Nittany Lions brace for physical battle with Utah in Rose Bowl

There was a moment from Utah’s 47-24 dismantling of USC in the Pac-12 Championship Game that struck Penn State’s James Franklin as being indicative of the kind of opponent his Nittany Lions can expect to see in the Rose Bowl. Anyone who watched the game will know exactly which moment Franklin was referring to.

Late in the third quarter of the game, Utah quarterback Cameron Rising drops back, sees no one open and sprints to his right while a defensive lineman gives chase. Leaning forward as he comes out of his cut, Rising runs head-on into linebacker Ralen Goforth at midfield. The collision sends the quarterback sprawling backward while his helmet comes loose and continues on its previous trajectory, eventually rolling to a stop a few yards deep in USC territory. 

Surely one of the most violent tackles of the 2022 college football season, Rising’s encounter with Goforth looked like the kind of collision that a quarterback might not easily walk away from. And yet, that’s exactly what Rising did. He popped right back up, and after sitting out a play because his helmet came off, he re-entered the game and led the Utes to a field goal. 

Rising attempted 5 passes after the collision and completed all of them, including a 60-yarder for a touchdown. Seemingly unfazed by the intensity of the hit he had absorbed, the 6-foot-2, 218-pound junior orchestrated four scoring drives in the game’s final 20 minutes. Among the impressed onlookers was Franklin.

“I think that play in the USC game kind of exemplifies who he is,” Penn State’s head coach said. “He got knocked pretty good, his helmet flew off, but he jumped right up and put his helmet back on. 

“Got a ton of respect for him. He’s been really productive.”

That’s just the sort of gritty intensity that Penn State is expecting to see out of the Utes on Monday when the two teams meet in the Rose Bowl. Utah may be the champion of a conference best known as the proving ground for elite passers like Justin Herbert, Marcus Mariota, Sam Darnold and this year’s Heisman Trophy winner, Caleb Williams of USC. But the Utes have excelled by focusing on the game’s most traditional values: offensive balance, solid defense, and physical toughness on both sides of the ball. 

A versatile offense

There aren’t many offenses anywhere in college football more balanced than Utah’s. The Utes average 252.5 yards per game passing and 220.2 yards rushing, ranking 10th in the country in the latter category. Their success at keeping opposing defenses guessing is evident in their scoring average of 40.0 points per game, which ranks third in the Pac-12 and eighth in the FBS.

The Utes’ ground game has continued to shine even with leading rusher Tavion Thomas opting out of the rest of the season after suffering a toe injury against Oregon in Week 11. Sophomore Micah Bernard, who was a starting cornerback in last year’s Rose Bowl against Ohio State, and redshirt freshman Ja’Quinden Jackson, a converted quarterback, both have surpassed 400 yards rushing this season, as has Rising. 

Against USC, those three combined for 211 yards and 3 touchdowns on the ground. A week earlier at Colorado, seven ball carriers totaled 383 rushing yards, prompting head coach Kyle Whittingham to remark, “We ran the football with a lot of purpose and violence and anger.”

The key to that success has been an offensive line that boasts two first-team All-Pac-12 tackles in Braeden Daniels and Sataoa Laumea. In the Pac-12 title game, they helped Utah rack up 562 yards of total offense against a USC team that was being hailed as a likely playoff participant. 

Stopping the run

The Utes are also very good at stopping opponents from running the ball. They’ve held seven opponents under 100 yards rushing this year, including USC in the Pac-12 title game. 

The defense is led by strong safety Cole Bishop with a team-high 77 tackles, while linebacker Mohamoud Diabate and end Gabe Reid have combined to make 22.5 tackles for loss.

Their performance is in keeping with the unit’s tendencies under coordinator Morgan Scalley, a former All-America defensive back with the Utes who has spent his entire coaching career at his alma mater. In the seven seasons since Scalley took charge of the Utes’ defense, they’ve allowed an average of 111.1 yards per game on the ground, fifth best in the Power Five during that span behind only Georgia (102.0), Wisconsin (102.6), Alabama (104.6) and Clemson (110.0).

With standout freshmen Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen highlighting its backfield, Penn State figures to pose a formidable challenge. That said, Oregon figured to pose a challenge in Nov. 19 matchup in Eugene, and the Ducks managed just 59 yards on the ground, 181 yards below their season average. 

Whittingham, now in his 18th season as head coach at Utah, said those numbers reflect the program’s commitment to sound fundamental football.

“Our assistant coaches have done a great job of recruiting the right players into this program, taking those players and developing them,” he said. “We just have, I guess, a blue-collar mentality and attitude around here. We bring our lunch pail to work every day and get after it, take no shortcuts, prepare Monday through Friday, and that’s really what the program has been built on.”

Unfinished business

Utah is playing in the Rose Bowl for the second year in a row. The Utes lost to Ohio State 48-45 in last year’s game. 

Utah had led by two touchdowns at halftime, but quarterback C.J. Stroud and wideout Jaxon Smith-Njigba teamed up for 347 yards and 3 touchdowns through the air to lead the Buckeyes to a comeback victory.

The appearance in Pasadena was the first in Utah history, but Rising and his teammates weren’t in a just-happy-to-be-here mood. They’re still not. While the Ventura, Calif., native called this year’s return trip “an unreal feeling,” he is focused entirely on the task at hand.

Said the junior quarterback, “To go back to the Rose Bowl again, it just means there’s unfinished business that we want to go out there and finish.”