Early on it looked like Penn State would run Boise State off the field. While things got iffy for a quarter and a half or so when the dust settled the Nittany Lions were 31-14 victors over the Broncos.
With the win, Penn State is off to the Orange Bowl in the College Football Playoff semi-final against either Georgia or Notre Dame. Penn State will need to clean things up in their semi-final matchup, but it will be a game they're capable of winning.
Before we go full gear toward looking ahead to the Orange Bowl, we will recap the Boise State game once more. Let's dive into today's day after thoughts from Penn State's 31-14 victory over Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.
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Drew Allar's game film and box score won't match
Early in the 3rd quarter, Drew Allar struggled for Penn State. He had some throws sail on him, none being worse than a 3rd down pass on the team's first possession of the 2nd half that Tyler Warren couldn't corral. Outside of this stretch, Allar was terrific on Tuesday night.
Allar was much better than his 13/25 for 171 yards final box score would indicate. Drops plagued Allar as Nittany Lion receivers had 6 drops throughout the night. At no point was this a bigger issue than Penn State's final possession of the first half when Allar was excellent, but three Nittany Lion drops robbed Allar of big plays, including a drop by Trey Wallace in the end zone and drops by both Warren and Omari Evans that would have set Penn State up inside the 5-yard line.
Without drops, Allar would have had a completion percentage north of 70% to go with well over 200 yards passing. He also likely would have had 4 touchdown passes instead of 3.
Allar also did a lot with his eyes and legs in the game. He was able to use his eyes to move defensive backs, and this even helped draw a defensive holding penalty at one point. He also was able to use his legs to extend plays in the pocket, as well as gain some tough yards at times.
The box score may not indicate it, but for most of the night, Allar was terrific. If this Allar shows up in the semi-finals, as long as Penn State's receivers catch the ball this time, they'll have a real shot at advancing to the National Championship Game.
Penalties need to be cleaned up
If not for penalties, Penn State may have led by 3+ scores at halftime. Due to penalties, Penn State likely left at least 10 points on the field in the first half. This is something that will need to be cleaned up in the Orange Bowl
Against Boise State, Penn State had 10 penalties for 98 yards. These penalties contributed to keeping anywhere from 7 to 14 points off the board for Penn State in the 1st half.
No knock on Boise State, they're a good football team, but if Penn State has 10 penalties for nearly 100 yards in the semi-final they'll be lucky to win. This is something that must be cleaned up in the next 10 days.
Defensive line injuries
Moving forward and looking ahead to the Orange Bowl, the biggest question marks for Penn State could revolve around the health of their defensive line. Abdul Carter left in the 2nd quarter with an apparent shoulder injury and did not return to the game. Late in the 4th quarter, Dani Dennis-Sutton exited and did not return. However, Dennis-Sutton's issue appeared to have simply been cramping. He also met with the media after the game which would indicate that he is fine.
There will be a lot of attention on Carter and his health between now and next Thursday. The odds of James Franklin giving away any substantial clues to Carter's health are just about zero. More than likely, it will not be known until kick-off on Thursday if Carter is able to play or not. If Carter can not go, regardless if the opponent is Notre Dame or Georgia, that would be a massive blow for the Nittany Lions.
Penn State running backs appeared to be on a mission
Entering the game, all the talk about running backs was focused on Boise State's Ashton Jeanty, and rightfully so. However, in the Fiesta Bowl, the running backs who shined were Penn State's Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton.
Allen looked like a man amongst boys for most of the nights. He finished the game with 134 yards rushing, a 7.9 yards per carry average, and a touchdown. Allen's most impressive run of the night was negated due to a holding penalty, but it saw him truck over a Boise defender and gallop all the way to the Bronco 20-yard line.
Singleton was bottled up more than Allen for much of the night but put the icing on the cake with a 58-yard touchdown run in the 4th quarter to set the final at 31-14. He finished the game with 87 yards of his own while averaging 7.3 yards per carry.
As motivated as Penn State's defense was to contain Jeanty and prevent him from breaking the single season rushing record, Penn State's running backs looked just as motivated to prove something and outshine Jeanty. Mission accomplished.
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