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Peach Bowl Update: Ole Miss Gashing Penn State's Pass Defense

Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart threw for 243 yards and 2 touchdowns in a wild first half.
Mark Wogenrich|
Peach Bowl Update: Ole Miss Gashing Penn State's Pass Defense
Peach Bowl Update: Ole Miss Gashing Penn State's Pass Defense

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Penn State Nittany Lions

ATLANTA | Penn State bowl games often get a little haywire, and the Peach Bowl barely needed a half. The Nittany Lions produced their longest play of the season, gave up a Philly Special that included a defensive lineman, caught an officiating break and really labored in pass defense.

Ole Miss took a 20-17 lead over the Lions into halftime at the Peach Bowl. Some Penn State football observations at the break:

Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart has big-played Penn State's new cornerbacks. With starters Kalen King and Johnny Dixon opting out. the Lions are rotating a bunch of young players, and it has showed. Dart threw for 243 yards and two scores in the first half. Seven of his 15 completions went 20+ yards. Tight end Caden Prieskorn had 96 yards receiving and two touchdowns in the first half, including this walk-in score from 37 yards.

Tre Harris (5 catches, 63 yards) has been uncoverable as well. Penn State must figure a way to generate more pressure against Dart in the up-tempo game, which means more first-down stops. It didn't help that linebacker Abdul Carter left the game with what appeared to be an ankle injury in the second quarter.

Who knew 257-pound Tyler Warren had those reflexes or wheels. Warren deftly caught a tipped pass (the fourth Drew Allar throw Ole Miss disrupted in the first quarter) and jetted to a 75-yard gain for Penn State's longest offensive play of the season. Of course, backup quarterback Beau Pribula was on the field blocking. It led to a Theo Johnson touchdown catch on fourth down.

The Beau Pribula package produced dividends, as the quarterback found Nicholas Singleton on a broken look downfield for a 48-yard touchdown. Singleton looks like the Rose Bowl back of last year.

Drew Allar had a really uneven first half. He went 5 for 14 for 115 yards and a nice fourth-down touchdown pass to Theo Johnson. He also lofted his most dire pass of the season, a floated ball downfield to a well-covered Omari Evans that was intercepted. Ole Miss turned that into a score.

 Penn State benefitted greatly when the Pac-12 officiating crew stopped play on a dead-ball offsides penalty. The Lions slowed but Dart kept going, throwing a touchdown pass that was negated. Ole Miss settled for a field goal, and coach Lane Kiffin stomped the sideline.

This was a beautiful fourth-down conversion that Penn State never considered. Dart caught the conversion, then threw a touchdown pass two plays later. The Lions barely had time to recover.

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AllPennState is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on Twitter @MarkWogenrich. And consider subscribing (button's on the home page) for more great content across the SI.com network.

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Mark Wogenrich
MARK WOGENRICH

Mark Wogenrich is the editor and publisher of Penn State on SI, the site for Nittany Lions sports on the Sports Illustrated network. He has covered Penn State sports for more than two decades across three coaching staffs, three Rose Bowls and one College Football Playoff appearance.

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