By: Tyler Millen - GoPSUsports.com
The College Football Playoff in Happy Valley is set for its inaugural contest as No. 6 seed Penn State will clash with No. 11 seed SMU at Beaver Stadium on Saturday at noon on TNT and MAX.
The Nittany Lions and Mustangs will meet for the first time since 1978 and each team is coming off a one possession loss in the Big Ten and ACC Championship games, respectively. Both teams enter Saturday’s showdown 11-2 overall with SMU finishing 8-0 in conference action while Penn State closed 8-1.
Head coach James Franklin is one win away from No. 100 in his Penn State tenure and leads the Nittany Lions into a battle that contains two of the best defenses at containing the run. SMU is fourth in the FBS in rushing defense allowing 93.4 rushing yards per game while Penn State places ninth.
The Nittany Lions run game will look to mirror its performance against Oregon in the Big Ten Championship game when they totaled 292 rushing yards. Franklin said success on the ground stems from healthy junior running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen and the offensive lineman getting, “a hat on a hat and straining.”
“The entire offensive line has continued development amazingly,” redshirt senior offensive lineman Nick Dawkins said. “When I think of where we started to where we're at now even given our last game, I'm excited for what we have in store. A lot of confidence in this group, especially with picking up pressures, especially in the run game. That's what we want as an offensive line. We want to put the game on our back. We want to have a strong run game that obviously supports a strong pass protection game for Drew [Allar] and the running backs to make plays.”
The Nittany Lions passing offense will stack up against an SMU passing defense that ranks 91st nationally. Allar enters 10th in the country in QBR and has proven to be one of the most accurate passers with a 69.1 completion percentage.
Allar has thrown for 2,894 yards and 21 touchdowns and the junior emphasized the importance of being accurate and spreading the ball around to his wideouts including redshirt juniors Harrison Wallace III, Liam Clifford, junior Omari Evans and senior Julian Fleming.
“One of the best things that we've done as a quarterback room is just talk through the reads and why we're using certain footworks on certain progressions and keeping me in rhythm,” Allar said. “From that standpoint, when I feel like I'm in rhythm, I'm really hard to stop and that's when I'm at my best is when I'm at rhythm and that's when I'm accurate and delivering with anticipation and giving receivers catchable balls where they're able to run after the catch and make a guy miss.”
Another impactful playmaker for the Nittany Lions rests in senior tight end Tyler Warren who secured the first John Mackey Award in program history after a dominant season. The All-American totaled 1,062 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns which is tied for the most among FBS tight ends.
Offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki stressed the importance of continuing to be creative with Warren in both the pass and run game. “Our imagination is basically our limitation when working with him,” Kotelnicki said.
“He's an elite person, he's an elite player,” Kotelnicki said. “He's a unicorn… What makes it special is that you don't have to spend a lot of time investing in some of the things you see him do… With most players, there's a lot of consternation as a coach about someone who can actually snap the ball. With him, it's like, ‘hey, go snap the ball’ “OK.” He just does it. You're gonna catch a snap, you're gonna handle the snap count. You just have confidence that he can do those things because he’s just so well rounded.”
On the offensive side of the ball for SMU is electrifying sophomore quarterback Kevin Jennings who is 19th nationally with 3,050 passing yards. Jennings and senior running back Brashard Smith power an offense that is sixth in the country with just over 39 points per game.
Defensive coordinator Tom Allen praised Jennings for his ability to create plays outside the pocket and extend drives by both scrambling and throwing down field with accuracy. Chasing Jennings around the field is junior defensive lineman Abdul Carter who became the 103rd first-team All-American in Penn State history.
Allen called Carter “the best defensive player in the country” and said his ability to disrupt plays from any position on the defensive line is game changing. Allen said players like Carter and redshirt junior linebacker Kobe King will have to maintain their responsibilities which presents challenges with a mobile quarterback like Jennings.
Allen praised King’s development as a leader on the defense and his production in 2024 which led to an All-Big Ten Second-Team selection. King has amassed 175 tackles in his Penn State career and recorded a career-high 8.5 tackles for loss this season. His orchestrating of the defense on the field will be crucial on Saturday against a dynamic SMU offense.
“You go as your backers go and he's had a tremendous season,” Allen said. “The consistency; he's played like an older, mature player is supposed to play. He's a really good tackler, he's way better in space than I think most people realize. He has really loose hips, he can sink and bend and rush the passer and just do so many different things. He runs our defense… The ownership of running the defense verbally and he’s taken that on.”