The USC and Penn State football teams are scheduled to visit Disney California Adventure Tuesday, beginning a series of activities leading up to Monday’s 103rd Rose Bowl Game. The game will air on ESPN. Franklin’s current contract runs through 2019, but USA Today reported before the Big Ten championship game that Penn State was “aggressively” pursuing an extension for Franklin.
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Penn State ended up in fifth in the final College Football Playoff rankings after winning their last nine games. That was also USC’s first Rose Bowl appearance.
As for the Trojans, the Rose Bowl is familiar territory. USC has won eight straight games after a dismal 1-3 start that included a blow-out loss to Alabama. And Penn State’s defensive woes could be partially attributed to a linebacking unit decimated by early injuries. The first bowl in program history was a 14-3 loss to the Trojans in the 1923 Rose Bowl. It’s the first time Penn State has been to the Rose Bowl since 2008 when it lost to USC team by a score of 38-24. “I showed up a month after the Rose Bowl when Ryan Leaf was working out for all the National Football League scouts”.
One place that the Nittany Lions will be looking to try and take advantage of is the secondary of the Trojans.
When Helton, the USC coach, stood to address the team, thanking the players for their effort that spawned an eight-game winning streak and a return to Pasadena, he paused at one point to acknowledge their link to past lore. “A ‘white-out” win changed their destiny as they trailed Ohio St 21-7 in the 4Q but got a TD after a blocked punt and another on a blocked TD giving then their first win against a AP ranked #1 of #2 since 1990.
The same week, injury-ravaged Penn State was destroyed by MI. Is Helton going to be able to match Carroll when it comes to player management and produce the necessary undefeated or one-loss season?
In almost 30 years around college football, the closest Franklin had been to the Rose Bowl until now was this: He took a graduate assistant coaching job at Washington State and “drove my 1988 Honda Accord with 160,000 miles on it, 37 hours by myself from Philadelphia to Pullman, Washington, and I showed up a month after the Rose Bowl when (quarterback) Ryan Leaf was working out for all the NFL scouts”. Start of play was delayed more than an hour after Penn State’s team was stuck in traffic.
There has been some delay in the process, which Barbour said was due to not wanting to rush a project that will map out the next 20 years of Penn State’s athletic facilities.
He’s rushed for 1,302 yards and 16 touchdowns for the Nittany Lions, but he was a threat in the passing game as well.
In the Big Ten Championship, the Nittany Lions trailed the Wisconsin Badgers by three touchdowns at the half, but behind the arm and skills of quarterback Trace McSorely managed to edge out a 38-31 comeback victory win the conference championship. He rushed for 1,320 yards and had 16 rushing touchdowns. Then came a big win over Colorado that would look better and better as the season wore on – the upstart Buffaloes’ only regular-season Pac-12 defeat.
That’s just a detail in a much bigger picture before just about the biggest game opportunity. And he’s not just fun, he’s also really good at a lot of different things. Leading the way for USC is Jim Thorpe Award victor Adoree’ Jackson.
The Trojans might also hold an edge in the receiving game, even if JuJu Smith-Schuster hasn’t performed this year like he did in his breakout 2015 campaign.
Darnold leads the nation’s freshmen in passing efficiency (161.0 rating), completion percentage (68.1), touchdown passes (26) and yards per attempt (8.4). Running back Ronald Jones has been impressive of late. He hasn’t been the bell cow all season long, but Jones has earned the lead back role recently with four 100-yard rushing performances in his last fives games. We’re in a situation now with our offensive line has allowed us to do that.
McSorley tends to leave a lot of air under his passes, and while that didn’t turn out to be a concern against Wisconsin, Jackson is someone with the athleticism and awareness necessary to outduel Penn State’s receivers for a 50/50 ball.
That dropped the Nittany Lions’ record to 2-2, and the next week the home fans booed and chanted “Fire Franklin!” John Reid has only averaged around 7 yards per return, so if this game becomes a battle for field position, the Nittany Lions might be in trouble.
Koa Farmer who is a red shirt freshman will step in to fill the void left by Bowen. He won the hearts and souls of the local fans when his team upset mighty Ohio State.
Huff strives to avoid the apparent panic that hurt the Buckeyes while they held a 21-17 lead late in the fourth quarter on October 22, unsure whether they wanted to go for it on fourth down or try a 45-yard field goal.
But both programs are back on track and reaching the Rose Bowl should be a particularly gratifying experience for the two head coaches. Punter Blake Gillikin is third in the Big Ten with 42.1 yards per punt.
Even so, he is a dear friend Helton would rather not have to see his offense play against.
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Adoree Jackson owned the day against Notre Dame.
