The 2024 Fiesta Bowl was a

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

that was played on December 31, 2024, at

State Farm Stadium State Farm Stadium is a multi-purpose retractable roof stadium in Glendale, Arizona, United States, west of Phoenix. It is the home of the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL) and the annual Fiesta Bowl. It replaced Sun Devi ...

Glendale, Arizona Glendale () is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. Located about nine miles northwest of the state capital Phoenix, Glendale is known for State Farm Stadium, which is the home of the Arizona Cardinals football team. The city al ...

. The 54th annual

Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area since 1971. From its beginning until 2006, the game was hosted at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has be ...

featured

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It ...

and

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

, and was one of the 2024–25 bowl games concluding the 2024 FBS football season. It was also one of the

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual single-elimination tournament, knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, D ...

(CFP) quarterfinal games, beginning at approximately 5:30 p.m. MST and airing on

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. Sponsored by online vacation rental marketplace Vrbo, the game was officially known as the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl.

Background

The 2024 Fiesta Bowl was the first-ever quarterfinal game for the

(CFP).

, being the ninth-ranked team in the final CFP rankings and winning their conference championship game, received a bye in the CFP's new 12-team format and was selected to play in the bowl game as the third seed in the CFP playoff. The playoff's 11th seed, SMU (ranked 10th in the final CFP poll), and sixth seed,

(ranked fourth in the final CFP poll), met on December 21 for the other spot in the Fiesta Bowl, with Penn State winning by a score of 38–10. This was the first-ever meeting between the Nittany Lions and the Broncos. Penn State defeated Boise State and advanced to the semifinal round at the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. Played annually since 1935 Orange Bowl, January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in ...

, to face the winner of the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed only ...

Teams

This was the first meeting between Penn State and Boise State. Both teams had previously appeared in multiple Fiesta Bowls, with undefeated records: Boise State was 3–0 in prior appearances, most recently the December 2014 edition, while Penn State was 7–0 in prior appearances, most recently the December 2017 edition.

Boise State Broncos

Boise State earned a first-round bye in the playoff as the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

champions. The Broncos entered with a 12–1 record (7–0 in conference); their only loss was to

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

on September 7.

Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State compiled an 11–1 record (8–1 in conference) during the regular season, losing only to

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

. The Nittany Lions qualified for the Big Ten Championship Game, which they fell to top-ranked

45–37. Penn State was then selected to compete in the CFP playoff; ranked fourth in the final CFP rankings, they received the sixth seed in the playoff bracket. Facing SMU in a first-round game, Penn State took a 28–0 lead into halftime en route to a 38–10 victory. The Nittany Lions entered the Fiesta Bowl with a 12–2 record.

Game summary

Statistics

References

External links

* Game statistics a
statbroadcast.com
{{Penn State Nittany Lions bowl game navbox

Fiesta Bowl

Boise State Broncos football bowl games Penn State Nittany Lions football bowl games Sports competitions in Glendale, Arizona