Football
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Penn State head football coach James Franklin reflected on his team’s win over Boise State on Tuesday night after the Nittany Lions took down the Broncos 31-14 in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals at the Fiesta Bowl.
Speaking to reporters after PSU’s big victory, Franklin credited his players with rising to the occasion in one of the Nittany Lions’ biggest games over the past several years:
“I’m just proud of our guys. We talked in the beginning of the season about our guys having these types of moments and these types of experiences and these types of opportunities. Love the fact that these guys were able to find a win against a really good opponent here.
“Just a couple of things I’ll say … 13 wins, first time in program history. Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton both surpassing 1,000 yards in the same season. First time we’ve ever had two 1,000-yard rushers in the same season since joining the Big Ten. Then 34 wins over the last three years. We’re very, very proud of that. Consistency is hard to do, and our guys have done a great job at it. The maturity they’ve shown has been impressive.”
Franklin also told reporters about how he encouraged his players to put their phones away in order to be present and celebrate their achievement as a team:
“Obviously, I wouldn’t say it’s overly unique, but I’m a big believer in being present,” Franklin said. “One of the things I just got on the guys in the locker room, a bunch of guys are on their phones. I get that that’s this generation now. Twitter, Instagram, whatever it may be, I get it. But what I do know is PJ Mustipher and Jesse Luketa, all the guys that were on the sideline kind of supporting our guys, they would die to be back in our locker room.”
I just think being present is such an important quality for all of us, right? That’s what 1-0 is all about, right? Whether it’s the game, whether it is the exam or the class, and even for myself, sitting with my wife and kids and my phone is going off, pushing the phone away and being present. I know I’ve got to be better about that.”
Penn State largely dominated Tuesday’s game, forcing four turnovers and holding Boise State to just 108 rushing yards as a team. Meanwhile, Allen and Singleton combined to rush for over 200 yards as a tandem.
The Broncos entered the Fiesta Bowl with just one loss on the season, and running back Ashton Jeanty was undoubtedly the driving force behind their success.
Jeanty was second in the Heisman Trophy voting and put together one of the greatest seasons by a running back in college football history, rushing for 2,601 yards and 29 touchdowns.
Franklin alluded to how much he stressed the importance of holding Jeanty in check to his team, saying:
“We talked a lot—these guys are sick of me talking about their running back Ashton Jeanty. Ton of respect for him and what he’s done in his entire career is special. But at the end of the day, we played a complete game, offense, defense, and special teams, complementary football—did some special things tonight.”
Although Jeanty reached the century mark on Tuesday, he rushed for only 104 yards on 30 carries and didn’t score a touchdown. It was Jeanty’s lowest rushing total of the season and only the second time he failed to score a touchdown in a game.
Franklin expressed his belief that his defense was able to “corral” Jeanty before going on to praise Jeanty and the play of his defense:
“We got the point across about the respect that we have for that young man and the type of running back he is. Even today, I think our defense would say they have a ton of respect for him and how many tackles he was able to break and how strong he is and the contact balance. He’s an impressive guy.
“But we’re pretty good on defense. Thought our D-line did a really good job of being disruptive and getting in the backfield. I thought we did a really good job gang-tackling. There were a few times where we didn’t wrap like we should have. But for the most part, our defense played lights out.”
This season marks the first time Penn State has ever reached the College Football Playoff, and after beating SMU and Boise State, the Nittany Lions are now semifinalists.
On New Year’s Day, they will kick back and watch the Sugar Bowl between second-seeded Georgia and seventh-seeded Notre Dame, as the winner of that game will be their opponent in the semis.
If Penn State wins that game, then it would face the winner of Texas or Arizona State vs. Ohio State or Oregon for the national championship.
Ohio State and Oregon are the two teams that beat Penn State this year, so it is possible that the Nittany Lions could both win their first national title since 1986 and get some revenge in the process.
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