channel or embedded here in this article.
Franklin breaks down the play after the game
After the game, head coach James Franklin discussed how that fake punt worked.
“Dom Rulli deserves a ton of credit. He’s a guy that doesn’t get talked about a whole lot, but is loved and respected in our locker room,” Franklin said. “He’s the quarterback of that play. We’ve been working on it since training camp. We’ve called it in other games this year, but unless you have the right look, you can’t run it.”
Franklin wanted his offense to win the game. He discussed the reasoning behind why he wanted this offense to stay on the field instead of punting and trusting his defense to get them the ball back one final time.
“You know, I just felt like we needed to try to end the game on our terms with the ball in our hand. Give them a ton of credit. They did a good job of producing yards,” Franklin said.
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What’s next for Penn State
Pickel discusses the rest of the game, which was heavily influenced by special teams. Penn State is now 10-1 and has a chance for an 11-1 victory with Maryland at home to close out the regular season next weekend.
Blue White Illustrated will have a full week of coverage between then and now! Our exclusive premium podcast, The Lions Den, airs on Monday of this week. Penn State is just over a week away from national signing day, with plenty of drama cropping up in the final stretch. We’ll discuss the latest news only for subscribers at Blue White Illustrated.
We’ll also have Franklin’s Monday press conference in a live replay moments after it’s conclusion.
Tuesday, we’ll recap Penn State’s win over Minnesota again on the BWI Live Show, plus discuss the upcoming senior day matchup with Maryland.
