Penn State into the CFP Quarterfinal After SMU Obliteration

Penn State will play Boise State in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal after annihilating Southern Methodist in Happy Valley on Saturday afternoon, 38 to 10.

SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings played one of the worst games you’ll ever see. After going seven plays and 49 yards the opening drive, he threw incomplete on 4th down despite only having to run one more yard forward for a first down inside the red zone. It was a snapshot of things to come. From there, he threw two-pick sixes and followed those up with a third interception after Penn State turned it over on downs with a feckless tush push inside their own 20.

Five stars for the Nittany Lion D, which held the Mustangs to three points before garbage time. This was a team that had scored fewer than 20 only once this entire season. Jennings usually runs around like a chicken with its head cut off, so it wasn’t abnormal from a style perspective to see him play this way, but Abdul Carter and company had the guy seeing ghosts out there. He looked like a flag football QB.

It was a strange game, too, because the Penn State offense was barely on the field in the first half. They went punt/punt/downs/downs but were up 14-0 anyway when they scored their first offensive touchdown. Drew Allar and company didn’t have much to do, and QB1 only threw the ball 22 times before he was pulled in the fourth quarter with a 35-point lead.

Classic Penn State game, though. The defense looked incredible, and they simply swallowed up a lesser team at home. But as is usually the case, you don’t come away from this game feeling any different about the head coach or their prospects against the top five. Franklin decided to throw on 4th and 13 instead of trying a field goal. Surely the conditions were a factor, but that’s a long way to go to pick up a first down. He also decided to try that tush push on 4th down while backed up inside his own red zone, which failed. He was bailed out almost immediately when Jennings threw the pick, but you wonder if that’s Boise or Georgia and all of a sudden a 14-0 game is 14-7. He got away with it on Saturday, but the blue bloods will take advantage.

Lots of chatter, by the way, from SEC fans, who watched Indiana and SMU play poor games. They think Alabama, Ole Miss, and South Carolina would have given Notre Dame and Penn State a better challenge. That may be true, but those teams lost three times each, Bama and Miss dropping games to 6-6 Oklahoma, 6-6 Vandy, 4-8 Kentucky, and a Florida team that went 4-4 in conference and finished 8-5 with a bowl win. If they would have handled their business, they’re likely in, and SMU is out. Simple as that.

The post Penn State into the CFP Quarterfinal After SMU Obliteration appeared first on Crossing Broad.