PASADENA, Calif. — Penn State saw one of its typical second-half comebacks wiped out by a Southern California rally of its own Monday in one of the most exciting Rose Bowls in recent memory.
The Nittany Lions came back from a 13-point first-half deficit to take a 15-point lead in the third quarter, but the Trojans tied the score with 1 minute, 20 seconds left, then capitalized on Penn State’s third turnover for the winning score — Matt Boermeester’s 46-yard field goal at the final gun — for a 52-49 victory.
The Lions saw their nine-game winning streak snapped before a crowd of 95,128 on a cloudy and cool day, and were denied a chance to win 12 games in a season for the fourth time. The Trojans finished the season with their ninth win in a row and a 10-3 record.
USC tied the score on a 27-yard pass from Sam Darnold to Deontay Burnett, capping an 80-yard drive that was aided by back-to-back pass-interference penalties against the Nittany Lions.
Penn State began its final possession from its 35 with two timeouts left. On third and 9, Trace McSorley went deep to Chris Godwin but the pass was intercepted by Leon McQuay III, who returned 32 yards to the Lions 33. After a 5-yard run, Darnold spiked the ball with five seconds remaining, clearing the way for Boermeester’s game-winner, his third field goal of the day, to end the four-hour-plus contest.
With the help of a 79-yard run by Saquon Barkley and a 72-yard pass from McSorley to Godwin, the Nittany Lions, who trailed by 13 on three separate occasions in the first half, scored three touchdowns on their first three plays of the third quarter to take a 42-27 lead.
Those three touchdowns were part of a run by Penn State when it scored seven TDs over seven straight possessions. The last score, a 7-yard pass from McSorley to Barkley with 1:55 left in the third quarter, gave the Nittany Lions a 49-35 advantage.
But USC cut the deficit in half on a 3-yard run by Ronald Jones II with 8:15 remaining and shut out Penn State for the rest of the game.
Barkley scored three touchdowns, rushed for 194 yards on 25 carries and caught five passes for 55 yards. McSorley, who came into the game with five interceptions on the season, threw three picks on Monday, and completed 18 of 29 passes for 254 yards and four TDs.
Darnold went 33 of 53 for 453 yards and five touchdowns.
Burnett caught 13 passes for 164 yards and three scores.
Penn State got off to a horrible start, with McSorley throwing interceptions on each of its first two possessions. The Big Ten champion had just two first downs and 38 total yards in the first quarter and fell behind 13-0.
However, Barkley’s 24-yard touchdown run just over three minutes into the second quarter launched a streak of seven TDs on seven possessions in the middle two periods.
The Lions trailed by 27-14 but got a touchdown on their final drive of the half on an 11-yard pass from McSorley to Mike Gesicki with 54 seconds remaining. After the Penn State defense forced the Trojans into their first punt of the game on the initial possession of the third quarter, the Lions went to work.
On his team’s first play, from its own 21, Barkley went over the right side, made three tacklers missed, cut across diagonally to the left and scored as the white-clad Penn State fans went wild. The Lions took their first lead of the game at 28-27 less than two minutes in.
After another USC punt, McSorley went deep down the left sideline on the first play to Godwin, who finished with nine catches for 187 yards and two touchdowns. The ball was tipped by cornerback Iman Marshall and into the hands of Godwin, who went the rest of the way untouched to make it 35-27.
The Lions got the ball right back when linebacker Brandon Bell intercepted a tipped pass from Sam Darnold and returned it to the USC 3. McSorley called his own number on the first play and went over the left side for the touchdown, giving Penn State three touchdowns in a 4:34 span and a 42-27 lead.
The Trojans then picked up their first score of the half, going 65 yards on their next possession and getting a 13-yard pass from Darnold to Smith-Schuster and converting a two-point play to get to within seven. Penn State answered with an 82-yard drive that was helped by a pair of personal foul penalties against USC, and capped by McSorley’s 7-yard pass to Barkley.
The Lions then turned the game over to their defense, but the unit wasn’t able to hold off the Trojans.
