Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1490816
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 3 9 OPENING SHOT TROPHY GAME Confetti rained down on coach James Frank- lin and his players after their 35-21 victory over Utah in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 2. It was a euphoric end to a bounce-back sea- son for Penn State, which had assembled a combined 11-11 record during the 2020 and '21 seasons and was unranked entering the 2022 campaign. The Nittany Lions came up short against their two primary Big Ten East Division rivals, falling to Michigan and Ohio State by a total margin of 85-48, but they won all their other regular-season games despite fielding a roster that featured true freshmen in prominent roles on both sides of the ball. Three of those freshmen — running back Nicholas Singleton, linebacker Abdul Carter and left tackle Drew Shelton — were starters in the Rose Bowl. Singleton had one of the afternoon's biggest plays, dashing 87 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter to give the Nittany Lions a 21-14 lead. They would not give it back. "Our guys stuck together," Franklin said. "We made some big plays when we needed to, and we found a way to get a win against a really, really good Utah team." Besides adding a thrilling postscript to an already satisfying season, the victory over the Utes took some of the sting out of Penn State's previous visit to Pasadena. The Nittany Lions had won the Big Ten championship in 2016 and faced USC in the Rose Bowl but weren't able to hold off the Trojans in a back-and- forth slugfest, falling 52-49 on a last-second field goal. This time, there would be no comeback by the Pac-12 representative. Senior quarterback Sean Clifford saw to that by heaving an 88- yard touchdown pass to third-year sophomore wideout KeAndre Lambert-Smith early in the fourth quarter. The defense, led by senior safety Ji'Ayir Brown, made sure that PSU's double-digit lead would hold up, clamping down hard in the second half and finishing the game with 6 sacks and 2 interceptions. "I'm just really proud of these guys," Franklin said afterward. "I was here in 2016, one of the better Rose Bowl games, and watched some- body else celebrate. I wanted this for [the 2022 team]. I couldn't have written the script any better for Sean Clifford to be the offensive MVP, and my man Tig [Brown] to be the defen- sive MVP. It's awesome, sending these guys out the right way, in a time in college football when I think it's more challenging than ever." — Matt Herb PHOTO BY RYAN SNYDER