MINNEAPOLIS — Was Luke Reynolds’ 32-yard run on a fake punt on a fourth-and-1 from the PSU 34 with 3:47 left in the game, and the Nittany Lions clinging to a 26-25 lead over Minnesota, the play of the game? Yes.
It allowed the Nittany Lions to keep the ball out of the Gophers’ hands, and led to two more successful fourth-and-1 calls that sealed the win in Huntington Bank Stadium on Saturday.
It bumped their record to 10-1, and should keep them in the top 4 of the Associated Press and College Football Playoff rankings.
And with only one game remaining in the regular season – next Saturday afternoon in Beaver Stadium against 4-7 Maryland — it almost certainly guaranteed them a berth in the CFP and a first-round home game in Beaver Stadium on Dec. 20 or 21.
That one play — out of 144 plays on Saturday, including a blocked punt and a blocked PAT by the Gophers — may have also been THE play of the 2024 season. Which is saying something for a team that defeated USC in overtime, and led that game in the L.A. Coliseum for 15 seconds.
In all, Penn State has had 1,589 plays in 2024, on its way to its third consecutive 10-victory season — one of only three teams in major college football to do so — and its first 5-0 road record since 1985. Those are big numbers. And Reynolds’ run was a big play.
“It was definitely the play of the year,” said captain and linebacker Kobe King, who had nine tackles for the Nittany Lions. “I don’t think there’s been a bigger play than that…It was the play we needed. It was the play we executed. It got the job done.”
Credit Reynolds, a freshman tight end with just six catches for 88 yards this season. Credit head coach James Franklin and first-year special teams coach Justin Lustig. And credit punt protector Dom Rulli, a redshirt sophomore and backup offensive lineman from Kentucky, who was named Penn State’s special teams player of the week last month against Wisconsin. I think he — and Reynolds — have another such honor coming their way. Very soon.
Props to Rulli from Franklin: “I think first of all, Dominic 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 and in the Lasch Building by everybody. Just comes to work every single day.
“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. And Dom has done a great job of checking in and out of it. Tonight, when you call that a lot of times, they’re going to be in [punt] safe. They had their defense on the field. I thought it was going to be safe again. And then when we ran our punt team on, they ran their punt return team out. So I thought we had a chance. And then the look allowed us to run it.”
Props to Rulli from fellow O-lineman and co-captain Nick Dawkins: “Dom’s the quarterback of punts. He’s essentially the personal protector and he takes that [role] with pride. He works his tail off. He’s intelligent, he studies looks. When we were trying to make that call, there’s no doubt in my mind he made that right call to do it or not do it. Dom’s a guy who needs more attention because he handles his business on special teams, because he handles his business when he gets on the field and gets opportunities. And I have so much respect for him as a man and as a football player.”
Tight end Tyler Warren had 11 catches for 102 yards, including a big play on the game’s final play — an 11-yard reception from QB Drew Allar. But post-game, Warren saved his praise of Reynolds, his protege in word and deed.
“Luke’s a play-maker with the ball in his hands,” Warren said, “so I trusted him to get a yard. And he ended up getting 30 or 40. It’s just one of many that’s going to happen in his Penn State career.”
On a day where Lustig’s special teams were lousy on at least two occasions — the Gophers’ blocked punt of Penn State’s Riley Thompson and their blocked PAT of place-kicker Ryan Barker led to nine key points — when it mattered most, they came through.
The fake punt was anything but a turkey. “That was a big play for Luke Reynolds,” said Franklin. “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 working the next one.”
BIGGEST EVER?
It may be more than a bit of hyperbole to call Reynolds’ game-wrapping run the biggest of Franklin’s 138-game career at Penn State (98-40, .710). There have been over 20,000 plays in Franklin’s 11 years at Penn State — counting offense, defense, kickoffs, punts and field goal attempts.
And there have been some doozies, which have altered the season and even the trajectory of the program in a positive way. Like Irv Charles’ mostly accidental game- (and CJF PSU career?)-saving catch against Minnesota in Beaver Stadium in 2016. Or a touchdown catch (or two) by Saeed Blacknall via Trace McSorley in the Big Ten title game that same season. Or McSorley’s walk-off 7-yard TD pass to Juwan Johnson in Iowa City to preserve Penn State’s No. 4 ranking in 2017. Or one of Barkley’s 43 magnificent touches for 354 yards that night against the Hawkeyes.
Or — truly the real No. 1 — Marcus Allen’s blocked field goal attempt by Ohio State that led to Grant Haley’s scoop-and-score that beat the second-ranked Buckeyes in Beaver Stadium in 2016.
But, it has been awhile.
The importance of Reynolds’ successful run hinges on how far the Nittany Lions go in the 12-team playoffs. It may be directly proportional. A first-round loss, and the fake punt was a nice footnote. Penn State somehow goes all the way? Then, maybe, Reynolds’ run may be the pivotal moment of a historical season.
For now, it gives the surging Nittany Lions — who have won 31 of their last 37 games — an even greater belief in themselves.
“I love the confidence in the call and our special teams,” said Dawkins. “There are a lot of big plays in a season. This was definitely one of them.”
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