Beaver Stadium, Pennsylvania- Southern Methodist University and Penn State faced off in the second College Football Playoff game as the Mustangs got the second-to-last playoff spot and Penn State came in as the sixth seed.
Southern Methodist forced a three-and-out on Penn State’s first possession of the game and moved the ball quickly down the field but went for it on fourth and three and threw an incompletion at the goal line to give the ball back to the Nittany Lions. After the Mustangs forced another punt from Penn State on their second possession, SMU’s Kevin Jennings threw a 23-yard pick-six to Dominic DeLuca and the Nittany Lions took a 7-0 lead with 6:08 left in the first quarter.
Penn State held SMU to another three-and-out before going down the field and stalling inside the 30-yard line of the Mustangs after failing to convert a fourth and thirteen. On the ensuing drive, Jennings threw his second pick-six; this one to Tony Rojas for 59 yards, and the Mustangs were down 14-0 to Penn State early in the second stanza.
After the Mustangs offense sputtered again, the defense of SMU held Penn State on a fourth and one to get the ball back inside the Nittany Lions 20-yard line before Jennings’ three his third interception of the first half; which was intercepted by DeLuca again for his second of the game.
Penn State then scored on a nine play, 75-yard drive that was capped with a 25-yard touchdown run for Kaytron Allen to put the Nittany Lions up, 21-0 with five minutes left in the half. Penn State then stopped the Mustangs in fourth down and took over on SMU’s 38-yard line.
The Nittany Lions scored seven plays later and this time Nicholas Singleton punched it in from a yard out to make the score, 28-0 at the half as the Nittany Lions defense was outstanding in the first half.
SMU got the ball to start the second half and after 33 minutes, the Mustangs scored on a 28-yard field goal from Collin Roger’s after a nine play, 42-yard drive to make the score, 28-3 Penn State with 10:59 to go in the third.
The Mustangs then attempted an onside kick, but to no avail as the Nittany Lions recovered and scored on a 40-yard field goal by Ryan Barker to make the Mustangs deficit, 31-3 with 8:13 left in the quarter. The Mustangs showed promise on their next drive, advancing to the Penn State four yard line before a sack by Abdul Carter for an 18-yard loss that forced SMU to kick a field goal that was missed by Rogers from 42 yards out to give the ball back to the Nittany Lions.
Heading into the fourth quarter, Penn State finished another drive with a touchdown run from Allen, this from five yards out, and the Nittany Lions took a 38-3 lead with 12:56 left in the game.
Southern Methodist scored their first touchdown of the game on its next possession with Jennings hitting Roderick Daniels for a 28-yard touchdown pass to pull the Mustangs to within 28 points with score, 38-10 Penn State with 7:31 left in the quarter. And that ended up being the final score as Penn State advances to the Fiesta Bowl to play Boise State on New Year’s Eve as part of the College Football Playoff Quarterfinals.
