Penn State football’s potentially season-saving play was filled with unsung heroes, and the guy that “quarterbacked” the whole thing is a walk-on who many Penn State fans haven’t heard of.
With 5:48 left against Minnesota, the Gophers kicked a field goal to cut Penn State’s lead to 26-25.
This brought Minnesota closer but by not going for a touchdown on 4th and goal at the 8-yard line, coach PJ Fleck risked Penn State keeping the ball the rest of the night.
At first, it didn’t look like this would happen.
Penn State went three-and-out, setting up a 4th and 1 from its own 34 with 3:47 left. What happened next could forever be a part of Penn State football lore.
Fake punt 👀
It works, and No. 4 @PennStateFball is in business.#B1GFootball on CBS 📺 pic.twitter.com/k6wdPuP7i3
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 23, 2024
‘THE QUARTERBACK’
Dominic Rulli has been with Penn State for almost three full seasons and, coming into the Minnesota game, had played a total of 100 offensive snaps on the offensive line.
Penn State has played 35 games since Rulli joined the team, so that translates to less than three snaps per game.
But where the 6-foot-3, 295-pounder from Burlington, Kentucky makes his biggest impact is on special teams.
The “quarterback” of the punt team is considered to be the protector, which is Rulli.
The punt protector is the anchor of the punt team.
It’s he who anchors the punt protection and is responsible for the punt getting off.
Another responsibility is that if a punt team calls for a fake but the opposing return team is set up well to defend it, it’s up to the protector to call the fake off.
Per coach James Franklin, Penn State called that exact fake punt “probably six times” in 2024.
The first six were all called off. This one turned into a 32-yard gain by another unsung hero in true freshman Luke Reynolds, snapped by the always unsung long snapper Tyler Duzansky.
For Franklin, 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. Dom’s done a great job of checking in and out of it.”
James Franklin on Penn State’s fake punt that translated to a 32-yard rush by Luke Reynolds: “I just felt like we needed to try to end the game on our terms with the ball in our hand” pic.twitter.com/CbtXUicYkP
— Seth Engle (@bigsengtweets) November 24, 2024
‘NEEDS MORE ATTENTION’
It was the right time to call a fake, and Penn State center Nick Dawkins feels it’s the right time for Penn State fans to give Rulli some more love.
“He works his tail off,” Dawkins said via Mike Poorman of StateCollege.com. “He’s intelligent, he studies looks, and when he made that call, there was no doubt in my mind that he made the right call, whether to do it or not to do it. That’s just a guy who needs more attention because he handles his business on special teams, handles his business when he gets on the field, when he gets opportunities. I have so much respect for who he is as a man and as a football player.”
Penn State's DOM RULLI was the punt protector and lynchpin for the Nittany Lions’ successful fake point vs. Minnesota. Nick Dawkins sings his praises: “Dom’s the quarterback of punts…I have so much respect for him” Great clip. WATCH… pic.twitter.com/9LuNNAmh4Q
— Mike Poorman (@PSUPoorman) November 24, 2024
FRANKLIN WANTED TO GO HOME
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN – NOVEMBER 16: Penn State Nittany Lions Head Coach James Franklin high fives players as they jog off the field after scoring during the college football game between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Purdue Boilermakers on November 16, 2024, at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire)
Besides the X’s and O’s, there was another reason Franklin wanted to fall a fake.
“I just felt like we needed to try to end the game on our terms with the ball in our hand,” Franklin said.
Penn State ends its season against Maryland next Saturday at Beaver Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 on the Big Ten Network.
