Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1488968
J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 2 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M "I had goals, aspirations to accomplish things," he said. "But I've always been here for the journey. I've been here for the work and the family. "Are there goals that I fell short of? Yeah. But I couldn't be more proud of what we've accomplished, the teams that I've been on and the things that we've done over the past six years." He leaves Penn State ranked first in school history in passing yards (10,382 prior to the Rose Bowl), touchdown passes (84) and career completion percentage (61.2). In addition, he's picked up degrees in public relations and journalism and gotten a head start on his business career, having launched a name, image and like- ness agency called Limitless NIL. "He's maximized the entire experi- ence," Franklin said. "He's maximized it as a student and as a student-athlete. He's going to go on to be a very, very suc- cessful businessman after his football career is done, and he's done it the right way, with class." Asked recently about his accomplish- ments at Penn State, Clifford couldn't help but circle back to how his college career began. "It's all because of a decision that I made when I was 16 years old, which is crazy," he said. "It's the best decision that I've ever made." ■ This year's Nittany Lion football team is only the fifth to appear in the Rose Bowl. That's partly because from 1946 to 1992, Penn State was locked out. At the start of the postwar era, the Rose Bowl entered into agreements with the conferences that would become the Big Ten and Pac- 12. PSU, an Eastern independent during those years, was ineligible. That changed when Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1993, but even so, the Lions have been infrequent visitors to Pasadena. This year's invita- tion marks only its fourth appearance in 31 years of Big Ten membership. During that same span, Wisconsin has played in seven Rose Bowls, while Michigan has played in five. Here's a look at Penn State's four previous Rose Bowl appearances: Jan. 1, 1923 | USC 14, Penn State 3 In the first bowl game to be played in the newly completed Rose Bowl Stadium, the Nittany Lions managed only a short Mike Palm field goal (on a drop kick) before running out of gas. Penn State did bring home a check for $21,349, which was its share of the game's profits, but otherwise the first bowl in school history was a disappointment. Jan. 2, 1995 | Penn State 38, Oregon 20 The Nittany Lions were undefeated and ranked No. 2 entering the '95 Rose Bowl, but they were also keenly aware that they had no shot at win- ning a national championship. Top-ranked Nebraska had beaten Miami 24-17 the night before in the Orange Bowl, all but assuring that the Corn- huskers would claim the title. If the Lions were feeling dejected when the game kicked off, it didn't show. Ki-Jana Carter raced for an 83-yard touchdown on Penn State's first play from scrimmage The Ducks persevered, mainly due to the efforts of quarterback Danny O'Neill, who set 13 Rose Bowl passing records en route to a 456-yard after- noon. But it wasn't enough. The Lions pulled away when Carter scored 2 more touchdowns in the third quarter. Jan. 1, 2009 | USC 38, Penn State 24 This one wasn't as close as the final score might suggest. After Penn State drew even at 7-7 on a 9-yard touchdown run by quarterback Daryll Clark in the first quarter, USC used a 24-point second-quarter barrage to seize control of the game. The Nittany Lions never recovered. Penn State did become the first team to score more than seven points against USC in the second half, but its 17-point fourth-quarter outburst was too little, too late. The Trojans never led by less than two touchdowns at any point in the final two quarters. Jan. 2, 2017 | USC 52, Penn State 49 This ranks as one of the great missed opportunities in recent Penn State history. The Nittany Lions led 49-35 late in the third quarter, but quarter- back Sam Darnold led the Trojans to two fourth-quarter touchdowns that tied the score. With 27 seconds to play, Trace McSorley threw an interception that gave USC possession at the Penn State 33-yard line. Matt Boermeester kicked a 46-yard field goal as time expired to give the ninth-ranked Trojans a victory over the fifth-ranked Lions. While it didn't end happily for Penn State, the game was a vastly enter- taining back-and-forth spectacle full of great individual performances on both sides. Darnold threw for 453 yards and 5 touchdowns, while Penn State countered with 306 all-purpose yards and 3 touchdowns from Sa- quon Barkley. — Matt Herb Saquon Barkley totaled 306 all-purpose yards and scored 3 touchdowns in Penn State's most recent trip to the Rose Bowl in 2017. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL Penn State In The Rose Bowl