Penn State gets Rose Bowl win thanks to pivotal third quarter: Instant Analysis
Penn State football got a 35-21 victory over Utah in the 2023 Rose Bowl. Blue White Illustrated breaks the game down with our instant analysis. Subscribe to BWI on YouTube, so you never miss postgame content.
Things were even at 14 heading into halftime, with both teams having virtually the same number of yards and third-down conversions through slightly different means. It was a closely contested game that Penn State head coach James Franklin explained came down to two great defenses. Franklin explained why the game got off to such a slow start for both offenses.
“I don’t think there’s enough people talking about this guy (Ji’Ayir Brown). But two really good defenses, two really good defensive coordinators, we weren’t able to sustain drives. I think we would have opened some things up. We were trying to get a first down, and we weren’t able to do that early in the game.”
“They were playing extremely aggressive with what we call cover-zero with no safeties and bringing pressure, and once Sean and Coach [Mike] Yurcich were able to kind of get a feel for what they were doing and how they were doing it, then we were able to mix some things in both run and pass.”
Penn State gets big plays in second half
The game changed several times, all of which were in Penn State’s favor, during the third quarter. First, Nicholas Singleton ripped off an 87-yard run for a touchdown on Penn State’s third-quarter play. Senior editor Nate Bauer discusses how Singleton has changed things for Penn State.
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On the next drive, Utah quarterback Cam Rising exited the game with a knee injury after scrambling for a first down and colliding with three Nittany Lion defenders.
Next, they discuss the other key player for the Nittany Lions, quarterback Sean Clifford. Bauer discusses how the senior quarterback powered the team to victory with his play beyond the touchdowns. Meanwhile, Fitz highlights Ji’Ayir Brown’s play on the other side as a veteran that willed his team to victory.
In his postgame comments, Franklin agreed with those sentiments,
“I’m just proud of these guys. I was here in 2016, one of the better Rose Bowl games, and watched somebody else celebrate, and I wanted this for them. I couldn’t have wrote the script any better for Sean Clifford to be the offensive MVP, and my man Tig to be the defensive MVP. It’s awesome, sending these guys out the right way, in a time in college football that I think it’s more challenging than ever.”
