The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Reviewing Penn State football’s 31-14 CFP win over Boise State

Penn State won going away over Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl, 31-14, Tuesday night. The win in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal sends the team to a semifinal game in the Orange Bowl, where it will face the winner of the Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame.

Let’s take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly from Tuesday’s game.

Good

QB Drew Allar’s start: You won’t find many throws prettier than the two touchdowns Allar tossed in the first quarter of Tuesday night’s game. His first will only go down as an 11-yard pass in the stat book, but he threw it from the middle of the field at the 24-yard line to the back-right corner of the end zone — and he couldn’t have put it in a better spot. The pass dropped right into tight end Tyler Warren’s hands for the score.

The second one he threw landed in almost the same spot, with Allar hitting Omari Evans for a 38-yard score. This time, he let go of the ball from the 48 and hit Evans in stride about eight yards deep in the right corner of the end zone. Most impressively, the throw took minimal effort, with Allar flicking his wrist and sending the ball over 55 yards in the air. That’s the type of arm talent that will have Allar in the conversation to be the first quarterback off the board whenever he enters the NFL draft.

Run defense: I might have buried the lede a little bit here, but Penn State’s run defense was just as dominant in the Fiesta Bowl as it has been all season — but, this time, it did it against the best running back in the country. Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty was held to a season-low 104 yards and took 30 carries to get there. That left him 28 yards short of breaking Barry Sanders’ single-season rushing record — a record most, myself included, assumed he would get even in a loss to the Nittany Lions.

The Penn State front-four set the tone early, dominating the Broncos’ offensive line and getting into the backfield right off the snap. And when Jeanty did get to the line of scrimmage, the Penn State back-seven swarmed to the ball and made sure he had no opportunity to break one of his trademark big gains. A lot of credit has to go to defensive coordinator Tom Allen for his gameplan in this one, but Jeanty doesn’t get stopped without Penn State imposing its physicality on the Broncos from the outset.

DE Dani Dennis-Sutton: Penn State lost its best defensive player to an injury in the second quarter when Abdul Carter went down, but it didn’t lose its pass rush. Several players stepped up — including veteran pass rusher Amin Vanover and defensive tackle Zane Durant — but it was Dennis-Sutton who showed up the most. The junior defensive end has been in the shadow of Carter all season, but has been one of the best in the country at his position. He’s more of a power rusher, with elite size and length at 6-foot-5, 266 pounds, and physically dominated the Boise State offensive tackles all game.

He finished Tuesday night with six tackles, 2.5 for loss and a sack but most impressively did it as the primary focus of the offensive line. With no Carter on the field, it should have been easier for the Broncos to focus their efforts on Dennis-Sutton. But, instead, he wreaked havoc in the backfield and had a massive role in what was another dominant performance for the Penn State defense.

Running game: For all of the attention Jeanty got heading into the game, it was Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton who put on a show as runners. Both backs averaged more yards per carry than their Boise State counterpart Tuesday night and proved that the Penn State running game can carry this offense. Singleton’s 58-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter helped his final stats after a slow start, but it also put the game away to make it 31-14 with not nearly enough time left for Boise State to come back.

But if you’re looking at the entirety of the game, it was Allen who dominated from start to finish. He broke big gain after big gain, finding the right running lanes and making decisive cuts to hit the hole — just to seek out more defenders to violently run through. Allen hasn’t had his best season, but there’s a strong argument that Tuesday night he played the best he ever has as a Nittany Lion. And that doesn’t even account for a massive run that was called back due to a holding penalty. Allen and Singleton both deserve praise for how they played, and both proved they’ll be a major factor in how far Penn State goes this postseason.

Bad

QB Drew Allar’s inconsistency: While his first two touchdown throws were spectacular, Allar had consistency issues against Boise State, much like he did against SMU. There were more than a few throws that he sailed — which has been a theme when he misses this season — and he missed some opportunities to get the ball out quickly when the Broncos blitzed. Those are the kinds of issues that can cost Penn State against better defenses. Those high misses turn into passes straight into the safety’s numbers, and those turned-down throws turn into strip sacks and end drives.

There will be some who criticize Allar for the shots he’s taking down the field, too, but I don’t take issue with those. When you have the arm talent he does, you’re going to attempt some throws that may seem inadvisable. That’s the gift and curse of being able to launch the ball like he can — sometimes you make an unbelievable throw, sometimes the defense gets an interception. While those shot plays didn’t impact this game when he missed, I think it’s worth taking those chances even when it doesn’t ultimately work out.

DE Abdul Carter’s injury: This will be the most-discussed on-field topic of the week for Penn State. Carter left the Fiesta Bowl early in the second quarter and did not return due to an apparent injury to his left arm. He raised the trophy for the game in the celebration — but only with his right hand. It will be worth monitoring what Penn State head coach James Franklin says leading up to the game, but postgame he made it clear that Carter will do everything in his power to play in the Orange Bowl.

Whether he can or not remains to be determined, but if he can’t go, the Penn State pass rush will take a hit. That’s not to say Dennis-Sutton and Vanover can’t get the job done off the edge. They did it against Boise State, and both have proven what they’re capable of — but Carter changes an opposing gameplan with his presence. Not having him means there’s one fewer player for the Nittany Lions’ opponent to worry about.

Ugly

Boise State’s decision making: I feel like I write about a team doing this every week, but Boise State gave away a quality chance in the first quarter that could have changed the game. The Broncos drove all the way down to the Penn State 28 on their first drive of the game, only to settle for a field goal attempt on fourth down, only needing two yards. This is a Boise State team that has the best running back in the country and entered the game as double-digit underdogs. If you can’t get those two yards, you probably aren’t winning anyway.

But, instead of going for it, Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson decided to “take the points,” a phrase that has become commonplace and is entirely misleading. Kicking a field goal isn’t taking points. These are, after all, college kickers. They are notoriously unreliable from 40 yards out and beyond. Danielson’s decision limited his team’s chances of winning the game and ultimately made it much harder for the Broncos to come back in the end.