An overwhelming offense, as well as a career-best performance by quarterback Mark Sanchez was more than enough to defeat the Nittany Lions in the 2009 Rose Bowl. Joe Paterno watched from the press box as his team “didn’t play Penn State football,” comitting a plethora of costly penalties, and making mental and physical errors which ultimately led to the team’s downfall. The previously stout Penn State defense allowed USC’s Mark Sanchez to pass for 413 yards, 162 of those yards to receiver Damian Williams, and gave up a 24 point lead before half. An injury to Evan Royster didn’t help matters for the Blue and White either. Daryll Clark played a rather average game, throwing for 273 yards with 2 TDs, but also throwing a couple of interceptions. After a sloppy first half to say the very least, Penn State rallied for a respectable comeback, shrinking the lead to 14, only to end in a turnover which sealed their fate. A rather disappointing finish to a memorable season, the Nittany Lions are now 12-2. Joe Paterno said, “I don’t want to take anything away from Southern Cal, because they played a heck of a football game and their quarterback played a great game,” he said. “They certainly deserved to win it, but I’m a little disappointed that we weren’t a little bit more competitive. And a lot of that was because we made so many mistakes in the first half.”
