The Penn State football team narrowly avoided a disastrous loss on Saturday as they survived a scare on the road against Minnesota. The Nittany Lions are in prime position to make their first ever College Football Playoff, but if they had lost to the Golden Gophers, their chances might've been out the window. Penn State only has one loss, but they don't really have any impressive wins. Still, if they get it done this weekend against Maryland, they will make it the College Football Playoff.

Penn State had a lot of trouble getting into the College Football Playoff during the four team era as they had issues getting past Michigan and Ohio State. Now, with the expanded playoff, it is much easier to qualify, and it's looking like the Nittany Lions will make it for the first time ever.

The Nittany Lions did get the job done against Minnesota, but it wasn't pretty. Minnesota got off to a great start in this game as they scored an early touchdown and a field goal in the second quarter to go up by two scores. There was a lot of scoring from both sides before halftime as the Penn State football team found the end zone twice and they also kicked a field goal, but the Golden Gophers blocked a PAT and returned it for two points to take a 19-16 lead into the locker room.

Penn State was finally able to take the lead when they scored a touchdown in the third quarter. They went up 23-22 with one quarter remaining. Both teams traded field goals in the fourth, and some gutsy play calls by James Franklin in the final minutes sealed the deal for the Nittany Lions. One of them was a fake punt. It was incredibly risky, but it paid off.

Now, Penn State just needs to take care of business at home against Maryland. The Nittany Lions are big favorites in that game, and it would be shocking to see them go down.

Penn State will probably make the playoff, but they are going to need to clean some things up if they actually want to make a run once they get there. Here are a couple of their biggest concerns after the narrow win against Minnesota:

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin looks at quarterback Drew Allar (15) during the first quarter against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Huntington Bank Stadium.
© Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Third down efficiency

A big issue against Minnesota for the Penn State football team was third downs. The Nittany Lions converted just one out of 11 third downs against the Golden Gophers. That isn't going to cut it in a playoff game against a much better team.

First off, the Nittany Lions need to do a better job of getting into more favorable third down distances, and we will talk about that here soon. Secondly, they just need to execute better. Championship teams get it done on those crucial downs, and Penn State wasn't doing that against Minnesota.

Run game

If Penn State wants to have success on third downs, they need to have success on first and second down. The way to do that is by establishing the line of scrimmage and running the football with success. Nick Singleton had a good day on Saturday, but Kaytron Allen ran the ball seven times for just 10 yards. The Nittany Lions need to be able to create some more push up front if they want to have success on the ground going forward.

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The good news for Penn State here is that they can kill two birds with one stone here. If they can have success in the run game, they will put themselves in good positions on third down.

This Penn State football team is interesting. They are likely going to finish 11-1, but they don't really have any impressive wins. It'll be intriguing to see how they do in the College Football Playoff.

Week 13 college football recap

This past weekend of college football was pure chaos, especially in the SEC. Let's take a look at went down around the country in the power four conferences.

Clemson, SMU and Miami are the three teams fighting for an ACC title. No chaos in that conference over the weekend. All three teams easily took care of business, and it will come down to the final week in terms of who will play for the championship.

There were some big results in the Big 12 this weekend, and the race for the conference title game is getting intense. Colorado got upset by Kansas, Arizona State took down BYU in a wild one, and Iowa State survived a scare against Utah. There are four teams tied atop the standings with one week left. Buckle up.

In the Big Ten, there were two big ones this weekend. Ohio State took down Indiana in the huge top-five showdown in Columbus, and Penn State barely survived a scare from Minnesota on the road, winning 26-25. The conference title game will be between Oregon and Ohio State barring anything crazy.

Lastly, the SEC is where we saw maximum chaos. Texas A&M was upset by Auburn, Alabama was upset by Oklahoma and Ole Miss was upset by Florida. All of those teams had College Football Playoff hopes with two losses, and those hopes are likely all dead now that they have three. The Aggies still have a slight chance to get in as they can win the SEC, but it's unlikely. The others do not have any hope.

What a chaotic weekend of college football it was, and with just one more week of the college football season left, there is sure to be more wild results. Week 14 is almost here, and enjoy it. When it's done, we have to wait about nine months for another college football Saturday.