MINNEAPOLIS— Drew Allar passed for 244 yards and a touchdown, rushed for a score and completed a late fourth-down conversion to help No. 4 Penn State fend off Minnesota 26-25 on Saturday and stay on track for a berth in the College Football Playoff.

Tyler Warren had eight receptions for 102 yards for the Nittany Lions (10-1, 7-1 Big Ten, No. 4 CFP), who avoided the upset on an afternoon when three other teams were in the expected 12-team playoff defeated.

Dragan Kesich’s third field goal of the game with 5:48 to go brought the Gophers (6-5, 4-4) within one after getting first and goal from the 7.

Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck trusted his defense enough to elect to punt, and the strategy nearly paid off until Luke Reynolds ran 32 yards on a fake punt to make up for two Penn State blunders in the first half to make.

Allar converted another fourth-and-1 on a keeper from the 25 just before the two-minute warning and found his star tight end Warren for an 11-yard gain to end the game with another fourth-and-1 conversion .

Nick Singleton’s 12-yard touchdown run with 3:43 left in the third quarter gave the Nittany Lions their first lead at 23-22.

Max Brosmer, who had his streak of 206 passes without an interception end when he was picked off by Dominic DeLuca, lost a fumble on the first play of the fourth quarter to set up Penn State for another Ryan Barker punt.

Daniel Jackson had six catches for 90 yards, and Marcus Major rushed for a touchdown for Minnesota.

As Penn State’s Riley Thompson kicked from the back of the end zone, Derik LeCaptain deflected the ball that died at the Nittany Lions ’21. The Gophers turned up a double-reverse pass on the next play, with a throw to Darius Taylor who threw it to Jackson and back to Brosmer for a wide-open TD pass to Jameson Geers with 1:03 left in the first half.

The Nittany Lions covered 75 yards in six plays, aided by a questionable pass interference penalty on Ethan Robinson, to score on Allar’s scramble from three yards out. But Jack Henderson blocked the extra point attempt, and Robinson scooped it up, racing 88 yards for two points and a 19-16 halftime lead.

Penn State trailed 10–0 until Allar found an uncovered Omari Evans for a 45-yard touchdown pass with 10:48 left in the second quarter. The Nittany Lions scored a field goal on their next drive to tie the game at 10.

Penn State: The offense was at its best in no-huddle mode, especially when getting the ball to Warren, the all-out end.

Minnesota: The win five years ago against a then-undefeated Penn State team showed what was possible for this program, and the Gophers nearly repeated that feat. Brosmer’s two turnovers eventually threatened.

Penn State closes the regular season at home next Saturday against Maryland, and Minnesota plays at Wisconsin next Friday for possession of Paul Bunyan’s Ax.