I know it’s been over two weeks since this game was played, and the season is over, but it just doesn’t feel right to not put a bow on this roller coaster season. Especially after THIS GAME. Warning for all you millennials with short attention spans; this will be long. I promise to add as much videos, images and GIFs as possible to keep you preoccupied. Lookout for some sincerity because I had the fortune of attending this game and feel like getting all sentimental about it.

I didn’t even go out the night before the game. That’s how important this game was to me. Only one weekend in Los Angeles and I spent New Year’s Day staying in and watching Black Mirror.

Got up bright and early and drove to a game on a party bus consisting of friends, acquaintances, and three or four girls (the bus filled about 50). Everyone was just happy to be there. The same Chainsmokers song was on loop because apparently every twenty-something only knows one song.

Once we arrived to the Rose Bowl we proceeded to get appropriately sauced. As one should do. It’s the Rose Bowl. It’s like a wedding for football, and your best friend is getting hitched. It’s grabbing your fellow Trojans’ beer and food and not having to worry about it. Again, we are a family.

A special thank you to my parents for bringing down my tickets and giving me their portable charger. Without either, I wouldn’t have survived the day. Walking to the game and seeing the band march by, I already started to feel goosebumps.

Pregame

Little did this fan know he’d be begging for “Glasses Ref” and the rest of the Pac-12 by the fourth quarter.

The Trojans running out of the tunnel was definitely a surreal moment. Not as much enthusiasm as those Pete Carroll teams but given the rumors up in Seattle, they might have had a little something extra in their Gatorade during those years.

The Trojans honored the passing of Joe McKnight with special helmet decals, but the Texas Tesla decided to do something a little extra and drive down to New Orleans for a new paint job.

Such an awesome gesture. It’s great when everyone agrees to cut through all the red tape to make something like this happen.

This is what I want my tax dollars going to: ridiculous displays of our military power during sporting events. That plane was so quiet if you were ever an enemy of us and started to hear it, you’d have about five more seconds on God’s green earth.

Since UCLA has banned our tradition of stabbing the field, we had to wait until the Rose Bowl to get the job done.

I don’t think it would have been a great start for the USC if Tommy Trojan had stabbed himself in the foot. A close one for the Trojans. Which ended up being the theme for the game.

First Quarter

Things started off well with Boermeester kicking a knuckleball and giving the Nittany Lions terrible field position for their first posession.

Rough start for McSorley as Penn State committed two early turnovers. Luckily for them, with a missed field goal, USC didn’t completely capitalize on the early opportunity.

But it wasn’t all wasted opportunities, as Adoree’ Jackson pulled down the second interception and returned it to midfield to set up great field position for our volatile offense.

USC 7 — PSU 0

Darnold to Burnett in the middle of the field. Threw it right between Penn State’s zone coverage. I think there might be more of that later.

USC 10 — PSU 0

The game should have been 21–0, but USC left too many points off the board. Would that come back to haunt us?!? Spoiler alert: Kind of, but no.

Another three and out in Penn State territory led to a big return for Adoree’ that would have given the Trojans greater field position and a chance to close this game out early. But then the flags came flying in.

How have teams not figured out that when Jalen Green is in the game, we are running a trick play? If I had to go through the participation charts of every game of his USC career (not counting garbage time), I’d say he’s been in only a handful of plays that didn’t involve a reverse.

Maybe they weren’t anticipating him catching the ball and running up the field with it? Whenever it’s in his hands, he’s looking to pass.

USC 13 — PSU 0

More points left on the board. USC keeping Penn State in this!

Second Quarter

USC 13 — PSU 7

The hole for Saquon Barkley on this play was so wide, I would have thought it he was the warden at Camp Green Lake.

We got ourselves a ball game.

USC 20 — PSU 7

Luckily one of the ten thousand reviews during this game went our way. Since the ball was thrown behind the line of scrimmage, the pick thrown by JuJu is deemed a block and the play stood as a touchdown. Don’t worry Trojans, the refs will find a way to flag us for something later.

USC 20 — PSU 14

And absolute dart on the run from McSorely to Chris Godwin for the touchdown.

