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Kirk Herbstreit reacts to Penn State’s first-half dominance vs. SMU

Bryce Lazenby

By Bryce Lazenby

Published:

Kirk Herbstreit is impressed with Penn State‘s performance in the first half against SMU. The Nittany Lions forced 3 turnovers and went into halftime with a 28-0 lead.

The Mustangs could not take advantage of favorable field position in the first half and now the turnovers have the team in a massive hole. Kevin Jennings threw for 77 yards with 3 interceptions in the first half, and 2 of those INTs were pick-6s.

Herbstreit mentioned that it wasn’t just the weather, but the atmosphere and crowd in Happy Valley that would prove challenging to the Mustangs.

“It’s not these boys’ fault-just not ready for this!” said Herbstreit. “This game is unfortunately about to get ugly!”

Heading into this game, the Mustangs were No. 20 in the nation in total offense and No. 6 in scoring offense. Getting blanked in the first half is not something the Mustangs are used to, and now the offense will have to play the game of its life to dig out of this hole.

If you ignore the turnovers, the box score doesn’t look so bad for the Mustangs. At the half, the Nittany Lions had 216 total yards of offense while the Mustangs had 129. However, the Nittany Lions haven’t turned the ball over and have done much better at converting on third downs.

The Nittany Lions will look to keep their foot on the gas pedal in the 2nd half. With a win, the team will play Boise State in the quarterfinal round.

Bryce Lazenby

Bryce Lazenby covers college football for Saturday Tradition. A Nashville native, his previous stops include FanSided, Dimers, and The Leaf-Chronicle.