These three Boise State-Penn State matchups likely will decide who wins the Fiesta Bowl
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Boise State in the College Football Playoff
The Broncos played Penn State in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal Fiesta Bowl in Arizona on Dec. 31, 2024.
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Boise State is just hours away from its first College Football Playoff game.
The No. 3-seeded Broncos will take on No. 6 Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. Mountain time at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
The Broncos are 3-0 in Fiesta Bowls, but the Nittany Lions have a more impressive mark: 7-0. They have won this bowl game more than any other school.
The winner of Tuesday night’s game will face either Notre Dame or Georgia in the Orange Bowl on Thursday, Jan. 9, at 5:30 p.m. Mountain time.
Here are three key matchups to watch as the Broncos attempt to advance to the CFP semifinals.
Kage Casey vs. Abdul Carter
Boise State’s best offensive lineman will be going up against Penn State’s best defensive lineman.
Redshirt sophomore left tackle Kage Casey hasn’t allowed a single sack this season en route to being named a Walter Camp second-team All-American. He’s one of the best pass protectors in the nation, which will be absolutely necessary because of the man on the other side of the ball: junior edge rusher Abdul Carter.
The Broncos might be a run-first team, but they also rely on play-action passes and big plays through the air, and the line has excelled at protecting quarterback Maddux Madsen. The redshirt sophomore has been sacked only 10 times, which has allowed his efficiency to soar.
The 6-foot-3 Carter will be coming after Madsen every chance he gets. He has 56 pressures, 35 quarterback hurries and 12 sacks, and it will be up to Casey to keep him in check.
Boise State secondary vs. Penn State passing game
It might feel like playing a broken record, but for the second straight season, the Broncos gave up too many explosive plays, mostly with the secondary being victimized. They rank 113th in the nation in passing yards allowed per game (256.6) and have allowed 11 plays of 50-plus yards, tied for the fifth-worst mark in the country.
That’s not to say the defense has failed to improve as the season went on, however. Boise State has not given up more than 20 points since the game at San Jose State on Nov. 16. Senior cornerback A’Marion McCoy has been indicative of that improvement, with a team-best 14 pass breakups.
The Penn State passing attack comes at teams a little differently, too. Quarterback Drew Allar has All-American tight end Tyler Warren as his favorite target, and Warren leads the team with 92 catches for 1,095 yards. But receivers Harrison Wallace III, Omari Evans and Liam Clifford all can stretch the field, with each having receptions of 50-plus yards this season and each averaging at least 16 yards per catch.
The Nittany Lions’ running game is no joke, with a pair of rushers surpassing 890 yards on the season. But if Penn State wants to cause serious damage, it likely will come via big passing plays. If the Broncos shut that down, their odds go up considerably. And the expected return of safety Alexander Teubner can’t hurt, as long as he can avoid any targeting penalties.
Ashton Jeanty vs. Kobe King
As good as Penn State has been defending the run when you look statistically, the Nittany Lions haven’t been the best tackling team. Despite allowing just 100.4 rushing yards per game, Penn State allowed 189 rushing yards to USC in October, and even Bowling Green put up 121. In their loss to Ohio State, the Lions allowed 176 yards on the ground.
Those aren’t staggering numbers, but Penn State also hasn’t faced Ashton Jeanty. The Heisman Trophy runner-up averages 192.1 yards per game, and he’s just 132 yards away from breaking former Oklahoma State star Barry Sanders’ single-season rushing record, set in 1988. Jeanty also has nearly 1,900 yards gained after contact, part of his 2,497-yard total.
Much of that contact first comes after Jeanty bursts through a hole, and once he breaks the Penn State defensive front, the pressure will be on middle linebacker Kobe King.
King is among the Nittany Lions’ best tacklers, with 80 on the season, second-most on the team. He told the Idaho Statesman over the weekend that he sees Jeanty as a “patient runner” and will need his fellow linebackers running sideline-to-sideline with him to prevent one-on-one situations against the hardest runner in the nation to tackle.
This story was originally published December 31, 2024 at 4:00 AM.
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