Twelve points off interceptions, one set of butterfingers and an ugly goose egg in the box score.
In all, the first half was brutal for SMU.
The 10th-ranked Mustangs — facing off on Saturday against the No. 4 Penn State Nittany Lions in State College, Pennsylvania — had little room for error.
Their first half, though, was filled with them.
As the teams headed to their locker rooms in the second game in the expanded College Football Playoffs, Penn State led 28-0.
The Lions’ offense was good, not great, and while quarterback Drew Allar has done enough, Penn State’s first-half MVP might have been the opposing quarterback.
All season long, the 11-2 Mustangs have lived and died by the play of their sophomore signal-caller, Kevin Jennings.
On Saturday, in Beaver Stadium, they were holding on for dear life.
For Jennings, who completed 9 of 19 passes and tossed three interceptions, things looked to be moving a little too fast.
But the sophomore didn’t get much help from his receivers, either.
The Mustang offense got off to an inauspicious start when, on their first drive of the game, a should-be touchdown was dropped in the end zone.
Jennings was facing a fourth-and-1 from the Penn State 19-yard-line as the Mustangs drew up a play-action pass.
The quarterback had a clear path to the marker and could have easily secured the first down with his legs but opted instead to zip a pass while on the run.
His throw was slightly off-kilter and wide receiver Matthew Hibner, who should have had plenty of space to make the catch and walk in for the score, was forced to turn into an oncoming defender.
The hit knocked the ball out of grasp, and the Mustangs came away with nothing.
Jennings’ second drive of the game ended with a pick-six, as did his fourth.
The quarterback tossed a third interception on his fifth drive, but Penn State’s Dominic DeLuca returned this one, his second of the day, for only 14 yards.
