Penn State is a win away from the national title game.
The No. 6 Nittany Lions jumped out to a 14-0 lead and held on for a 31-14 win over No. 3 Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. PSU advances to the College Football Playoff semifinal, which will take place in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 9 against the winner of Georgia-Notre Dame. Penn State dominated Boise State in the first quarter, but a fumble on a bad handoff gave Boise State life and the Nittany Lions had a hard time shaking the Broncos the rest of the way.
Heck, you can even make an argument that Boise State lost opportunities to win the game more than Penn State put the Broncos away for much of the second half. Boise State appeared to cut the Penn State lead to three in the third quarter on a TD pass, but the play was called back for a hands-to-the-face penalty. In the fourth quarter, Boise State had the chance to cut the lead to seven with less than 10 minutes to go, but the reliable Jonah Dalmas missed his second field goal of the game.
Penn State only made their fans breathe easy when Nick Singleton broke a 58-yard TD run with 4:54 to go. Singleton’s TD pushed the lead to three scores and extinguished any hope of a Boise State comeback.
Boise State running back and Heisman Trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty finished the game with 30 carries for 104 yards and came up 26 yards short of breaking Barry Sanders’ single-season rushing record. Tuesday night was Jeanty’s 14th game of the season. Sanders set his record with 11 regular-season games in 1988 and unofficially finished with 2,850 yards after rushing for 222 yards in the Holiday Bowl.
Star Penn State tight end Tyler Warren scored two touchdowns and finished with six catches for 63 yards while also drawing a couple of penalty flags. Warren opened the scoring with an 11-yard TD catch and added his second with a 13-yard grab with 7:22 remaining in the third quarter. Both catches were fantastic and showed why Warren has been the best tight end in the country.
Boise State missed a field goal after receiving the opening kickoff and then went three-and-out on its second drive. Penn State replied with a four-play drive that covered 56 yards and ended when Drew Allar hit Omari Evans for a 38-yard score.
At that point, it looked like Penn State was going to waltz its way to a blowout win. But the game did not follow that vibe. After Jeanty committed a rare fumble on Boise State’s third drive, Penn State’s fumble on the bad handoff two plays later helped get Boise State back into the game even if the Broncos didn’t directly turn it into points.
Boise State never had the lead, however. The closest the Broncos got to Penn State after the initial 14-point lead was at 17-14 when Maddux Madsen found a wide-open Matt Lauter for a 53-yard TD. Penn State immediately responded with an 11-play, 75-yard drive to get the lead back to 10.
Penn State’s dominant run game
The biggest reason why it felt like Penn State didn’t put Boise State away when it could have is because of the Nittany Lions’ run game success. Kaytron Allen and Singleton finished the game with 29 carries for 222 yards and that total would be a lot larger if Allen didn’t have a long, bruising run called back because of a penalty.
Boise State found some success blitzing Allar but simultaneously had a hard time containing the run game. Why Penn State didn’t spam the Boise State defense with more runs from Allen and Singleton is a bit of a mystery.
And it’s why you may feel you can’t trust the Nittany Lions to win the national title. The Fiesta Bowl was a great chance to put the game away early and Penn State simply couldn’t do it.
Another reason for concern is the status of star edge rusher Abdul Carter. The defensive end didn’t play in the second half as he suffered an apparent left shoulder injury. Carter entered the game with 11 sacks and 22 tackles for loss as one of the most dominant defensive players in the country.
Dani Dennis-Sutton, one of Carter’s counterparts on the defensive line, also went down late in the fourth quarter. Dennis-Sutton had a sack on Tuesday night and had 5.5 in the Nittany Lions’ first 13 games of the season. If one or both can’t play in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 8, Penn State will be significantly shorthanded.
