Saturday’s first-round College Football Playoff game between Penn State and SMU started off with a couple big breaks going in favor of the Nittany Lions.
First, SMU failed to cap off its opening drive with a touchdown despite getting inside the red zone. The Mustangs decided to go all in and go for it on a 4th-and-1, but an errant pass from quarterback Kevin Jennings forced a turnover on downs.
Jennings’ pass was low and missed wide-open Matthew Hibner with the end zone in front of him.
But matters only got worse from there for Jennings and SMU.
After stopping Penn State, the Mustangs took over way back in their own territory. However, their drive would end abruptly when Jennings dropped back to pass and ended up being picked off by linebacker Dominic DeLuca, who then ran the 23 yards in front of him to complete the play as a pick-six.
