By: Tyler Millen - GoPSUsports.com
No. 6-seed Penn State and 3-seed Boise State are slated for their first matchup in program history on a stage both teams are familiar with. The Nittany Lions and Broncos will kickoff the first of four CFP quarterfinal matchups at the VRBO Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona, on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.
Penn State is 7-0 all-time in their Fiesta Bowl appearances with its last win coming against Washington 35-28 in 2017. Boise State is 3-0 in its Fiesta Bowl contests with all three wins coming against Power 4 foes.
The Nittany Lions are coming off a commanding 38-10 opening round win over SMU where head coach James Franklin earned his 100th win at Penn State. Redshirt junior linebacker Dominic DeLuca and sophomore linebacker Tony Rojas each recorded an interception return for a touchdown.
Boise State earned a first round bye into the Fiesta Bowl and finished the season 12-1 with a Mountain West Championship. The Broncos have not dropped a game since Sept. 9 when they fell by three to 1-seed Oregon and are powered by Heisman Trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty.
Jeanty enters with 2,497 rushing yards on the season which stands fourth in FBS history for a single season. Jeanty secured the Maxwell Award - given to the best overall college football player - after being tied for the nation lead in rushing touchdowns with 29 and is first nationally in all-purpose yards with 2,613.
Jeanty amassed 1,889 yards after contact and forced 143 missed tackles with vision and balance that Penn State junior running back Nick Singleton called “incredible.” Defensive coordinator Tom Allen said, ““he's going to go down as one of the greatest we ever played against.” Allen said.
“The way he's built, he's so low to the ground, he really, truly just does a really good job of balance, and to be able to take on tackles, just kind of bounce off of him almost effortlessly at times,” Allen said. “It amazes me to see how many times, how many good players have a shot at him, have a good angle on him, and just don't have any success at all of getting him on the ground or you think he's about to go down and he doesn't because he has such powerful legs.”
Tuesday’s throwdown in the desert will feature two physically imposing teams in the trenches both offensively and defensively. The Broncos are second in the country in sacks per game with 3.92 per contest with redshirt sophomore edge rusher Jayden Virgin-Morgan leading the way with 15.5 tackles for loss and 10 sacks.
On the other side of the ball is the nation’s leader in TFL’s with junior defensive end Abdul Carter who totaled 21.5 tackles for loss and 11 sacks. Carter is paired with classmate Dani Dennis-Sutton who recorded a season-high 1.5 sacks against SMU, raising his season total to 8.5.
The aforementioned pass rushers will contend with two offensive lines that are inside the top-20 of sacks allowed per game as Penn State is 16th and Boise State stands second in the FBS with under a sack per game allowed.
“They're one of the top teams in the country in terms of sacks and disruption up front,” offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki said of the Broncos. “They have some talented players on their defensive line for sure. But they play great complementary team defense. They have a nice pressure package that complements what their base defense is… But certainly up front, as we talk every week, that's going to be the battle. When you're in playoff football, this time of year playing football, you need to be good up front on both sides of the ball.”
Where Penn State can attack offensively is through the air as the Boise State defense is ranked 109th nationally with 246.8 passing yards per game allowed. Junior quarterback Drew Allar surpassed 3,000 passing yards on the season against SMU and said finding consistency in the passing game starts up front.
Penn State is facing a Broncos team that is 62nd in the FBS in 3rd down defense percentage as these will be pivotal plays for the Nittany Lions in order to extend drives, generate more scoring opportunities and keep Boise State’s dangerous run attack off the field.
“We go as the O-line goes because when they're giving me time, it gives me time to go through my progressions and get the ball to our playmakers in space,” Allar said. And then when they're blocking well in the run game, obviously, it's just giving Nick [Singleton] and Kaytron
[Allen] a head of steam and not getting touched 'til the second or third level. That's when they're at their best too.”