Southern Cal vs. Penn State

Trojans -9 vs. Nittany Lions

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The granddaddy of em all, the Rose Bowl is also the first matchup of BCS teams this year. Penn State will take on USC on New Years Day.

When Penn State (11-1) joined the Big Ten in 1990 and began play within the conference in 1993, the Nittany Lions were predicted to dominate the conference and become as familiar with Pasadena as USC is. This has not panned out by any means. The Lions were a force the first few years in the conference, going to the Rose Bowl in their second year in the conference, 1994. Penn State finished undefeated that season, but struggled throughout many years and did not make it back to the Rose Bowl until this season.

For USC (11-1), Pasadena is not a stranger like it is for Penn State. In addition to playing UCLA in the stadium every other year, including this years game played there on December 6 with the Southern Cal Trojans prevailing 28-7. They have also played in 32 post-season Rose Bowl games, winning 23 of them, including last years 49-17 destruction of Illinois.

Many of the recent Rose Bowls have featured offensive fireworks and this may be the case again as the Trojans and Lions are averaging 37.5 and 40.2 points respectively. But the game could easily go the other way because the teams boast equally strong defenses. Penn State has given up 12.4 points per game this season, while USC is even better. The Trojans have given up a total of 93 points for an average of 7.8 points per contest, good for first in the country. 27 of those points came in their only loss at Oregon State September 25th.

Even though they finished as strong as any one else in the country, the Trojans were left outside looking in of the BCS title picture. The Penn State Nittany Lions can relate to being ignored by the powers that be. Their only loss was a last second field goal by Iowa and a 24-23 loss on November 8th. The bad thing for the Lions was the loss came late in the season and Ohio State had made the title game last season with a loss and got destroyed for a second straight year, so the Big Ten was not received much love, to say the least.

Speaking of the Buckeyes, they were a common opponent for both Penn State and Southern Cal this season, with the Trojans decimating the Buckeyes 35-3 at the Los Angeles Coliseum on September 13th and the Nittany Lions dispatching the Buckeyes with a rare victory in Columbus, 13-6, on October 25.

Southern California is 30-16 all-time in bowl games and Penn State is 26-12-2.

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