This doesn’t account for all the success Adoree’ has had all year nor does it account for how many pass heavy teams he’s played, but giving up seven touchdowns is definitely a knock towards his lockdown corner status and could be an issue for him at the next level.

“After the review, the receiver did not have full possession of the ball in-bounds but the catch was cool as hell. Touchdown Penn State.”

USC 27 — PSU 14

Here’s a hot take: I think Darreus Rogers is a better pro prospect than JuJu Smith-Schuster. He’s sure handed, a great blocker and dominates third downs. He reminds me a lot of Anquan Boldin. Doesn’t have the speed or agility as some of the elite wide receivers but he’s a guy who can get you first downs one curl route at a time.

USC 27 — PSU 21

Just another ridiculous throw on the run by McSorley. He was definitely doing his best Sam Darnold impression this game.

Halftime

By my count, USC left around six to fourteen points off the board at half. A game dominated by the Trojans was only a one score game going into halftime. The team lacked consistency the whole game which led to lulls in drives and general sluggishness.

It only took me two quarters before I got into the Penn State heckling. In my defense, I was inspired by a drunk fan who ignored everyone of us in line for the chicken tenders. The way Joe Paterno ignored… well, you know. Everything.

Third Quarter

The sluggishness continued in the beginning of the second half as USC went three and out. Then this happened.

USC 27 — PSU 28

First off, the field conditions during this game were ridiculous. Is UCLA still in charge of the grounds keeping after the season is over because I have a sneaking suspicion they are with how much the Trojans were slipping all over the field this game. The Texas Tesla’s tires were stuck in mud all game. All his tread would run out whenever he tried to turn a corner on a stretch run.

But nevertheless, that is no excuse for the amount of missed tackles on this long run by Barkley. It felt like each player got at least two chances to tackle him and missed both times. And with that, USC’s falls behind for the first time in the game.

USC 27 — PSU 35

Marshall has been the punching bag for the USC secondary all year but it’s really hard to fault him here because he played this perfectly.

The only thing I would change is deflecting the ball down instead of up so that if there is anyone behind you they don’t have a chance to catch the ball and run it in for a touchdown.

USC needed a jumpstart to get back in this game and that came from Quinton Powell trying to motivate his teammates on the sidelines. From all the articles and quotes that came out after this game, this definitely was the turning point for the defense.

The offense must have been on the field during Powell’s speech because a quick turnover had Penn State knocking on the door AGAIN. Not really the time for Sam’s routine mistake.

USC 27 — PSU 42

We’re in trouble. Big trouble.

USC 35 — PSU 42

And after almost a full quarter, the Trojans are in the end zone again.

The one silver lining with the terrible field conditions is that the slip by Darnold confused Penn State defenders on the play allowing him to toss it to McNamara to make it a one score game.

It was probably at this point I lost my voice. But I knew the team needed me. If we won and my voice was gone forever, I’d be completely content with using one of those voice boxes they give cigarette smokers or a computer like Stephen Hawking.

I watched this replay over a dozen times and I still can’t figure out who the penalty was on. Is it on Hawkins for hitting McSorely when he’s going to the ground? Is it on Nwosu for trying to go for the headshot but clearly missing? I guess you can get flagged for trying to attempt unnecessary roughness. I don’t see a penalty here, but I’m clearly wearing Cardinal and Gold stained glasses.

Awful call after awful call you’d think the head referee was behind center of Penn State.

Okay, that might have been the right call. With Smith gone, and our linebacking core depleted, our chances to stop the ball didn’t look so good.

If there’s something Ray Lewis is an expert in, it’s illegal activities.

USC 35 — PSU 49

Obviously when your best offensive weapon is a yellow flag, it’s pretty easy to move the ball down the field for a touchdown. It was about this time I started to get texts from friends and family about how we should probably start getting out of here to beat traffic. In the first half, I was worried the bus would leave early from our blowout. Now I was starting to worry if I’d get stranded because I stayed the whole time.

I guess when you have two linemen down the field, they cancel each other out. That’s how double jeopardy works, right?

