Sunday Column: PSU Defense 14, SMU 10; versatility key in commanding win

The fans did their job. Considering the cold, and the approaching holiday, and the short-ish turnaround, and the optimists who decided to save their money for Glendale, and the students on break, the (cough) announced 106,013 who came to Beaver Stadium for Penn State’s first playoff game created the type of game-tilting atmosphere they have become known for, forcing several false starts on a heretofore potent SMU offense and helping to keep the Mustangs off-kilter for most of the afternoon.

Not to the extent that the Penn State defense did, though.

That unit dominated during the Nittany Lions’ 38-10 victory, and it is the chief reason why Penn State is not only moving on in the first 12-team tournament but why it is capable of being the last one standing.

Typically a slow-starting group, the Nittany Lions picked off Kevin Jennings three times in the first two quarters and turned two of those interceptions directly into touchdowns; the Penn State offense turned the third into another seven nine plays later for a 21-0 lead with five minutes left in the first half, and the game was basically over at that point.

It was an up-and-down afternoon for the Penn State offense. The running game got on track late, with Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton showing their customary power during a 75-yard drive early in the fourth quarter, but looked kinda meh in the first half, certainly nowhere near the group that had gashed Oregon for nearly 300 yards on the ground in its last time out. Drew Allar was mostly on target but several of his passes, which probably felt like ice missiles on a day when real feel was in the teens, caromed off his receivers’ hands. Tyler Warren had a few catches but turned in most of his highlights as a (wonderfully impressive) blocker. The Lions were a solid 6-of-13 on third downs and had just one giveaway to the Mustangs’ three, a pick by Ethan Grunkemeyer that bounced off the hands of Tre Wallace and caused James Franklin to temporarily lose his damned mind.

But Allar and Friends needed to do only a bit of lifting on a day when their defensive teammates not only shut down but outscored the opponent themselves. With the crowd and the cold at their backs, they swarmed the running game, bottling up explosive running back Brashard Smith (3.4 yards per carry) and, with the help of three sacks, allowing only 58 yards rushing on 36 attempts. They forced Jennings from the pocket far more often than they allowed him to sit in it and forced him into several hasty throws he would like to have back. And they (mostly) avoided the silly penalties that have plagued this unit in wins and losses this year.

So far, only one group has gotten to this unit with any consistency, and that’s a well-polished Oregon offense that has smoked, well, everyone this season. Boise State, which ranked third in the nation with 39.3 points per game this fall, gets the next crack at this defense in next week’s playoff quarterfinal, and will likely prove a lot more to handle in decent Arizona weather than SMU was in bitter-cold State College.

However, it needs to be said that what this group did to what had been a very good SMU offense is exactly what it has done to everyone else this season: It just makes everything a little bit or a lot harder on you. It jams up your running game at the point of attack, putting you in third-and-long situations, and then creates havoc and loosens Abdul Carter, Dani Dennis-Sutton and Zane Durant. It mixes zone and press, blitz and dropbacks. It doesn’t need to turn you over to stop you, but it is quite capable of doing so, as it showed Saturday against a rather turnover-prone Mustangs attack. And, though it didn’t need to do so against that group, it usually absorbs your initial punches and then figures out a way to punch back. That it made what was the biggest game of the James Franklin Era look as routine as a romp over Maryland or Bowling Green might have been more impressive than the final score.

In other words, this defense has a high floor, and if it gets sufficient help from its offense and special teams, that’s a formula suitable to take down Boise State, Notre Dame and, truly, anyone else left in the bracket, the high-powered Ducks included. If that defense hits its ceiling, generating pick sixes or garden variety turnovers or simply three-and-outs, even less will be required from the rest of the team.

The Nittany Lions won’t be able to take (the entirety) of their fans with them for the rest of the playoffs, nor will they benefit from the frigid conditions that helped the defense a lot more than the offense. But this defense travels well enough on its own, and it’s why a team that still has a lot to prove is still playing while a lot of other teams can only watch.