Penn State is two wins from a national championship. Drew Allar threw three touchdown passes in the Fiesta Bowl on Tuesday night. The Nittany Lions also contained Ashton Jeanty, which no team had managed all season. The 31-14 win over Boise State in Glendale, Arizona, sent the No. 6 seed into the College Football Playoff semifinals.
Jeanty, the Heisman Trophy runner-up, managed a season-low 104 rushing yards on 30 carries. Defenders gang-tackled him at or near the line all night. He still finished a remarkable season with 2,601 yards. That left him just 27 short of Barry Sanders’ single-season NCAA record of 2,628, set at Oklahoma State in 1988.
Key Points
- Drew Allar went 13 of 25 for 171 yards and three touchdowns. Two of the scores went to Mackey Award-winning tight end Tyler Warren.
- Kaytron Allen ran for 134 yards. Nick Singleton sealed the win with a 58-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter.
- Boise State cut a 17-0 deficit to 17-14 in the third quarter before Penn State pulled away. Three interceptions and two missed field goals undid the Broncos.
Fiesta Bowl: fast start, a scare, then control
Penn State (13-2) struck quickly. Allar found Warren for an 11-yard touchdown. He then hit Omari Evans in stride for a 38-yard score and a 14-0 lead. A field goal extended it to 17-0. Boise State (12-2), the No. 3 seed and Mountain West champion, answered in familiar fashion. The Broncos have built a giant-killing history in this stadium. Fullback Tyler Crowe dragged tacklers on an eight-yard touchdown run. Early in the third quarter, Maddux Madsen connected with tight end Matt Lauter for a 53-yard score. That made it 17-14 and briefly swung the momentum.
Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions responded with their best drive of the night. They went 75 yards in 11 plays. Allar’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Warren capped it. Boise State’s Jonah Dalmas then missed a 38-yard field goal with 9:20 remaining. It was his second miss of the game. Singleton burst through the middle for 58 yards and the score that settled it. Madsen finished 23 of 35 for 304 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions.
Background: the matchup the bracket produced
The game was a product of the new 12-team playoff. Boise State earned a first-round bye as one of the four highest-ranked conference champions. Penn State, beaten by Oregon in the Big Ten title game, had to play its way in. The Nittany Lions routed SMU at home in the first round. The Fiesta Bowl also carries history for the Broncos. Their 2007 overtime upset of Oklahoma came in this game. The Statue of Liberty play that won it remains one of the sport’s defining moments.
Penn State played the second half without star edge rusher Abdul Carter. The Big Ten’s defensive player of the year left with an injury in the second quarter. His absence barely slowed a front that controlled both lines of scrimmage. In addition, the Nittany Lions will need that formula again in the semifinal.
What happens next
Penn State advances to the Orange Bowl on Jan. 9. The opponent is the winner of the Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame. That semifinal, in the event, ended the Nittany Lions’ run. Notre Dame beat them 27-24 on a late field goal to reach the national championship game. For Boise State, the loss closed a 12-2 season. It validated the Group of Five path into the expanded playoff. It also sent Jeanty toward the NFL draft as one of the most decorated running backs in college football history.
The game also fed the argument the new playoff format was designed to settle. Boise State’s bye, earned as a conference champion, gave it rest but not rhythm. Penn State, forced to play a first-round game, arrived sharper and deeper. As a result, the longer the night went, the more that depth told. It showed in the pass rush that hurried Madsen into mistakes. It also showed in a running game that produced two 130-yard threats for Jeanty to chase. None of that diminishes what the Broncos built. A Group of Five champion stood within a field goal of the fourth quarter. Their opponent was one of the sport’s richest programmes. But the margins that decided the game were precisely the ones money and recruiting rankings predict. Line play, turnovers and kicking settled it.
Sources: College Football Playoff / Fiesta Bowl official game statistics, Dec. 31, 2024; Penn State and Boise State athletics game reports.