Again, thank you grounds keeping crew for the awful playing conditions you gave these unpaid athletes. Thank god the injury wasn’t serious or it could have cost millions of dollars to Adoree’ as he enters the draft. If you’re going to subject college students to play in an exhibition game for no compensation besides a backpack and a Best Buy gift card, how about making sure the grass they are running on doesn’t slip underneath them.

Adoree’ tried his best to get back on the field, but the limp was noticeable and he or the team made the wise decision to stay out for the remainder of the game. USC was now without its’ best player and the chances of a comeback grew more and more unlikely.

Fourth Quarter

After this absolutely ridiculous review, I’d conceded to myself that this game wasn’t on USC and the referees rigged the game for Penn State or were trying to shave points. I actually started thinking of conspiracy theories. Since the officiating crew was from the ACC conference, and Clemson just shut out Ohio State two days earlier, maybe there was a deal made to bolster the strength of the Big 10 and ACC simultaneously by the ACC conference champion shutting out the controversial playoff team from the Big 10, Ohio State, while rigging the Rose Bowl to allow for the Big 10 champion to beat the consensus best team in the Pac-12. If successful, both conferences could use this year of bowl games as evidence of the ACC and Big 10 strength to leave out the Pac-12 for future playoff selections. Stay. Woke.

My conspiracy theories immediately began to have less validity to them than the types of videos Russia allegedly has on our next president.

USC 42 — PSU 49

The Texas Telsa finally got unstuck from the mud and made it into the end zone. The Trojans were within striking distance early in the fourth quarter.

The Trojans took this traction and forced a quick three and out to get the ball back. Unfortunately, their drive stalled and they were forced to punt with less than four minutes in the game.

If the crowd wasn’t so loud, you could probably hear every keyboard of USC beat writers ready to fire away their hottest take about the huge mistake Clay Helton made punting the ball instead of going for it. They know his history and if the Trojans didn’t get the ball back, all the goodwill he gained during his eight-game winning streak wouldn’t be enough to stop him from being right back on the hot seat next season.

I think one of the greatest lessons we should take from 2016 is to never trust win probabilities again. It ain’t over till its over.

Brilliant move by Clay Helton and Tee Martin to copy Penn State’s offense of having the referees move the ball down the field instead of completing plays for first down. Two consecutive pass interference penalties and the Trojans were in Penn State territory in less than 30 seconds.

USC 49 — PSU 49

One of the prettiest touchdown passes I’ve seen in my entire life. I have to break it down from multiple perspectives and angles

Over the coverage and right into the Burnett’s hands

Did Darnold throw it in between four Penn State defenders?

Or was it five defenders? Burnett isn’t even remotely open when Sam releases the ball. Not only that but look at how open JuJu is on the left. Could have took the safe route and racked up 10 to 15 yards but no grandson of Dick Hammer would allow that. Marlboro Men breed offspring with Cajones and Sam has two of them.

This photo is actually the background of my phone at the moment. I need to see it the million times I check to see if anyone has texted me back. Spoiler alert: They haven’t.

I think the best part of this play is that Burnett called his own hot route and Sam may not have knowm. The biggest play of the game was the equivalent of when you just went deep in backyard football because you wanted to score and plays are dumb. Just ridiculous in so many ways.

USC’s two-minute drill was so efficient they gave Penn State over a minute to go for the win. Any smart coach would kneel the ball three times, kill the Trojans’ momentum, and try to go for the win in overtime. But James Franklin decided to throw the ball deep into coverage.

Throw to Leon once, shame on him. Throw to Leon twice, shame on you! McQuay gets the interception and takes the ball into Trojan territory with a chance to win in regulation. Thanks to the referee crew for reviewing every play in this game. Not only did you make the game over six hours (it felt like six hours) but without any timeouts left you allowed our offense and special teams to set up the game winning field goal.

USC 52 — PSU 49

Just when I thought you couldn’t possibly be any dumber, you go and do something like this… and totally redeem yourself!

Boermeester, with two missed field goals earlier in the game hits the long game winner and the Trojans win the Rose Bowl!

