Blue White Illustrated

January 2023

Penn State Sports Magazine

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6 2 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M enough to earn the team an invitation to the Rose Bowl even before the season began. Though it wasn't known publicly at the time, Penn State had struck an agreement with the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Conference in the spring to end its campaign in Pasadena, where a new stadium modeled after the Yale Bowl was being constructed. During the first half of the season, that seemed like a wise decision; the Lions won their first five games by a combined margin of 166-13. But they won only one of their last four and headed west sporting a 6-3-1 record. The only positive development in the season's final month was that Bezdek turned down an of- fer to manage the Philadelphia Phillies. As sports historian Lou Prato notes in his indispensable Penn State Football Encyclopedia, Bezdek had been moved by the outpouring of support he received around campus for his return. "This means the sacrifice of several thousand dollars a year," he told reporters. "But ideals cost money, and I find my ideals can best be worked out in the college ranks." Delay Of Game With Penn State locked in months ahead of time, the matchup against USC was relatively easy to arrange. Everything else was difficult, though, at least for the Nittany Lions. One of the team's biggest problems was that the transporta- tion grid of the early 20th century was not equipped to easily move people across the country. Sometimes, it even had trouble moving people across a big city. The Lions traveled by train to Los Angeles, with a sightseeing stop at the Grand Canyon. It took them six days to reach the West Coast, with the team arriving on Christmas Eve. The matchup against the Trojans was to be the first Tourna- ment of Roses football game ever played in Rose Bowl Stadium. The eight previous contests had been held about 2 miles away at Tournament Park, an athletics field with a small stadium that could be expanded to hold 43,000 fans with the addition of temporary bleachers. Rose Bowl Stadium officially opened on Oct. 28, 2022. USC played Cal that day, with the Bears winning 12-0. The Trojans played two more games at the Rose Bowl during the regular season, defeating Idaho and Washington State. By New Year's Day, USC and its coach, Elmer "Gloomy Gus" Henderson, were familiar with the venue and knew their way in and out. They did, however, face one big question: Would they have an opponent? The Nittany Lions didn't know the area like USC did and had great difficulty just getting to the stadium. They had booked taxis to take them to the Rose Bowl, leaving more than three hours ahead of the 2:15 p.m. kickoff. With no police escort to lead them through the congestion that followed the Rose Parade, they soon found themselves stuck in gridlocked traffic. The cabbies ended up driving through residents' yards in hope of getting to the stadium on time. Even so, players had to walk the last mile, and the kickoff was delayed to give them time to get ready. When Bezdek asked for a further delay so that his team could warm up, Henderson balked. The two coaches, who had feuded during Bezdek's previous tenure at Oregon, nearly ended up in a fistfight on the field. 'A Telling Effect' The game itself was a yawner. Palm kicked a 20-yard field goal to give Penn State a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, and that was just about the only highlight for the Nittany Lions. They faded as the game went on, giving up a touchdown late in the second quarter and an- other in the third quarter, and never mustered much offense themselves. The Trojans won 14-3, earning the first of their 25 Rose Bowl victories. Palm completed 3 of 9 passes for 1 yard and threw 3 interceptions while totaling 25 yards rushing on 16 carries. Sportswriters speculated that the Lions were physically spent after their travels and a week of Bezdek's famously punishing practices. "Their hard jaunt across the country and the week they spent in conditioning had a telling effect," wrote Mark Kelly of the Universal News Service, as recounted by Prato in his encyclo- pedia. "Their attack lacked fire and dash. They were lethargic after the first 10 minutes." Mixed Success The Nittany Lions have since gone on to play in three more Rose Bowls, beating Oregon 38-20 to close out their undefeated 1994 season, while falling twice to USC — 38-24 in January 2009 and 52-49 in an epic 2017 duel. Penn State brought three of the better quarterbacks in its modern history into those games, but they had mixed success. Kerry Collins threw for 200 yards against the Ducks and was held without a touchdown pass for the first time all season on an afternoon when the Lions leaned on their running game. Daryll Clark had 273 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Trojans in 2009, while Trace McSorley threw for 254 yards and 4 touch- downs in 2017 but also had 3 interceptions, including a late pick that set up the Trojans' winning field goal. Now Clifford has joined that pantheon. Unless the Nittany Lions' buses get stuck behind a parade float on game day, he will wrap up his college career on one of college football's most exalted stages. He's hardly an old man at age 24, but college football rosters are largely made up of teenagers who view any- one older than them as being eligible for AARP membership. In that respect, it seems entirely fitting for the most senior of PSU's super seniors to bow out in bowl known as "The Gran- daddy of Them All." ■ Hugo Bezdek spent 12 seasons as head coach at Penn State, going 65-30-11. He stayed on as athletics director until 1936 before leaving to become head coach of the NFL's Cleveland Rams. PHOTO COURTESY PENN STATE ATHLETICS

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