Fake punt, failed trick play cost Gophers in 26-25 loss to Penn State

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The University of Minnesota football team dropped to 6-5 on the season after a 26-25 loss to Penn State on Senior Day at Huntington Bank Stadium.

A gutsy call by James Franklin sent the Gophers off their home field for the final time in 2024 with a loss. On 4th-and-1 at their own 34-yard line, Luke Reynolds took a fake punt for 32 yards and a first down with 3:47 to play. The Nittany Lions sealed the game on a 4th down pass to star tight end Tyler Warren.

The Gophers fall to 4-4 in the Big Ten, and can finish 7-5 with a win at Wisconsin next Friday. Penn State improves to 10-1 and remains in the top four of the College Football Playoff.

"There’s a lot of tears in that locker room because of how hard they played. Penn State found a way to make one more play than we did," Gophers coach P.J. Fleck said after the loss. "That’s a heck of a call by James. Doesn’t matter if we’re in punt safe, punt return. That’s a heck of a call. If you call it and don’t get it, we got the ball there in field goal range."

Penn State coach James Franklin said he made the call from the sideline, then it's on punt protector Dom Rulli to change the call on the field if it's not the right look.

"Dom Rulli, 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 said. "Tonight we had the call, the look allowed us to run it. That’s been marinating for a while."

Wild sequence to end first half

A crazy sequence to end the first half started with Gophers’ special teams ace Derik LeCaptain getting his hands on a Penn State punt. On the next play, Fleck went into his bag of tricks for a touchdown to briefly give the Gophers a 17-10 lead. They ran a double reverse flea-flicker with Darius Taylor and Daniel Jackson. Max Brosmer hit a wide open Jameson Geers for a 21-yard touchdown.

The Nittany Lions answered with a Drew Allar touchdown after a questionable pass interference call on Ethan Robinson. Then on the point after, Jack Henderson blocked the kick and Robinson took it the distance for two points and a 19-16 halftime lead.

That’s right, the Gophers’ special teams unit blocked a point after and a punt in the same half. It all happened in the span of 78 seconds.

A pass to the left tackle?

Fleck had one of his oddest play calls of the season Saturday. On 2nd-and-goal from the 7 down 26-22, Brosmer tried a pass to left tackle Aireontae Ersery. If he catches it, Abdul Carter is there for the tackle. He didn’t, and the drive ended with a Dragan Kesich field goal to cut the lead to 26-25 with under six minutes to play. It was a weird call in a huge spot.

"The only thing that they did that they didn’t show was pop 11 (Abdul Carter) out. If he doesn’t pop out, there’s nobody there. It just didn’t come together how it came together in practice," Fleck said. "But I love that call. I’d call it all over again based on the look we had. We still had two plays to get in the end zone from there. Kicking the field goal was the best decision, that’s the smart decision."

Two Brosmer turnovers lead to 6 Penn State points

One thing Brosmer hasn’t done a lot of this season is commit catastrophic turnovers. He had two of them Saturday, but Penn State only turned them into six points. He had a second quarter interception, and a fumble on the first play of the fourth quarter. The Gophers held Penn State to field goals on both, but the six points were critical in a one-point game.

"It’s something that can’t happen, something I have better control over and felt I could’ve done better and put team in a better situation. I can be way better, but it happens," Brosmer said.

What's next

The Gophers are at Wisconsin on Black Friday and can keep the Badgers out of bowl contention with a win, while also taking back Paul Bunyan's Axe.