2009 Rose Bowl
USC (11-1) vs. Penn State (11-1)
Jan. 1, 5:00 p.m. ET, ABC
Payout:
$14 million Location: Rose Bowl, Pasadena CA
 |
|
National
Rankings |
|
USC |
Penn
State |
|
Total Offense |
|
13th 453.08 ypg |
14th 452. 17 ypg |
|
Total Defense |
|
1st 206.08 ypg |
5th 263.92 ypg |
|
Scoring Offense |
|
13th 453.08 ppg |
11th 40.17 ppg |
|
Scoring Defense |
|
1st 7.75 ppg |
3rd 12.42 ppg |
|
Run Offense |
|
17th 206 ypg |
13th 211.58 ypg |
|
Run Defense |
|
5th 83.25 ypg |
9th 95.92 ypg |
|
Pass Offense |
|
32nd 247.08 ypg |
38th 240.58 ypg |
|
Pass Defense |
|
1st 122.83 ypg |
12th 168 ypg |
|
Turnover Margin |
|
34th 0.42 |
19th 0.75 |
|
USC
at Virginia W 52-7
Ohio St W 35-7
at Oreg. St L 27-21
Oregon W 44-10
Arizona St W 28-0
at Wash St W 69-0
at Arizona W 17-10
Washington W 56-0
California W 17-3
at Stanford W 45-23
Notre Dame W 38-3
at UCLA W 28-7 |
Penn State
C. Carolina W 66-10
Oregon St W 45-14
at Syracuse W 55-13
Temple W 45-3
Illinois W 38-24
at Purdue W 20-6
at Wisconsin W 48-7
Michigan W 46-17
at Ohio St W 13-6
at Iowa L 24-23
Indiana W 38-7
Michigan St W 49-18 |
|
Position
Ratings
relative to each
other |
|
USC |
5
highest
1 lowest |
P |
|
4.5 |
Quarterbacks |
4.5 |
|
4.5 |
RBs |
5 |
|
3.5 |
Receivers |
5 |
|
4 |
O
Line |
5 |
|
5 |
D
Line |
5 |
|
5 |
Linebackers |
4.5 |
|
5 |
Secondary |
5 |
|
5 |
Spec Teams |
5 |
|
5 |
Coaching |
5 |
|
-
2009 Rose Bowl
Player Profiles, Histories, & More
Enough of this Illinois B.S.
Enough of the Big Ten’s second
place team, or Texas, or
Nebraska, or Oklahoma. This is
the Big Ten champion vs. the Pac
10 champion for the Rose Bowl.
This is New Year’s Day.
Forget about the big-time
shootouts. Forget about the
impressive offensive
performances the Rose Bowl has
seen over the past decade from
legends like Dayne, and Vince,
and Leinart. This is for the
fans of defense and it’ll be a
stunner if this isn’t a
knock-down, drag-out war for
sixty minutes.
The world is assuming USC will
show up and win this thing in a
walk. After all, USC owns the
Rose Bowl, as the Rose Bowl,
winning three of the last five
with the one bowl loss in
Pasadena under Pete Carroll
coming in the BCS Championship
to Texas three years ago. But
Penn State isn’t an upstart
Illinois.
The Nittany Lions have won four
of their last five bowl games,
nine of their last 11, and under
Joe Paterno, they’ve gone 8-2
all time in bowls now in the BCS.
For all the talk about age, hip
replacements, and contracts, the
simple fact remains that his
team is 11-1 and came within a
heartbeat of playing for the
national title. This is one of
the best defenses he and his
staff have ever put together,
it’s the best wide receiving
corps, one of the best offensive
lines, and the backfield has
tremendous speed at running back
and a senior leader in QB Daryll
Clark. And now all the talent
and all the experience will be
put to the ultimate test against
arguably the greatest defense in
the history of the Pac 10.
Is USC’s defense really that
good or did the Pac 10
colossally stink? It was a
little of both, but the numbers,
considering the Trojans play in
a BCS conference and faced
Virginia, Ohio State and Notre
Dame in the non-conference
slate, are still dizzying.
206 yards per game. 7.75 points
per game allowing a touchdown or
less in eight of the 12 games.
Four touchdown passes allowed,
123 passing yards allowed per
game, 83 rushing yards allowed
per game, 26.6% of third down
conversions allowed, 11 total
touchdowns allowed, and it goes
on and on and on. But now the
Trojans will face a real team
with a real offense.
USC got Oregon early on when it
was still trying to figure out
its quarterbacking mess. It got
Ohio State without Beanie Wells
and with Todd Boeckman at
quarterback. It got to fatten up
the stats against Washington,
Washington State and UCLA, and
gave up decent yards and more
than 20 points (even if the
final Cardinal touchdown was
pure garbage time padding) twice
… just as many times as Penn
State. But the D really is that
good with a who’s who of future
NFL starters across the starting
11. And now Penn State has to
prove it can get the offense
working against the
ultra-athletic, ultra-talented
brick wall.
Penn State might have led the
Big Ten in every important
offensive category but pass
defense (it finished third
averaging a respectable 241
yards per game), but it was held
to 13 in a slugfest win at Ohio
State, struggled late in the
loss at Iowa, and was one of the
only teams with a pulse that had
a hard time scoring on Purdue.
