A Blue Rose Bowl for Penn State

It was just a little, too late for Penn State as they were defeated by USC 38-24 in the Rose Bowl. Some early mistakes and poor pass defense put the Nittany Lions behind 31-7 at half time. A score that could have been completely different if some breaks went their way.

In the end, it was USCs big, speedy receivers who caught almost everything from USC Quarterback Mark Sanchez to pace USC for their 3rd straight Rose Bowl win.

Losing Evan Royster certainly did not help Penn State's offense, but they still managed to run for 137 yards on 29 carries. There are bright spots. No one put up 28 points on USC this season and no one even came close to scoring 17 points in the second half against a defense who had shut out opponents 8 times in the second half.

Penn State did definitely not give up and even had the ball close to make it even closer game, but they could just not get it done.

USC is probably the best team in the country and they will be the one missing out on the National title game because of one loss, not to say Florida and Texas aren't deserving, but so are other teams.

Next week, we will post an article discussing who will be returning for Penn State and discuss the incoming class.