Post Game

Impeccable dab technique.

I knew when I watched Matt doink a long field goal in Jerry World that we had ourselves a kicker. I had doubters during the game asking me why I liked him so much. I told him to just wait and see.

You can celebrate with your fans during the off-season, but you only get one opportunity to rub victory in your opponent’s face. Especially with a deplorable program like Penn State.

Literally jumping with joy. Who needs two ankles to celebrate a victory?

JuJu has come a long way from fighting with Adoree’ and leaving practice early after the beat down by Alabama. Hell, the whole team has.

Not sure it’s going to help the “Teddy Bear” moniker he gained from Lendale White, but sometimes big guys just need a good cry. I know more than a couple of fans in attendance that joined him.

What a grinder.

Burnett is guaranteed to have even more of a breakout season next year as Darnold’s primary target.

Also, no way in hell he watched film the next day. But I appreciate the lie.

Not going to erase that certain Rose Bowl memory for fans, but erasing Vince Young’s record is a nice consolation prize.

What better way to honor a man who shined so brightly in the Rose Bowl than to be a part of a team that won in one of the most memorable games in recent history. From Ronald, and the rest of the Trojan family, this victory is for you, Joe.

Finished №3 in the AP Top 25, ended the season on a nine-game winning streak and won the Rose Bowl. But we should have fired him after the loss at Utah, right?

Might have to make a volunteer trip to a third world country to see what Penn State’s Rose Bowl Champion merchandise would have looked like.

Not only does USC own the Rose Bowl, but it also owns the Big 10. You’re next, Meyer and Harbaugh.

Reflection

This game may have been the happiest time of my life in sometime. Fireworks (literally). I was skipping out of the stadium like Adoree’ with a bad ankle.

Victory cigars of course. Well, cigarettes, so a little safer for my lungs. The three mile walk back to where we parked our party bus felt like a breeze because I was floating on air.

A couple weeks back Meryl Streep went on some sort of rant promoting the arts saying if movies are gone, all we will be left with is football. Well, Meryl, I’ve never had a connection or affection to something as much as I have had to football and no film comes close. Football bonds groups of people together that would have never met or spoken to each other. Football connects people in a way a movie couldn’t even dream of achieving. I’m not hugging strangers at the end because the hero finally gets the girl. But when Boermeester hit that game-winner, I was finding anyone in Cardinal and Gold to celebrate with.

When we first won the Rose Bowl in 2009, I didn’t appreciate it. I was only at USC for a semester and was having a hard time with classes and trying to make friends. I really only enjoyed the success of the football team, and a Rose Bowl was a bit of a letdown that year.

This was completely different. I felt it all. And still smile thinking about it. I’ve spent hours and written thousands of words for this team this year. Traveled to two different states and attended four games (nine too few). This was vindication for all of it.

For those who started at USC in the second half of the first decade of the new century this game was the most meaningful of their lives. They started going to USC during a time of unprecedented dominance (until Bama) and came to see the Rose Bowl as an expectation and in some years even a disappointment. Rightly so, some of those years it was stunning upsets that prevented us from going. Then came all the sanctions and drama of the past decade. This time we weren’t the spoiled children of years past but a fan base who had experienced normal ups and downs. When we got to this Rose Bowl we were grateful just to be there and got to enjoy rush and joy of victory in major bowl game.

After this game, you’ll never be able to give up on USC again. Down 14 with 6 minutes left and they won in regulation. Nothing will make you turn off the game and give up now. Some will but the ones that truly believe anything is possible will stay till the end. 1–3 to Rose Bowl champs in one year is such an incredible turnaround.

I was glad I was a part of every second of it, even if it was watching from my apartment, a bar, my friend’s rooftop, or in person. I don’t regret a single second or dollar I’ve spent towards this team this year. No doubt I’d do it all over again.

What happens now? Who cares. We have months to worry about that. Let’s just enjoy this victory for now.

And if anyone thought USC fans were annoying and arrogant before, just wait until next year.

ONE MORE TIME!

FIGHT ON!

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Special thanks to my numerous “editors”; Jef, James, and Johnny