UNIVERSITY PARK — If there was ever a time for the Penn State Nittany Lion defense to show off its full potential, it was in the first ever College Football Playoff game on Saturday, Dec. 21, at Beaver Stadium against Southern Methodist.
SMU came into Beaver Stadium averaging 39 points per game with an offense that contained many of the elements the Lions saw when they faced Oregon in the Big Ten championship game — a highly efficient, dual-threat quarterback, talented receivers and a dangerous running back.
But two pick-6 touchdowns, three total interceptions, two red-zone stops and touchdown runs by Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton netted the Lions a 28-point halftime lead and eventually a convincing 38-10 victory over the Mustangs.
Redshirt junior linebacker Dominic DeLuca started it for Penn State with a 23-yard interception return for a score that put the Lions ahead 7-0.
In the second period, linebacker Tony Rojas picked one off and returned it 59-yards for the second PSU touchdown and a 14-point lead.
SMU drove after Rojas’ pick deep into the Penn State red zone, but DeLuca was there again when he batted Mustang quarterback Kevin Jenning’s pass in the air and intercepted it for the third first-half Lion takeaway.
DeLuca’s pick was followed by a 25-yard touchdown run by Allen that made it 21-0, and then Singleton capped a 38-yard scoring drive with a 1-yard plunge that essentially punched his team’s ticket to the Fiesta Bowl showdown against Boise State in the national quarterfinals.
SMU managed a third quarter field goal and a late touchdown, but otherwise the Penn State defenders were there at every turn.
SMU’s nationally sixth-best offense was held to 10 points as Penn State recorded three sacks and 11 tackles for loss. SMU was held to just three of 14 in third-down attempts and just 58 net yards rushing in the game.
Jennings did complete 20 of 36 passes for 195 yards and a touchdown, but he finished with negative yards rushing and three costly interceptions.
The Nittany Lion offense picked it up as well as the game progressed.
Penn State ran for 189 net yards with Singleton getting 90 yards and a touchdown and Allen running for 70 yards and two touchdowns.
Quarterback Drew Allar was 13 of 22 for 127 yards with no turnovers.
“Kind of summarizing the game, maybe the best performance on the defensive side of the ball that I’ve seen in a half,” Penn State head coach James Franklin said. “You talk about three interceptions, two for touchdowns, that’s why you recruit linebackers that play running back. That was phenomenal.
“It took a little bit of time for our offense to get going, but obviously once we did, we did some great things. Specifically, we got the run game going, which was important for us. Twelve wins in a season for the fourth time in school history, joining the 1973, 1986 and 1994 teams. Thirty-three wins over the last three seasons, second time in program history. Last time that was done is 1971 to 1973. A ton of cool stuff to be proud of.
“You look at the stats that we focus on, the takeaway battle was big, three turnovers to one. Explosive play battle, we won that. Third down battle, we won that. We tied the sack battle. The penalty battle, we won. That’s a whole other conversation.
“A ton of cool stuff. I can go on and on and on, but we got a team win led by our defense in the beginning of the game, but at the end of the game, it was a team win: offense, defense and special teams.”
Now, the Lions will head to the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Eve to meet 12-1 Boise State.
The Bronco’s only loss this season came at the hands of No. 1 Oregon, 37-34, on Saturday, Sept. 7, at Oregon.
Boise State is led by record-breaking running back Ashton Jeanty who ran 344 times this season for an incredible 2,497 yards and 29 touchdowns.
In 2024, he was never held to less than 127 yards in a game (against Portland State) and he went over 200 yards five times, with the highest being 267 yards against Georgia Southern in the team’s opening game.
Jeanty ran for 192 against Oregon, 226 against Oregon State and 209 in the Conference championship 21-7 victory over UNLV.
Quarterback Maddux Madsen was 224 for 361 for 2,714 yards and 22 touchdowns with just three interceptions with his top receivers being WR Cameron Camper with 55 catches for 837 yards and four touchdowns and tight end Matt Lauter with 43 catches for 523 yards and six touchdowns. Camper averaged 15.2 yards per catch this season.
As a team, Boise scores 39 points per game and 470 yards of offense per game, including 250 per game on the ground.
Defensively, the team recorded 51 sacks, seven interceptions and recovered eight fumbles.
Boise, with Jeanty and Madsen running the offense, will present another giant challenge for the Penn State defenders, although different from the ones they saw against Oregon and SMU.
The more balanced, ground-based attack will present major problems for the Lions.
At the same time, there may be opportunities to score points, although the Broncos gave up an average of just 13 points per game in their final three games.
Oregon and Georgia Southern scored the most with the Ducks getting 37 and GASO scoring 45.
The Winner will advance to the Capital One Orange Bowl on Thursday, Jan. 9, to face the winner of the Notre Dame, Georgia game.
