As a darkly clouded afternoon became a chilly night in Pasadena Monday, the USC football team fought Penn State for a Rose Bowl championship that seemed continually out of reach.
The Trojans fought through breathtaking Nittany Lions scores, limb-twisting Nittany Lions tackles, and a two-touchdown deficit with less than a dozen minutes remaining in the game.
They fought through deafening noise from thousands of white-clad Penn State fans, a brutal ankle injury to their most explosive player, and yellow penalty flags that constantly fluttered at their feet.
They fought with jabs from a kid quarterback, roundhouses from acrobatic receivers and knockdowns by giant linemen.
They fought and fought and then, in their final breaths they hit Penn State with a force that USC football lore will remember forever.
Sam Darnold tossed a 27-yard touchdown pass to Deontay Burnett with one minute 20 seconds remaining to tie the score. Moments later, Leon McQuay III intercepted a lofted pass from Penn State\u2019s Trace McSorley.
Then, with the stunned Trojans nation holding its collective breath, Matt Boermeester sent them into full scream by kicking a 46-yard field goal as time ran out to give USC a 52-49 victory in arguably their greatest Rose Bowl victory ever.
\u201cIf that\u2019s not the definition of \u2018Fight On,\u2019 I don\u2019t know what is,\u2019\u2019 said Coach Clay Helton, barking out the Trojan slogan as he stood red-faced amid the postgame madness.
Even before the ball sailed through the uprights, the confident Boermeester turned his back and began running toward the far end of the field. Soon he was followed by sprinting, dancing teammates who were quickly engulfed in hugs and confetti.
\u201cIt still doesn\u2019t feel like we won,\u2019\u2019 said nose tackle Stevie Tu\u2019Ikolovatu, the game\u2019s defensive MVP. \u201cThis was the scariest, then the craziest.\u2019\u2019
This was enough to bring a 6-foot-9, 360-pound man to his knees, as Trojans tackle Zach Banner watched the field goal, fell to the wet grass and dissolved in tears.
USC makes its 33rd Rose Bowl appearance, facing Big Ten conference winner Penn State.
\u201cI\u2019m on the ground and feeling feelings that I don\u2019t know how to describe,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u201cI cried my ass off.\u2019\u2019
This also brought several players to the front of the Trojans band, where they directed the fight song with both the sword and the Rose Bowl trophy while teammates surrounded them with eyes wide with disbelief.
\u201cIt\u2019s unreal, it feels fake right now,\u2019\u2019 receiver De\u2019Quan Hampton said. \u201cIt feels like a dream.\u2019\u2019
The reality is that with this win, USC emerged from eight years in the probation-cluttered wilderness to become a force in college football again. A Trojans team that began this season with a 1-3 record and Helton on the coaching hot seat has finished with nine consecutive victories and an aura that few other teams can match.
There are probably only two teams that would be favored against USC if they played next week, and both of them, Clemson and Alabama, are playing for the national championship.
\u201cIf we\u2019re not back, I don\u2019t know who is,\u2019\u2019 said Willie McGinest, a former Trojans great who was walking the sidelines. \u201cBeing without all our scholarships, being undermanned for so many years, then to finish like this, it\u2019s very special.\u2019\u2019
It\u2019s time to rewrite much of the Rose Bowl record book after USC and Penn State combined for 101 points in the Trojans\u2019 thrilling 52-49 win Monday.
Here\u2019s a look at some of the records that fell and other top-10 performances:
Individual:
USC quarterback Sam Darnold\u2019s five touchdown passes are a…
It\u2019s time to rewrite much of the Rose Bowl record book after USC and Penn State combined for 101 points in the Trojans\u2019 thrilling 52-49 win Monday.
Here\u2019s a look at some of the records that fell and other top-10 performances:
Individual:
USC quarterback Sam Darnold\u2019s five touchdown passes are a…
They finished by winning their record 25 th Rose Bowl, the most victories by any college team in any bowl. They finished by winning a game featuring the highest combined score in Rose Bowl history, with Darnold throwing the most touchdown passes \u2014 five \u2014 in Rose Bowl history while the freshman also finished with a Rose Bowl record 473 total yards.
But the Trojans very nearly didn\u2019t finish anything. Like the kid said, before crazy, there was scary.
USC led 27-21 at halftime but then was stunned by a 79-yard touchdown run by Penn State\u2019s Saquon Barkley in which he broke six tackles. That was followed moments later by a tipped pass that Penn State receiver Chris Godwin turned into a 72-yard touchdown pass.
There\u2019s more. On the next Trojan possession, a Penn State interception led to a three-yard McSorley run that gave the Nittany Lions a 42-27 lead. That\u2019s 21 unanswered Penn State points in less than three minutes, and the Trojans seemed done.
Except for, you know, all that \u201cConquest\u2019\u2019 business.
\u201cI don\u2019t know if it was the man upstairs, I don\u2019t know what it was,\u2019\u2019 Banner said. \u201cBut I\u2019m not going to call it a miracle, because we earned everything we got, we earned getting here, we earned winning the game, we earned this.\u2019\u2019
They earned it with a soaring sideline catch by JuJu Smith-Schuster, diving grabs by Burnett, and third-down backfield tackle by Michael Hutchings, and a renewed urgency after star Adoree\u2019 Jackson hobbled off the field in the third quarter with a right ankle injury.
Defensive backs don\u2019t last long \u2014 not in major college football, not in any kind of football \u2014 unless they have exceedingly short memories.
So Leon McQuay III could not spend more than a moment or two kicking himself over the nearly certain interception he had just let slip through his hands.
With…
Defensive backs don\u2019t last long \u2014 not in major college football, not in any kind of football \u2014 unless they have exceedingly short memories.
So Leon McQuay III could not spend more than a moment or two kicking himself over the nearly certain interception he had just let slip through his hands.
With…
\u201cI hugged him and I said, \u2018We\u2019re going to win this game for you,\u2019\u2019\u2019 safety Chris Hawkins said.
In the end, who would have thought the game would actually be won by a junior-college transfer who had not made a kick for USC until this season, who had not made a game-winning kick all season, and had missed two kicks earlier in the game?
Boermeester, that\u2019s who.
\u201cI wasn\u2019t too concerned with the distance,\u2019\u2019 Boermeester said. \u201cWherever it was at, I was kicking it.\u2019\u2019
Translated? \u201cWe have dudes on this team who have ice-cold water in their veins,\u2019\u2019 Hawkins said.
The ball punched through the goal posts, through the chilly night air, and accompanied by a cardinal-clad crowd whose roar will be remembered through history, a new USC football era has begun.
\u201cIt\u2019s like the ripple in the pond,\u2019\u2019 Banner said. \u201cYou know when you the drop the rock and the ripple starts? We are that rock.\u2019\u2019
Goodness, what a splash.
The Rams blew a 14-point lead late in the fourth quarter to fall to the San Francisco 49ers, 22-21, for the second time this season.
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Sierra Canyon receiver JJ Hernandez
The St. John Bosco Braves win in frigid conditions.
The St. John Bosco Braves win in frigid conditions.<\/p>\n