Penn State’s defense didn’t need any help from the offense in beating SMU on Saturday.
The No. 6 Nittany Lions intercepted SMU QB Kevin Jennings three times in the first half and returned two for touchdowns in a 38-10 victory over the No. 11 Mustangs in the first round of the College Football Playoff.
It was a disastrous first 30 minutes for SMU. The Nittany Lions took a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter when Dominic DeLuca returned an interception 23 yards for a touchdown.
Eight minutes later, Tony Rojas intercepted Jennings after another bad throw and returned the ball 59 yards.
That would be all Penn State would need, although the Nittany Lions piled on it the rest of the quarter. SMU had a great opportunity to get back into the game after Penn State failed on a fourth-and-short in its own territory. But since SMU was on Penn State’s 7-yard line, Jennings tried to get a short throw over DeLuca’s head but didn’t throw it high enough.
DeLuca was tackled on that interception return, but nine plays later it set up a 25-yard TD run by Kaytron Allen.
The rest of the game was academic from then on, although Penn State made it a four-touchdown margin at halftime when Nick Singleton scored on a 1-yard run. That play was preceded by a fantastic third-down sideline play from QB Drew Allar.
SMU had the ball eight times in the first half. Outside of the three that ended in interceptions, they punted three times and turned the ball over twice on downs. One of the fourth-down failures came on SMU’s first drive of the game, when the Mustangs went for it at the Penn State 19-yard line. Jennings had an open Matthew Hibner, but the pass was behind him and fell incomplete.
Penn State gets Boise State
The Nittany Lions will now play No. 3 Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl on December 31. It was a fantastic bounce-back effort from the defense after Penn State was mauled by Oregon in the Big Ten championship game.
Oregon had 466 yards and averaged more than six yards per play en route to the Big Ten title. It was only the second time this season that a team gained more than 400 yards against the Penn State defense.
SMU had trouble moving the ball, even if it didn’t turn over on Saturday. SMU didn’t surpass the 200-yard mark until the third quarter, finishing with 252 total yards on 73 plays.
SMU finishes 11-3
Saturday was a nightmare ending to what had been a dream season for SMU in its first year in the ACC. The Mustangs were the only undefeated team in ACC conference play during the regular season and fell out of a top-four spot in the playoff with a 34-31 loss in the ACC title game to Clemson.
One of those ACC wins came at Duke when SMU turned the ball over a whopping six times but still won 28-27 in overtime after Duke’s game-winning two-point conversion attempt failed.
However, Duke did not get a single defensive score from these six turnovers. In an alternate universe, SMU might have a chance if DeLuca doesn’t knock out Jennings a second time. SMU was in prime position to cut the lead to 14-7 or at least 14-3.
Instead, Penn State sprinted away and SMU was helpless to catch up.
