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 of them for touchdowns in a 38-10 win 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 TD.
Eight minutes later, Tony Rojas intercepted Jennings on another poor throw and returned it 59 yards.
That would be everything Penn State would need, though the Nittany Lions piled it on the rest of the quarter. SMU had a great chance to get back into the game after Penn State failed on a fourth-and-short in its own territory. But as SMU was at the Penn State 7-yard line, Jennings tried to get a short throw over DeLuca’s head and didn’t throw it high enough.
DeLuca was tackled on that interception return, but it set up a 25-yard TD run by Kaytron Allen nine plays later.
The rest of the game was academic from there, though Penn State made it a four-TD margin at halftime when Nick Singleton scored on a 1-yard run. That play was preceded by a fantastic third-down sideline scramble by 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 on downs twice. One of the fourth-down failures came on SMU’s first drive of the game, as 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 on Dec. 31 in the Fiesta Bowl. It was a fantastic bounce-back effort from the defense after Penn State was ripped apart by Oregon in the Big Ten championship game.
Oregon had 466 yards and averaged over six yards a play on its way to the Big Ten title. It was just the second time all season that a team had gained more than 400 yards against the Penn State defense.
SMU had a hard time moving the ball even when it wasn’t turning it over on Saturday. SMU only crossed the 200-yard mark in the third quarter and finished 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 lost out on a top-four spot in the playoff with a 34-31 defeat in the ACC title game to Clemson.
One of those ACC wins came at Duke when SMU turned the ball over a staggering six times but still won 28-27 in overtime after Duke’s game-winning two-point conversion attempt failed.
Duke didn’t get a defensive score off any of those six turnovers, however. In an alternate universe, SMU may have a chance if DeLuca doesn’t pick off Jennings for 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.