Sunday Column: All Eyes (and, with any luck, hands) on Ashton as Nittany Lions Look to Corral a Boisterous Bronco

With all due respect to Abdul Carter and Jaylen Reed, the strength of Penn State’s sensational defense throughout the (exceedingly longer) 2024 season has been its balance, its depth, its collective skill and power. There are very few, if any, weak links in the chain, and the way the Nittany Lions are playing together on that side of the ball in the ultimate team sport has brought them here, where they are one of the last eight teams standing.

It should also serve them well against a singular offensive weapon the likes of which this program hasn’t seen in several years.

Boise State, which entertains Penn State on New Year’s Eve, is led by tailback Ashton Jeanty, who in most seasons would have entered this game as the reigning Heisman Trophy winner if not for the diverse skill set of another singular talent, Colorado’s Travis Hunter. The Jacksonville, Florida, native leads the nation in carries (344), rushing yards (2,497), and rushing touchdowns (29), and he has put up a mind-boggling 5,505 yards from scrimmage over 39 games over the last three seasons.

On almost every TV broadcast, one of the analysts will identify a player—often an offensive skill guy, sometimes a defensive lineman, occasionally a tight end who plays center and throws passes and gets open even when three guys are covering him—as “someone the (offense/defense) has to be aware of at all times.” Well, for Penn State, and every other defense, Jeanty is that dude to a factor of 12. He has accounted for 77% of the Broncos’ run production and 43% of their total offensive production, plus 30 of their 64 offensive touchdowns.

Jeanty has had three weeks to rest an elbow injury—and a season’s worth of wear and tear—since Boise State’s last game. He’ll face a Penn State defense that has been quite stubborn against the run this year, allowing just over 100 yards per game and ranking 14^th in FBS in that category and fresh off of limiting dangerous SMU running back Brashard Smith to 62 yards on 18 carries in its last outing. The only back to hit the century mark against Penn State in a game this season is USC’s Woody Marks, who had 111 yards on 20 carries back in October. Jeanty averages 192 per game and has reached at least 100 yards in all 13 contests.

It’s a double-edged opportunity; for Jeanty, whose Heisman resume was somewhat dinged by a lack of superior opponents and defenses on his team’s schedule, and for the Nittany Lions, who are still looking to shed a rep as a team that shrinks in big games even after brushing aside the Mustangs with relative ease last week.

The matchup also brings to mind what Penn State defenses have done against high-profile offensive players in the past. The Lions beat Herschel Walker and Georgia to claim their first national championship and utterly flummoxed Heisman winner Vinny Testaverde to win their second. They out-scored Ty Detmer a couple of years later in a memorable Holiday Bowl and were the only Big Ten team Drew Brees never defeated during his three-year carving up of the conference.

They haven’t faced as many truly elite offensive players—at least not those who dominated their own teams to the extent that Jeanty does—during the James Franklin era. They’ve mostly held their own against the insane stretch of wide receivers Ohio State has trotted out during the last few seasons (not as well in crunch time), although Sam Darnold did light up the Lion secondary for 453 yards and five touchdowns in the 2017 Rose Bowl. For the most part, though, both stars and situational guys have had to grind out their yards against this defense during the last decade.

The best way to stop Jeanty, or at least limit him, will be the formula that has worked for Penn State throughout the season: Blow up the line of scrimmage on early downs and force the Broncos into third-and-longs, which will limit his touches. Beat blocks and get a number of hats to the ball, especially against a player who breaks tackles like few others. Mix in some blitzes on run and pass downs. The more help the defense gets from the Penn State offense in keeping Jeanty on the sideline, the better, but this game will most likely be won and lost by who wins the day most often when Jeanty and the Penn State defense are on the field. Other opponents, particularly if facing healthy deficits against the Nittany Lions, will abandon the run late in games. The Broncos will continue to feed Jeanty as they have all season regardless of down, distance and score, and every carry is another chance of a big play.

It’s an oversimplification to say it’s going to be 11 (12, if you count second-half star Tom Allen) against one, as Jeanty’s teammates blocked and passed and caught enough to help free him this season, and a Penn State offense that continues, somewhat perplexingly, to go from first gear to third to second will certainly play a big factor as well, but this will be a unique challenge for the Lions’ defense, and how it meets it will go a long way in determining both how long Penn State’s season continues and how this balanced defensive group is remembered.