Penn State’s latest white-out was more like Liquid Paper.
Remember Liquid Paper? The typo-prone accountant’s best friend?
SMU was on the other end of the Nittany Lions’ latest white-out on Saturday afternoon, and even a truckload of Liquid Paper wouldn’t have been enough to cover it.
The Mustangs were hurt badly by two interceptions for touchdowns by the Penn State defense, were damaged further by another in the first half, and were stymied in just about every direction in a 38-10 loss in a first-round College Football Playoff game here at Happy Valley.
The win moves Penn State (12-2) into a second-round game against Boise State, who had a bye this weekend, in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Eve.
The loss leaves just about everyone, except maybe those in the SMU locker room and the CFP Committee that booked it, questioning if the Mustangs (11-3) belonged in the game at all.
SMU, who had few teams with winning records on its schedule this season, lost to Clemson in the ACC Championship game on Dec. 7, but they were placed into the playoff anyway, largely based apparently on their total number of wins.
Committee Chairman Warde Manuel insisted on ESPN after the committee’s announcement that they did consider strength of schedule when setting the playoff field.
Obviously, it wasn’t considered long.
We mentioned in the Notre Dame-Indiana story that the Hoosiers left the door open for doubters about the committee’s decision-making with their overwhelming loss at Notre Dame on Friday night.
If Indiana left the door open, then SMU just took the thing off its hinges.
Penn State linebacker Dominic DeLuca, a former walk-on, intercepted SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings twice: once for a pick-six that put the Nittany Lions in front, where they’d remain, and then again when SMU threatened in the red zone.
Another Lions’ linebacker, Tony Rojas, doubled his team’s lead with ANOTHER pick-six of Jennings just moments later.
The victory was Penn State coach James Franklin’s 100th with the program.
Jennings went 20-of-36 for 195 yards, the three interceptions and a touchdown pass in the game’s closing moments.
Another play early in the game proved almost as costly as the interceptions.
With a chance to take a 7-0 lead, Jennings, on a fourth-and-1 deep in Penn State territory, rolled to his right and easily could’ve ran for the first down – but he backed up, making sure he was behind the line of scrimmage, and tried to hit a wide-open Matthew Hibner, the Mustangs’ tight end, at the goal line. Hibner mishandled the ball and dropped it, a turnover on downs.
DeLuca would score on his pick-six on the Mustangs’ next drive.
The Penn State defense held SMU to 238 total yards.
Penn State didn’t exactly look invincible on offense in the game. Quarterback Drew Allar was pedestrian, at best: 13-of-22 for 127 yards, no touchdowns, and only ran for 10 yards on seven carries.
The Nittany Lions did finish with 189 rushing yards by committee: Kaytron Allen had two of them, and 70 yards on the ground, and Nicholas Singleton was their leading rusher, with 90 yards on 11 carries and a score.
Up next for Penn State, as mentioned, is a date with Boise State (12-1) – and running back Ashton Jeanty – on Dec. 31, a 7:30 p.m. Eastern / 6:30 Central kickoff of the Fiesta Bowl at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., in round two. Jeanty was the Heisman Trophy runner-up earlier this month, and has ran for an eye-popping 2,497 yards this year.
