Fiesta Bowl takeaways: Penn State shuts down Ashton Jeanty on way to semifinals

The Penn State Nittany Lions are on their way to the College Football Playoff semifinals thanks to a 31-14 Fiesta Bowl win over the Boise State Broncos on Tuesday night.

They now await the winner of Wednesday’s Georgia Bulldogs vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish game, which they will face in the Orange Bowl next week. 

Here are four takeaways from Penn State’s win on Tuesday night. 

1. Penn State’s defense did its job 

Especially against Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty. 

The box score will say Jeanty had 104 yards on 30 carries, which is a very respectable number. 

But that is also a little misleading. 

He gained 26 of those yards on one carry on a third-and-long when Penn State’s defense was playing deep off the line, and he was limited to just 78 yards on 29 carries. That is just 2.6 yards per carry. That was never going to be good enough for Boise State to win, and Penn State’s defense deserves a ton of credit for limiting the best running back in the country.

Along with mostly keeping him check, they also forced two Jeanty fumbles (one of which was recovered by Penn State) and intercepted Boise State quarterback Maddux Madsen in the fourth quarter on a pivotal drive in the game. 

What makes that performance even more impressive is that Penn State’s best defensive player, Abdul Carter, did not play most of the game due to injury. 

2. College kickers will always be an adventure

Boise State kicker Jonah Dalmas has had an outstanding career with the Broncos, making over 87% of his kicks in five years.

He had an absolutely miserable night on Tuesday. Missing two field goals played a big role in taking momentum away from the Broncos.

The first came on Boise State’s first drive of the game when the Broncos drove down the field with a chance to strike first, only to have Dalmas miss. 

In the fourth quarter, with Boise State down by 10, he missed a 40-yard field goal just off to the right when they had a chance to cut it to a one score game. 

College kickers, even the best ones, are notoriously unreliable. It was the worst possible night for Dalmas to lose his touch. 

3. Boise State should have a lot of regrets

Along with coming away empty on its opening drive, Boise State had two second-half drives that really helped put the game out of reach.

Trailing by 10, the Broncos had back-to-back series of 13 and 12 plays that ended with zero points.

The first of those drives initially appeared to have a touchdown that was going to cut the deficit down to three points, only to have it called back on an illegal hands to the face penalty. The drive ended with an interception on third-and-long.

After getting a stop on Penn State’s next series, Boise State again moved the ball down the field only to take a sack on first down inside the 15-yard line and eventually have to settle for one of Dalmas’ two missed kicks. 

They moved the ball. They simply could not finish. 

4. Penn State did what was expected. Now the real challenge starts

Getting through to the semifinals has to feel good for Penn State head coach James Franklin given all of the heat he takes for not winning big games,

Playoff games, by their very nature, are big games. He now has two wins.

They were also two wins his team was expected to get.

When the playoff bracket came out there was a consensus that Penn State had one of the easiest potential paths to the semifinal, getting a home game against SMU and a neutral-site game against Boise State. They were decisive favorites in both games and won both easily. 

They will not be as big of a favorite in their next game, whether it happens to be against Georgia or Notre Dame. 

If they win that game, then the narrative around Franklin and Penn State will really start to change.