The Minnesota Golden Gophers football team and their seniors were potentially just eight yards away from finding a way to take down No. 4 Penn State on Saturday at Huntington Bank Stadium.

The Golden Gophers on their final offensive drive of the game were able to work their way into the red zone and as close as Penn State's eight-yard line. Facing a 26-22 deficit and with a little under six minutes on the clock.

Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck opted to kick the field, cutting the deficit to 26-25 and hoping that his defense could get a stop on the ensuing Penn State possession.

For a split second, it appeared that the Gophers did just that. The Minnesota defense had forced Penn State's offense off the field after just three plays and was ready to get the ball back off the boot of Nittany Lions' punter Riley Thompson.

Then in what can only be called a gutsy decision, Penn State head coach James Franklin called a fake punt. It resulted in a 32-yard carry for Nittany Lions' freshman tight end Luke Reynolds.

"That's a heck of a call from James Franklin," Fleck said about the fake punt in his post-game press conference.

Penn State would convert on two additional fourth downs on the drive, to ice the game. The NIttany Lions offense which struggled to stay on the field for much of Saturday's game were able to must up a 12-play, 72-yard drive that drained the entirety of the play clock.

Overall, there was not much more that P.J. Fleck's Minnesota squad could do on Saturday. The Gophers gave the Nittany Lions everything they had for all 60 minutes. It was a good effort, a great effort even, but on Saturday, it wasn't good enough to take down the fourth-ranked team in the country.

It was a game that saw Minnesota take an early 10-0 lead. After forcing a Penn State three-and-out on their first defensive series, the Gophers offense quickly drove down the field for a touchdown, marching 70 yards on nine plays. Marcus Major started the scoring off on Saturday with a 20-yard touchdown run.

Dragan Kesich would add on a field goal in the opening minutes of the second quarter to make it a 10-0 Gophers lead.

After keeping Penn Sttae's offense to 35 yards in the first quarter, the Minnesota defense would have a blown coverage allowing Nittany Lions' wide receiver Omari Evans to get wide open for a 45-yard touchdown reception.

Penn State would tie the game a few minutes later on a field goal following the first of two Max Brosmer turnovers in the game, as the Gophers' senior quarterback was picked off by Penn State linebacker Dominic DeLuca.

However, the Gophers were able to reclaim the momentum after the Nittany Lions tied the game.

After Derek LeCaptain was able to partially block a Penn State punt, the Gophers offense took back the lead at 17-10 thanks to a perfect play call from Greg Harbaugh Jr that saw Jameson Geers get behind Penn State's secondary unnoticed for a 21-yard touchdown reception.

But in the second quarter and beyond, Penn State showed why they're the No. 4 team in the country. The Nittany Lions would quickly answer the Gophers' touchdown with a touchdown drive of their own going 75 yards on just six plays and in under a minute of game action. It had appeared that the Nittany Lions would somehow find a way to go into halftime tied 17-17.

But, in what appeared to be a sign that it was going to be the Gophers' day, Penn State's extra point attempt from Ryan Barker would be blocked, resulting in a scoop and score for Ethan Robinson. The scoop and score resulted in two points for the Gophers, giving them a 19-16 lead heading into the break.

Coming out of halftime, Minnesota would drive into Penn State territory before fizzling out right before the red zone, instead settling for a 42-yard field goal. It was the second of three field goal makes for Dragan Kesich who has now made his last 10 attempts.

After holding Penn State's offense to just 37 yards on their first drive of the second half and forcing a punt, the Gophers' defense was given a tough task to stop Penn State's offense after a Mark Crawford punt gave the Nittany Lions the ball at their 43-yard line.

Minnesota's defense, however, was unable to hold the Nittany Lions as they would score in just under two minutes to take their first lead of the game at the 3:443 mark of the third quarter at 23-22.

On the Gophers' next possession, disaster ensued as Max Brosmer fumbled in Minnesota territory, giving Penn State the ball back at the Gophers' 41-yard line.

Corey Hethermaen's defense which played strong football throughout on Saturday came up with a big defensive stand following the fumble, forcing Penn State to settle for a 32-yard field goal extending their lead to 26-22 with just under 12 minutes to play.

Which brings us back to the Gophers' final offensive drive of the game. Taking the ball over with 11:41 remaining in the contest, the Gophers were in desperate need of a full-length-of-the-field touchdown drive. It was something that they were unable to accomplish since their first drive of the game.

Early on in the drive, it appeared that it may just be that for the Gophers. Daniel Jackson on the first play of the drive would make a big catch of 23 yards, holding onto the ball despite taking a massive hit from Penn State safety Jaylen Reed.

A few plays later, the Gophers had it first and goal at Penn State's seven-yard line with 6:42 remaining.

Their first and goal play was a handoff to Marcus Major for a loss of one yard.

On second and goal from the eighth, the Gophers looked to get a little creative as left tackle Aireontae Ersery was an eligible receiver on the play and ran a flat route, however, Brosmer's pass for Ersery would fall incomplete.

On third down, Brosmer looked for Elijah Spencer in the endzone but overthrew the Charlotte transfer, bringing up fourth down.

As discussed above, P.J. Fleck would choose to kick the field goal, making it a 26-25 game with 5:38 remaining. In that moment, most head coaches would choose to kick the field goal and trust the defense to get another stop, a handful may have chosen to go for the touchdown. But hindsight is 20/20.

Ultimately, the Gophers' defense was unable to get that final stop on Saturday and a potential historic upset bid fell just short.

Fleck and the Gophers will look to rebound next week when they take on the Wisconsin Badgers in Madison for Paul Bunyan's Axe.

In Saturday's loss, Max Brosmer was 15-for-23 for 175 yards and a touchdown. He also had the costly interception and fumble that resulted in six Penn State points.

Darius Taylor led the way on the ground with 17 carries for 58 yards while Marcus Major had his best game in over a month with 10 carries for 37 yards and a score.

Daniel Jackson was terrific as usual with six receptions for 90 yards while Elijah Spencer had two receptions for 46 yards.

Defensively, the Gophers kept Penn State to just 361 total yards in the game including 117 rushing yards while being great on third down, allowing Penn State to convert on just one of 11 third down attempts.

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