Penn State football survived a massive scare from Minnesota on Saturday in a game that would have severely damaged the Nittany Lions' College Football Playoff hopes. James Franklin and company had to battle for 60 minutes in a gritty road game, but eventually did just enough to come away with a 26-25 win.

Franklin shocked just about everyone late in the game when he elected to fake a punt on fourth-and-1 with a one-point lead. Penn State picked up the first down, helping them chew even more time on the clock.

Franklin was presented with two more fourth-and-1 situations later in the drive, and he continued to be aggressive. The Penn State head coach elected to go for both of them, picking up first downs on a run by Drew Allar and a pass to tight end Tyler Warren. After that, the Nittany Lions were able to drain the rest of the clock and walk out of Minnesota with a much-needed victory.

After the game, Franklin talked about what went into that unusually aggressive decision making, according to the Associated Press via ESPN.

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“I just felt like we needed to be aggressive and end the game on our terms,” Franklin said after the game.

This win likely secured a spot in the College Football Playoff for Penn State, who will probably still be ranked in the top five of the CFP rankings when the new poll is released on Tuesday. The Nittany Lions are still lacking quality wins, but should be in a good spot as long as they can finish the regular season 11-1 with a victory over Maryland next Saturday.

Unless chaos ensues in the Big Ten next week, Penn State won't get the chance to play for a conference championship because of its loss to Ohio State earlier in the season. Oregon has already clinched its spot in Indianapolis with an undefeated record up to this point, and Ohio State is in the driver's seat to take them on thanks to wins over Penn State and Indiana.

Unless Michigan is able to pull off a stunning upset against the Buckeyes to end the regular season, Penn State will not get another shot at Ohio State unless thy match up in the postseason.