Penn State rolls past SMU in CFP opener
LA TimesPenn State linebacker Dominic DeLuca points to to fans as he celebrates an interception return for a touchdown against SMU on Saturday in a College Football Playoff first-round game. Dominic DeLuca and Tony Rojas returned interceptions for touchdowns and Penn State toyed with mistake-prone SMU in a 38-10 victory on Saturday in the opening round of the College Football Playoff. The sixth-seeded Nittany Lions advanced to face fourth-seeded Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Eve by hounding Mustangs quarterback Kevin Jennings into three turnovers, including a pair of ill-thrown floaters in the first half that DeLuca and Rojas converted into pick-sixes that sent the white-out crowd at wintry Beaver Stadium into a frenzy and SMU into a funk from which it never recovered. Penn State: Will try to win a 13th game for the first time in the program’s 131-year history when it heads to the Fiesta Bowl, a game in which the Nittany Lions are 7-0 all-time.