MINNEAPOLIS – Nick Dawkins and the rest of the Penn State offense barely had a chance to take off their helmets and sit down when they heard a commotion on the field. On fourth-and-1 from their 34-yard line late in the fourth quarter, the Nittany Lions lined up in punt formation while holding a one-point lead over Minnesota. Then freshman tight end Luke Reynolds surprised the Golden Gophers and many of his teammates by taking a direct snap and rambling 32 yards. The fake punt went a long way toward sealing No. 4 Penn State’s 26-25 victory Saturday at Huntington Bank Stadium. “To be quite honest, I had no idea they called it,” said Dawkins, the Penn State center and Parkland High School graduate. “We were about to get out the iPads to see what twist Minnesota just ran. I looked up and I saw Luke boogie down the field. “We were like, ‘Oh, OK, there you go. Get your helmet back on.’ ” Penn State proceeded to convert two more fourth downs, one on a quarterback sneak by Drew Allar and the second one on Allar’s 11-yard pass to tight end Tyler Warren in the final seconds. The Lions (7-1 Big Ten, 10-1) overcame a 10-point deficit and two blocked kicks in the first half, survived a scare from double-digit underdog Minnesota (4-4, 6-5) and closed in on a College Football Playoff berth. “At the end of the day, our team overcame adversity and found a way to win on the road,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. “I’m just proud of our guys.” The Lions became the third FBS team to win at least 10 games each of the last three seasons and went 5-0 away from Beaver Stadium in the regular season for the first time since 1994. They did it by holding onto the football and keeping it away from the Gophers for the final 5:48. “We always talk about situational football,” running back Nick Singleton said. “We want to keep the ball as long as we can, which we did at the end of the game. “It felt like joy, joy, for sure. Minnesota’s a good team. We played four quarters with them. We ended the game on our terms.” Allar completed 21-of-28 passes for 244 yards and one touchdown, a 45-yard strike to a wide-open Omari Evans in the first half, and also scored on a 4-yard run. Warren, despite increased attention on him from the Gophers, caught eight passes for 102 yards and even hit a quick kick. Singleton accounted for 100 all-purpose yards, 63 yards and one touchdown on 13 carries and 37 yards on six receptions. They all contributed to Penn State’s fourth comeback win after trailing at halftime. “We’re very together,” Warren said. “All these times we’ve been down at halftime there hasn’t been pointing fingers or bad attitudes coming back into the locker room. That sets up really well for the second half.” Minnesota’s defensive line and the two blocked kicks helped the Gophers take a 19-16 lead at halftime. The Gophers sacked Allar twice and limited the Lions to 10 rushing yards on 13 attempts. They blocked Riley Thompson’s punt from the end zone late in the second quarter and turned it into Max Brosmer’s 21-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jameson Geers. Penn State answered quickly as Allar completed all five of his passes for 56 yards and scored on his run. But Jack Henderson blocked Ryan Barker’s PAT and Ethan Robinson returned it for two points to give the Gophers the halftime lead. The two blocked kicks resulted in a 10-point swing. “If we don’t have the blocked punt and the blocked PAT, it’s a very different game,” Franklin said. “That’s very uncharacteristic for us.” Penn State continued its season-long dominance in the third quarter. The Lions held Minnesota to a field goal and took the lead for the first time on a 57-yard drive after a short punt. Allar completed three straight passes to Warren before Singleton scored on a 12-yard burst. Early iIn the fourth quarter, Penn State recovered Brosmer’s fumble at the Minnesota 41 and converted that into Barker’s 32-yard field goal, which made it 26-22. Minnesota then drove to the Lions’ 8 before their defense stiffened. Dragan Kesich kicked a 26-yard field goal, which cut it to 26-25 with 5:48 left. The Gophers never got the ball back. The game ended when Allar saw Singleton covered in the flat, stepped up in the pocket and found Warren at the 3. “That was a football play,” Dawkins said. “You can’t scheme certain things like that. Sometimes it just naturally goes that way, and it was awesome to see.”