The SMU Mustangs fell in the ACC Championship game to Clemson in painful fashion, but the committee still put 11-2 SMU in the College Football Playoff over 9-3 Alabama. The No. 11 seed Mustangs will head up north to take on No. 6 seed Penn State in the first round of the playoff.
The Nittany Lions come from the Big Ten conference and their football program is one of the most storied in college football. Penn State, located in State College, Pennsylvania, plays in Beaver Stadium, which is known as one of the biggest and loudest venues in the country.
Rhett Lashlee’s Mustangs will have their hands full both with Penn State and Mother Nature as SMU looks to pick up a playoff win in front of a raucous crowd in frigid temperatures.
1. How’d they get here?
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Penn State earned a playoff spot and finished No. 4 in the final College Football Playoff rankings, but since it did not win its conference it dropped to the No. 6 seed in the bracket.
The Nittany Lions went 11-1 in the regular season with their lone loss being a 20-13 defeat at home to Ohio State in early November. Despite playing in the Big Ten, Penn State lacks any truly marquee wins. The best win on the Nittany Lions’ résumé is likely their 21-7 win over Illinois on September 28, a team that finished No. 20 in the final CFP rankings.
While their win over Illinois is their only win over a team that finished the season ranked, the Nittany Lions had some close calls. A USC team that finished 6-6 took Penn State to overtime on October 12, but Penn State survived with a 33-30 win. Minnesota pushed Penn State to the brink as well on November 23, but the Nittany Lions escaped Minneapolis with a 26-25 win.
When Michigan stunned the college football world and upset Ohio State in the final week of the season, it gave the Buckeyes their second loss in conference play. This meant Ohio State no longer had the head-to-head tiebreaker over Penn State, which sent the Nittany Lions to the Big Ten title game against Oregon. Penn State lost a back-and-forth 45-37 game to the No. 1 Ducks, but both teams’ playoff spots were secure entering the game.
Related:How much will it cost SMU fans to follow the Mustangs in the CFP?2. The coach
James Franklin is one of the longest tenured coaches in college football, serving as Penn State’s head coach since 2014.
The Pennsylvania native played four years as a quarterback in Division II at East Stroudsburg University before he got his start in coaching. Franklin gradually worked his way up as an assistant coach at several different levels of football, from colleges both small and large to a one-year stint as a Green Bay Packers assistant coach, until he got his first head coaching job in 2011 at Vanderbilt. Franklin led Vanderbilt to a bowl game in all three seasons, which caught bigger jobs’ attention as Franklin became the only coach to lead the Commodores to consecutive bowl appearances, let alone three consecutive bowl trips.
Penn State head coach James Franklin watches from the sideline during the first half of the Big Ten championship NCAA college football game against Oregon, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, in Indianapolis.(AJ Mast / AP)
He won nine games in consecutive years and was ranked in the AP Top 25 both the 2012 and 2013 seasons at Vanderbilt, both of which were also firsts for Vanderbilt’s program. After that unprecedented success in Nashville, Penn State came calling and the Pennsylvania native went home and has been there ever since.
In his 11 years at Penn State, Franklin has a 99-41 overall record with a 64-33 mark in Big Ten games. While this is his first CFP appearance, he has been to five New Year’s Six bowls with wins in the 2017 Fiesta Bowl, 2019 Cotton Bowl and 2022 Rose Bowl. Penn State did win the Big Ten championship in 2016 under Franklin, and he received multiple national Coach of the Year awards that year.
But the pressure on Franklin to finally deliver in a big game is mounting, as he is 3-19 against top-10 teams and 1-15 against top-5 teams. After being given a 10-year contract in 2021, the Penn State faithful need to see him win the big ones, and beating SMU is a big first step.
3. White Out tradition
Once a year, Penn State chooses one home game to be its “White Out game.” It’s usually a night game against one of the best Big Ten teams on the Nittany Lions’ home schedule, and every Penn State fan in Beaver Stadium wears white. This year, there’s an exception. With Penn State hosting SMU at Beaver Stadium for a CFP game, the school declared the SMU game to be the second White Out game of the year.
Penn State takes the field for an NCAA college football game against Washington amidst a “whiteout” crowd at Beaver Stadium, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024, in State College, Pa.(Barry Reeger / AP)
The White Out began in the early 2000s and was cemented in 2007. Though it’s not necessarily a really old tradition like most other college football traditions, it’s one of the best.
The electricity of a White Out crowd is arguably the best in college football. Don’t believe that? In the 2019 White Out game vs. Michigan, the crowd was so loud that the Wolverines had to burn a timeout due to an expiring play clock on the first play from scrimmage. In a stadium that holds 106,572 people, it can get quite noisy.
Penn State’s crowd and “Mo Bamba” forced Michigan to call timeout before the first play of the 2019 White Out.
Five years later, this is the story behind the “Mo Bamba” moment.
“I still get chills when I talk about it.”https://t.co/PtdXbRFdMcpic.twitter.com/qugcKg7crL
— Johnny McGonigal (@jmcgonigal9) November 7, 2024
See the full, incredible Penn State White Out entrance below.
4. A superstar TE
SMU’s defense will have plenty to deal with in quarterback Drew Allar and star running back Nicholas Singleton, but the best player on Penn State’s offense is tight end Tyler Warren.
Penn State tight end Tyler Warren (44) hurdles Maryland defensive back Kevis Thomas (25) during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in State College, Pa.(Barry Reeger / AP)
Warren is the only Nittany Lion offensive player who was named First Team All-Big Ten and will also likely receive All-American honors at the end of the season thanks to his monster 2024 campaign. He is the team’s leading receiver with 88 catches for 1,062 yards and six touchdowns. His numbers dwarf those of Penn State’s second leading receiver Harrison Wallace III, who has just 39 grabs for 638 yards. Penn State gets Warren the ball any way it can, as he also has 23 carries for 191 yards and four touchdowns on the ground.
Warren has broken the 100-yard mark four times this season, including an outrageous performance against USC in which he had 17 catches for 224 yards and a touchdown.
5. The Defensive Player of the Year
The Nittany Lions’ defense is one of the best units in the country thanks to their ferocious pass rush, which is led by Abdul Carter. He has 10 sacks and 60 tackles on the season with two forced fumbles and joined Warren among the First Team All-Big Ten selections. Carter was named the 2024 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year for his unbelievable performance this year.
Penn State defensive end Abdul Carter (11) celebrates a tackle against UCLA during the third quarter of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in State College, Pa.(Barry Reeger / AP)
He has four games with multiple sacks, including two sacks against Ohio State. Carter is also projected to be the top edge defender in the 2024 NFL draft and is a surefire first-round pick. He is currently the most valuable edge defender in the nation, according to PFF’s wins above average metric. He has an elite pass-rushing grade of (91.8) in his first season as a full-time pass rusher, as he used to play off-ball linebacker.
Protecting Kevin Jennings will be no small task for the SMU offensive line.
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