Every Thanksgiving week, Penn State football coach James Franklin turns the table on beat writers and asks them their preferences for their holiday dinners. After Franklin hears their answers, the writers ask their prepared questions. Naturally, one writer asked Monday about the fake punt the Nittany Lions used successfully in the fourth quarter of their 26-25 win at Minnesota last weekend. He asked if Franklin thought about the potential fallout if the call had failed. “If it didn’t work, you wouldn’t be having fun with me talking about fried or roasted turkey,” Franklin said. “You’d be roasting James Franklin and I totally get that.” He and the fourth-ranked Lions are thankful the fake worked and that it helped them close in on a spot in the College Football Playoff. Penn State (7-1 Big Ten, 10-1) can seal a CFP berth by beating 25-point underdog Maryland (1-7, 4-7) on Senior Day Saturday at 3:30 (TV-BTN) at Beaver Stadium. The Lions also can gain a berth in the Big Ten championship game against Oregon Dec. 7 in Indianapolis with some help. If Ohio State loses to Michigan and Indiana falls to Purdue, Penn State would finish alone in second place. If the Hoosiers win and the Buckeyes lose, the Lions would tie Indiana and reach the title game on a tiebreaker, highest cumulative conference winning percentage of all conference opponents. “To be honest with you, I haven’t spent a whole lot of time thinking about that,” Franklin said. “I’m completely focused on the Terps. After that game, there are a lot of other things that have to happen, but that is a possibility. “We want an opportunity to compete as many times as we possibly can. If that includes a conference championship game, we would be very, very excited about that opportunity.” If the Lions win and don’t make the Big Ten title game, they likely will have a home game Dec. 20 or 21 in the first round of the CFP. The final rankings and seeds will be announced Dec. 8, the day after several conference championships. If they lose to the Terrapins, then their fate would be in the hands of the CFP committee. Penn State wouldn’t be in such a great position if it had lost at Minnesota. The Lions trailed by 10 points in the first half, took their first lead on Nick Singleton’s 12-yard run in the third quarter and ran out the final 5:48 after the Gophers closed within one point. Starting from their own 25-yard line, they converted on three fourth downs to run out the clock: Luke Reynolds’ 32-yard run on the fake punt, Drew Allar’s quarterback sneak and Allar’s 11-yard pass to tight end Tyler Warren. The fake punt was the riskiest call. “We’ve been repping that all the way back to training camp,” Franklin said. “Dom Rulli did a phenomenal job of being the quarterback and getting us into the right call at the right time. If you watch it, DaKaari Nelson’s block is like a clinic block. He pancakes the guy on it. “Tyler Elsdon on the front side gets his hands inside and has a beautiful block. It’s really cool when you work all year for something that when the time presents itself, guys are able to take advantage of it and maximize it. I’m really proud of the guys.” Franklin also mentioned that Warren passed up a chance to break the Penn State record for TD catches by a tight end when he fell to the ground at the 3 on the final play instead of trying to get into the end zone. “He easily could have scored,” Franklin said. “It’s the best thing to do in managing that situation, winning the game and ending it on our terms. It was a really, really cool play. It’s not surprising that Tyler Warren is going to put the team first.” Penn State still has to take care of business against Maryland, which has lost its last four games by a combined 76 points. “All we have to do is focus on playing Maryland this week,” he said. “If we’re not focused on that, then a lot of these other things that everybody else wants to talk about become questionable. Those things become challenging. Those things become different. “We are focused totally on the University of Maryland and sending our seniors out the right way.”