While USC might have had a who’s
who of big-name cream-puff
offenses on the slate, Penn
State got to fatten up on
Temple, a lifeless Wisconsin,
Indiana, Syracuse, Michigan, and
Coastal Carolina. The Nittany
Lions did blast the same Oregon
State teams 45-14 that beat USC,
and they rolled against a solid
Michigan State defense in the
regular season finale, but if
they thought the trips to Iowa
City and Columbus were a
problem, that’s nothing compared
to the jacked up firestorm
they’re about to run into.
The conventional storyline is
that the Big Ten needs this game
to prove it’s on par with the
biggest of the big boys. After
all, the Rose Bowl hasn’t been
kind to the Big Ten that hasn’t
won since Wisconsin’s 2000 game
against Stanford. But again,
this is a different Big Ten team
and a different year. Penn State
and USC are two teams that think
they should’ve been just as much
a part of the national title
discussion as all the one-loss
teams from the Big 12 South and
Florida, and they’re each
looking to show why there needs
to be a playoff of some sort.
If either team wins
impressively, then the storyline
will be how everyone would love
to see what the victor could’ve
done against the BCS champion.
If this turns out to be the
tough defensive battle expected,
then everyone will be wondering
how the winning defense would’ve
done against any of the BCS
teams with high-powered offenses
like Texas, Oklahoma or Florida.
No matter what happens, this
should be a heavyweight showdown
that’ll make you love the Rose
Bowl again.
Players to watch:
The USC defense has a dizzying
array of stars, with linebackers
Rey Maualuga and Brian
Cushing, and safety
Taylor Mays, all expected to
go in the top 20 of the 2009 NFL
Draft, but it’s Fili Moala
who’s the unsung anchor that
everything revolves around.
While the stats aren’t anything
impressive, they don’t come
close to showing his worth as an
athletic 6-5, 300-pound block of
granite who requires double and
triple teaming on every play.
With no one being able to run up
the middle, the star linebackers
are able to roam free and make
plays.
Also coming in under the radar
compared to the mega-watt
linebacking stars on the other
side of the ball is Novorro
Bowman, Penn State’s leading
tackler with 98 stops on the
year and 11.5 tackles for loss.
After getting suspended this
off-season, he started out camp
as a backup who was going to
find a spot somewhere, and then
the 6-1, 230-pound sophomore
dominated. As fast as any of the
USC starts, Bowman is a
sideline-to-sideline playmaker
who has the potential to upstage
Maualuga and Cushing.
Up front for the Nittany Lions,
and needing to play a huge role,
is sophomore end Aaron Maybin,
who might not be the big pass
rusher the defense usually
cranks out, but that’s not
necessarily a bad thing. More of
a bulked up linebacker on the
edge, Maybin is a rangy 6-4,
240-pound speed rusher who
showed flashes as a freshman,
and came through with an All-Big
Ten 2008 with 12 sacks, 45
tackles and 19 tackles for loss.
He slowed down over the second
half of the season after ripping
off 11 sacks in the first nine
games, but that’s because
everyone started to double and
triple team him. USC will have
to do the same.
Hoping to not be up close and
personal with Maybin is Mark
Sanchez, the solid junior
quarterback who has been a fiery
leader and a steady producer,
but he hasn’t been spectacular
despite throwing 30 touchdown
passes and ten interceptions. He
able to press a little bit,
knowing his defense will clean
up any mess, but he’ll have to
be more careful with the ball
against a Penn State defense
that can change the course of
the game with one big play. USC
quarterbacks are measured by
what they do in January, and if
USC loses this game, Sanchez
will likely end up shouldering
much of the blame.
Penn State will win if...
the offense comes out and
punches USC dead in the mouth.
Lost in the 35-3 final score in
the USC win over Ohio State was
how the Buckeyes were able to
move the ball in the first half.
It was actually a close game
until Maualuga came up with a
pick six late in the first half,
but the need to throw partially
stemmed from OSU’s inability to
run the ball with any power. Not
having Beanie was a big part of
the problem, but the offensive
line was the bigger issue.
That’s not going to be an issue
for the Penn State offensive
line that’s better than anything
USC has seen this year, and that
includes its own practices. How
do you beat a bully? You come
out and show no fear and you get
physical, and that’s what Penn
State has to do. The Nittany
Lions have an ultra-efficient
passing game, and Clark will
have to hit his third down
passes, but the running game
that cranked out 212 yards per
game has to take control of the
game from the start.
USC will win if... Daryll
Clark has to win the game. Clark
had a fantastic season
completing 60% of his throws for
2,319 yards and 17 touchdowns
with just four interceptions,
while adding a running element
with 265 yards and nine scores.
However, he has never gotten the
job done in the fourth quarter.
He was knocked out of the Ohio
State game, and it was Pat
Devlin who led the way to the
final scoring drive. He failed
late against Iowa, finishing
with just 83 yards and an
interception that led to the
game-winning Hawkeye drive, on
just 9-of-23 passing. USC is
more than happy to see Clark try
to run the ball, and it’ll take
its chances against the Penn
State passing game that might
feature a superstar in
Derrick Williams, but will
have problems coming up with the
deep plays.
What will happen:
USC will be in for a dogfight.
Both teams will be pumped up,
both will get big defensive
performances early on, and
neither offense will be able to
establish anything. USC will be
able to do a bit more than Penn
State, and then the Nittany
Lions will get a spark from a
big punt return from Williams.
It won’t be enough. Clark will
be under 50% passing, he’ll make
two big mistakes, and USC will
capitalize. This won’t be a
pretty game, but it’ll be nip
and tuck the whole way.
Line: USC -10 ...
CFN Prediction:
USC 17 … Penn State 13
-
2009 Rose Bowl
Player Profiles, Histories, & More