QUINIX Sport News: College Football Playoff: No. 6 Penn State rides two first-half pick-6s to blowout win over No. 11 SMU

The Nittany Lions will play Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.

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Penn State’s defense didn’t need any help from the offense in beating 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 in a 38-10 win 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 TD.

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

That would be everything Penn State would need, though the Nittany Lions piled it on 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 as SMU was at the Penn State 7-yard line, Jennings tried to get a short throw over DeLuca’s head and didn’t throw it high enough.

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

The rest of the game was academic from there, though Penn State made it a four-TD margin at halftime when Nick Singleton scored on a 1-yard run. That play was preceded by a fantastic third-down sideline scramble by QB Drew Allar.

SMU had the ball eight times in the first half. Outside of the three that ended in interceptions, they punted three times and turned the ball over on downs twice. One of the fourth-down failures came on SMU’s first drive of the game, as the Mustangs went for it at the Penn State 19-yard line. Jennings had an open Matthew Hibner, but the pass was behind him and fell incomplete.