Penn State’s defense didn’t need any help from the offense in its win over SMU on Saturday.

The No. 6 Nittany Lions intercepted SMU QB Kevin Jennings three times in the first half and returned two of them for touchdowns, leading to a 38-10 victory over the No. 11 Mustangs in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

It was a disastrous first 30 minutes for SMU. The Nittany Lions took a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter when Dominic DeLuca returned an interception 23 yards for a touchdown.

Eight minutes later, Tony Rojas intercepted Jennings on another bad throw and returned it 59 yards.

That would be all Penn State would need, although the Nittany Lions piled it on for the rest of the quarter. SMU had a great chance to get back into the game after Penn State failed on a fourth-and-short in its own territory. But with SMU at Penn State’s 7-yard line, Jennings attempted a short throw over DeLuca’s head but didn’t throw it high enough.

DeLuca was tackled on that interception return, but set up a 25-yard TD run by Kaytron Allen nine plays later.

The rest of the game was academic from there, although Penn State took a four-touchdown lead at halftime when Nick Singleton scored on a 1-yard run. This play was preceded by a fantastic third-down sideline scramble by QB Drew Allar.

SMU had the ball eight times in the first half. Aside from the three possessions that ended in interceptions, they struck out three times and turned the ball over twice on downs. One of the fourth-down misses occurred on SMU’s first drive of the game when the Mustangs attempted to strike at Penn State’s 19-yard line. Jennings had an open pass for Matthew Hibner, but the pass was behind him and fell incomplete.

Penn State gets Boise State

The Nittany Lions will now play No. 3 Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 31. It was a fantastic defensive performance from the defense after Penn State was torn apart by Oregon in the Big Ten championship game.

Oregon had 466 yards rushing and an average of over six yards per play en route to the Big Ten title. It was only the second time this season that a team gained more than 400 yards against Penn State’s defense.

SMU struggled to move the ball, even without turning it over on Saturday. SMU didn’t surpass 200 yards rushing until the third quarter and finished the game with 252 total yards on 73 plays.

SMU finished 11-3

Saturday was a nightmarish conclusion to a dream season for SMU in its first year in the ACC. The Mustangs were the only undefeated team in ACC conference play during the regular season and lost a spot in the top four in the playoffs with a 34-31 loss in the ACC title game to Clemson.

One of those ACC victories came at Duke, as SMU turned the ball over a stunning six times, but still won 28-27 in overtime after Duke’s game-winning two-point conversion attempt failed.

However, Duke did not score defensively on any of those six turnovers. In an alternate universe, SMU might have a chance if DeLuca doesn’t knock Jennings out a second time. SMU was in prime position to cut the lead to 14-7 or at least 14-3.

Instead, Penn State sprinted away and SMU was helpless to catch up.