Posted: Thursday, January 1, 2009, 10:49 PM | 5 comments |
 

Rose Bowl: Southern Cal 38, Penn State 24
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PASADENA, Calif. -- Penn State's season came to a thud with tonight's disappointing showing against Southern Cal in the Rose Bowl. Not many gave the Lions a shot, and those pundits proved correct as the explosive Trojans downed Penn State, 38-24, before 93,293 in attendance.

I few thoughts:

-- I'm not sure if the Lions had any chance, but they were undone by a few costly plays/calls. Penalties killed them in the first half. Their failure on third and short in the first half did not help. And Stephfon Green's fumble right before the half was the proverbial dagger.

-- It's hard to blame Joe Paterno for his players' mistakes. I guess you could fault the coach for not having his players ready. But there's a huge difference between watching a team on film and seeing them up close and personal.

-- Mark Sanchez made a name for himself in this one. The USC quarterback was considered a good, if not great, signal caller. This had to be the best game of his career.

-- If there's a finger to point it's got to be directed at the defense, especially the secondary. That senior-laden unit hadn't faced a quarterback like Sanchez nor receivers as skilled as the Trojans all season, and it showed. They played off, as they normally do in their scheme, but couldn't come up and make plays. They played on their heels and looked a little, dare I say, intimidated.

-- Clark never really got into rhythm, but it was as if he had a bad game. When Evan Royster went down with a knee injury the Lions had to go with Green, and the redshirt freshman, despite his dazzling speed, has had problems holding onto the ball. It ended up costing the Lions.

OK, folks that's it. I meet with Paterno in the morning for his end-of-the-season wrap up and then that's it.

 
Posted by Jeff McLane @ 10:49 PM  Permalink | 5 comments
5
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:43 PM, 01/01/2009
    Not sure the Lions had a legitimate chance to win, but I thought they would represent a little better than they did tonight. I agree the defense was horrible overall and that USC could do pretty much anything it wanted. The defense could not come up with any stops and that is what set the tone for this game. PSU's offense had a difficult task going against the 'SC defense but once the Trojans began their scoring frenzy, the pressure became even greater for the Lion's offense to keep it in the game. Hats off to USC, they are definitely one of the two best teams in the country.
    — MrPhillie
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:02 AM, 01/02/2009
    Penn States offense didn't give the defense much of a break especially in the second quarter. USC can't having a scoring burst if their offense is on the sidelines. Unfortunately, this was more proof of the Big Ten being a weak conference. USC definitely got screwed out of title contention by the voters this year.
    — Voytas
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:01 AM, 01/02/2009
    C'mon guys. Weak schedule(every year) and weak Big Ten(every year) Penn State just isn't very good and are not anywhere near the caliber of OK, Fla or USC. USC finally exposed how bad PSU really is!
    — pieman
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:26 AM, 01/02/2009
    4 Big Ten teams played Pac-10 opponents this season, and Penn State was the only Big Ten team to beat their opponent, Oregan State, and shellacked them, too. And OSU beat USC. I don't buy the speed argument, Penn State stayed with USC in lateral pursuit and where USC clearly dominated was the size of their receivers vs. State's defensive backs. The real downfall there was that PSU's usually strong pass rush was nowhere to be found In Pasadena. And critical mistakes (Maybin's offside penalty before the fumble he forced, Greens fumble after a big gain) gave the ball back to USC too many times in the 2nd quarter. Take away those mistakes and the penalties, you probably would have seen a different outcome. I think if the Big Ten wants to be competitive, they're going to have to play Pac-10 and SEC opponents during the regular season instead of the usual three game slate of patsies (Coastal Carolina, etc.)
    — dougalmac
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:43 PM, 01/04/2009
    Sanchez and his big, fast, skilled receivers torched the Lion secondary. They're a great tackling crew - the secondary - but were way out of their league with regard to pass coverage. Utah would have probably done the same thing to them.
    — elbinkogrande


5 comments
About Joe Juliano
Joe Juliano has been a staff writer for The Inquirer for 20 years, covering college sports, golf and the Penn Relays.

This season is Joe's fourth season on the paper's Penn State beat. He previously covered the Nittany Lions for United Press International from 1976 to 1984.

Joe McIntyre is a senior at Penn State majoring in journalism. He covered the Penn State football beat in 2011 for the Daily Collegian. Follow him on Twitter here @JoeMcIntyre5.
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