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The College Football Playoff is now headed into the quarterfinals. We had a great first round of action, but now it is time to look ahead to an outstanding matchup between two great running teams. The Penn State Nittany Lions take on the Boise State Broncos in the Fiesta Bowl. Throughout this article, we will preview the matchup while recapping the teams’ regular seasons and Penn State’s first-round matchup. Then, to finish it up, we will make our Penn State vs Boise State pick.
Penn State finished the regular season with an 11-2 record. Their only losses came from Ohio State and Oregon in the Conference Championship game. That earned Penn State a home game in the first round against the SMU Mustangs.
On a cold, frigid day at Penn State, the Nittany Lions dominated from kickoff. They won the matchup 38-10 to advance to the game against Boise State. Penn State carried a 28-0 lead into halftime and never looked back.
The Penn State defense was the biggest reason they handled SMU easily. They had two pick-six interceptions in the first half, making life miserable for opposing quarterback Kevin Jennings. They also held 1,300-yard rusher Brashard Smith to just 62 rushing yards on 18 attempts.
With such a dominant performance from the Penn State defense, the offense was quiet. QB Drew Allar threw for just 127 yards. The running game got going under the cold, frigid temps. RBs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen combined for 160 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries.
Boise State enters this matchup with a 12-1 record and a Mountain West Conference championship over UNLV. Boise State’s only loss on the season came from the Oregon Ducks, 37-34, back in Week 2.
This Broncos team is led by none other than RB Ashton Jeanty, who finished in second place behind only Travis Hunter in the Heisman Trophy race. Jeanty had an amazing regular season, rushing the ball a whopping 344 times for just under 2,500 yards. His numbers were not just a product of volume, as he averaged 7.3 yards per carry on his way to 29 touchdowns. It was just an amazing season for the senior. If the Broncos want to upset Penn State, they will rely on him having a huge game.
Sophomore QB Maddux Madsen is no slouch in his own right. He beat out highly touted recruit Malachi Nelson in the preseason for the starting QB job and never looked back. He threw for over 2,700 yards with 22 touchdowns. Perhaps the best part of his game this season was valuing the football, throwing just three interceptions. Madsen will need to continue to play clean football if Boise State wants to win this game.
In some ways, these two teams are very similar in how they want to operate their offense. They want their quarterbacks to manage the game, avoid turnovers and rely on the running game. Both teams run the ball over 56% of the time and rank in the top 18 in the country in rushing yards per game.
What makes this interesting is that both of these teams’ rush defenses are great. They both rank within the top 15 in the country in opposing rushing yards per game. One of these two teams’ units must have to break; it will be interesting to see which one.
With both teams possibly being inefficient on the ground, our pick is going to be on Penn State’s do-it-all TE Tyler Warren. The Boise State defense struggles to defend the pass, allowing over 256 passing yards per game, which ranks 113th in the country. They also have not faced a pass-catcher quite like Warren.
He had a great season for the Nittany Lions, finishing just shy of 1,100 yards receiving on 92 receptions and 6 touchdowns. We expect that strong season to continue in this one, as we see him with at least 75 receiving yards, which is our Penn State vs Boise State pick.
Dylan has had a love for sports since he was a kid. Four years ago, he decided to dive into the sports content-creating industry specializing in Fantasy Football, NFL and NBA. He has since had his work published on sites that include Fantasy Alarm, Fansided, and Fantasy Six Pack.