Just like that, this year is already better than last year.
Eleven years ago, USC lost to Texas in what became known as a classic Rose Bowl match. Tonight, the circle is complete and USC won in a new Rose Bowl classic that will be remembered for decades to come.
Between the end of the second quarter and five minutes into the third quarter, Penn State had scored 28 straight points, leaving even some USC players stunned at the turn of events. That's been the Nittany Lions' modus operandi this season, including a near-parallel win over Wisconsin in the B1G Championship where they outscored the Badgers 31 - 3 in the final 31 minutes of the game -- you could forgive USC fans if they thought that the wheels were coming off.
But the Trojans held to the motto, "Fight On", and in a stunner, outscored Penn State 25 - 7 from midway in the third quarter to win the game, 52 - 49. When it counted most, the USC defense stiffened up and stopped the prolific Nittany Lions who'd previously outscored their opponents by 111 points in the fourth quarter this year. Instead of seeing Penn State run away with the game, we saw senior safety Leon McQuay come through with a key play in the game when he read the pass and stepped in front of the receiver to intercept the ball and return it to Penn State's 33 with 27 seconds left in the game.
Gone are the ghosts of that 2006 Rose Bowl, the collapse against Alabama in the first game of the season, and the talk of how Clay Helton was a bad hire. It's officially a new era in Trojan football and Helton's got the Trojans on a 9-game winning streak.
As I wrote previously, Penn State and USC were better than Ohio State and Washington, and I think this game puts a stamp on that. Even though the Nittany Lions lost, they showed why they were the best team in the B1G, and USC is without a doubt the best team in the PAC-12. It's just a shame that both teams were kept out by a CFP committee that couldn't figure out that Penn State and USC were two of the best teams in the country, otherwise we might be talking about a classic CFP Championship game of the two best teams in the country.
One more thing. Redshirt freshman Sam Darnold set two Rose Bowl records -- most TDs (5) and most combined offensive yards (473) -- and nearly set a third, falling four yards short of breaking Oregon Ducks alum Danny O'Neil's record of 456 passing yards against...Penn State in 1995. That's probably why he was named the Rose Bowl's offensive MVP. Sam Darnold for Heisman?
FIGHT ON!
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