Fiesta Bowl follow-up: What went wrong? Interior line play made a difference in loss to Penn State

GLENDALE, Ariz. (Idaho Statesman) — Deep in the bowels of State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, Ahmed Hassanein limped up to the makeshift media table after Boise State’s 31-14 loss to Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl.

The senior defensive end and team captain had just played his final game as a Bronco, and there was no question whether he had left it all out on the field. Hassanein was on the ground nursing bangs and bruises throughout the night as Boise State battled against the best interior lines it had seen all season.

Dropping into his seat with fresh tears in his eyes, Hassanein grappled with the fact that his college career had ended on Tuesday night in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal against a Penn State team that, at times, had its way with Boise State up front.

“I wanted to go out with my teammates,” Hassanein said. “No matter what happens, win, lose or draw, I want to go out with my teammates.”

The offensive and defensive lines of Boise State have been a strong point throughout this season, clearing the way for Ashton Jeanty, protecting quarterback Maddux Madsen and sacking the opposing quarterback with regularity.

Offensively, the line helped Jeanty rack up the second-most rushing yards in NCAA Division I history on the season. Madsen, who was sacked three times by the Nittany Lions, came into the game having been sacked only 10 times all year.

On the defensive side, the Broncos entered the Fiesta Bowl with the second-most sacks in the nation, at 51. But Penn State was a different beast than anything Boise State had seen.

“Everybody wants to talk about running backs,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. “But one of the things we talk about all the time is the game of football starts up front. Always has, always will. “I thought our D-line was disruptive today and was a major factor in the game. I thought our O-line was able to control the line of scrimmage.”

Boise State is accustomed to running over opponents, but that wasn’t the case Tuesday night. Penn State ran for 218 yards compared to only 108 yards for Boise State — Jeanty was responsible for 104 of those.

“Just movement. That’s one thing we struggled with: movement,” Jeanty said about what Penn State did well. “They have a great D-line, front seven. It wasn’t really that they did anything extraordinary. They executed. They tackled.”

Things eased up for the Broncos in the first half when Penn State’s star edge rusher, Abdul Carter, left the game with an injury. Although that didn’t make things easier for Jeanty, it did allow sophomore quarterback Maddux Madsen more time to throw the ball.

Before Carter’s exit, the pocket regularly collapsed around Madsen within a couple of seconds. His departure from the game helped Madsen rack up 304 passing yards, and two of his three interceptions came late in the game when the Broncos were desperate to make something happen.

It was the second career 300-yard game for Madsen. On the other side of the ball, if the first quarter was anything to go by, the Nittany Lions were about to drop 50 points on the Broncos.

Penn State went up 14-0 by scoring on the first two drives, taking just 5 minutes and 22 seconds to post two touchdowns. The Nittany Lions leaned on running backs Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton, who combined for 221 rushing yards. Singleton broke out for a 58-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to extend Penn State’s lead to 31-14 and effectively end the game.

“They’re really good complementary backs. They’ve been playing together for a long time,” Franklin said. “When we’re able to get the outside zone going like we were able to do today, it kind of opens everything else up and gets people running sideline to sideline, which creates creases.”

The Nittany Lions moved away from the running game later in the game. Although Penn State quarterback Drew Allar still hurt the Broncos with 171 yards and three touchdown passes, Boise State sacked him four times. Before Tuesday night, Penn State had allowed just 15 sacks all season.