STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Tom Allen didn’t need to see much film of Ashton Jeanty to fully understand what Penn State’s defense was up against Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff.

“I’ll tell you, I enjoyed it – well, I don’t know if I enjoyed it – but it was impressive to watch his film and study him,” Allen said of the Boise State running back on Friday . “He just won’t go down.”

Although Penn State wants to keep things as normal as possible this week before heading to the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday, Jeanty is the one person likely to determine whether the Nittany Lions’ playoff run continues. Boise State’s 5-foot-9, 215-pound running back is unlike anyone Penn State has played this season, and he is unlike anyone else in the sport.

No one else averaged 192.1 rushing yards per game this season. No one else has almost single-handedly carried their team to the postseason. Jeanty finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting and his 2,479 rushing yards are the nation’s top marks. He is 131 yards shy of Barry Sanders’ single-season rushing record, which he set at Oklahoma State in 1988.

Fittingly, Jeanty arrived in New York City for a Heisman photo shoot this month dressed in team gear instead of a fancy suit. In his windbreaker and sweatpants, he seemed ready to outwit defenders and make them look silly in the process.

“We played against Derrick Henry when I was at Ole Miss,” Allen said. “It was bigger, but similar in the sense that they are hard to get on the ground. These are guys who put you in your place and just seem to play with you. … Played against a lot of good defenders over the years, but he will go down as one of the best players we ever played against.”

Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Allen’s unit ranks seventh in the nation in rush defense this season. (Matthew O’Haren/Imagn Images)

Boise State credits Jeanty with rushing for 1,889 yards after contact this season. He is also credited with forcing opponents to miss 143 tackles. The stats are staggering and the highlights are fun to watch unless you’re tasked with slowing him down. As James Franklin pointed out this week, Jeanty would have been the Heisman winner in most years. He was certainly a worthy candidate this season.

“He’s a beast,” Franklin said. “He has more yards after contact than most elite backs in college football in general.”

Penn State’s defenders seemed well-versed in the yards-after-contact stats that Franklin has been publicly mentioning since Monday. The Nittany Lions’ rush defense ranks seventh nationally this season (100.36 yards per game) and is the top-ranked run defense remaining in the playoff field.

Penn State’s defensive staff rewatched Oregon’s game against Boise State this season to see if there was anything to be learned from Jeanty’s performance that day. Jeanty had 25 carries for 192 yards and three touchdowns in a game the Broncos lost by 3 points. With Penn State’s Big Ten title game loss to the Ducks still fresh in their minds, the coaches wanted to use this comparison as another piece of information, another data point, to see what is effective and ineffective against Jeanty.

“Our biggest responsibility this week is to find a way to effectively corral and combat him,” Allen said.

Penn State recruited Tyler Holzworth, a junior, to follow Jeanty on the scout team. It’s an impossible question, but the 6-0, 219-pound Nittany Lions defensive lineman can help showcase some of the same looks Boise State is gifting with Jeanty.

Allen’s message to his defense is that it really takes a team effort to bring Jeanty to the ground. The coaches and players have seen countless examples of teams trying to do this but failing. Nittany Lions running back Nick Singleton has seen Jeanty’s highlights. Singleton said he saw many players attempt big shots only to fail while Jeanty kept balance and extended the game.

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“Because of his build, the strike zone is so narrow that it’s difficult to really get a good shot at him,” Allen said. “You will have to take action against him. They have to rally every possible man on the field and they are obviously going to make it difficult according to their plan.”

Penn State’s players had a hard time comparing anyone they faced to Jeanty. Some pointed to his teammate Kaytron Allen, who at 5-11, 220 can be tough to take down. Middle linebacker Kobe King drew a comparison to former Michigan running back Blake Corum. Corum’s compact 5-8, 210-pound frame is similar to Jeanty’s. Running behind a strong offensive line, Corum beat Penn State last year with a season-high 145 rushing yards on 26 carries.

While the Nittany Lions are just as favored in this game as they were in the opening round against SMU, there may not be a player in the playoff field that gives defensive coordinators more headaches than Jeanty. In a win-or-go-home scenario, Penn State is making sure Jeanty is a little more rested than usual since Boise State is coming off a first-round bye.

“Competing against the Heisman runner-up who is also the best running back in the country is a treat for anyone who considers themselves a competitor,” said defensive tackle Dvon J-Thomas. “As you can see in the film, the biggest challenge is finishing tackles.”

(Top photo of Dvon J-Thomas, left, and Drew Allar: Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)