Blue White Illustrated

J A N U A R Y 3 , 2 0 1 7 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 14 N A T E B A U E R | N B A U E R @ B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M PASADENA, Calif. – Flanked only by teammate Tommy Stevens, Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley sat in front of his wooden locker, put his hands over his face and leaned back in his chair. Free of the crowds of media members that had surrounded him in the immedi- ate a@ermath of the Nittany Lions' 52-49 Rose Bowl loss to Southern California, McSorley was alone with his thoughts. He had plenty to think about, having completed 18 of 29 passes for 254 yards and four touchdowns in helping guide the team back from a 13-0 first-quarter deficit all the way to a 49-35 advantage over the Trojans. He also had less pleasant thoughts to consider, notably the three interceptions he threw, including one in the game's final minute with the score tied, 49-49. Evading a Trojan rush on third-and-9 at his own 36-yard line, McSorley wound up and flung a deep pass into coverage, confident that wideout Chris Godwin would snatch the ball out of the air to set up a dramatic Penn State go-ahead score. "I saw the coverage, but I just tried to force it to Chris. He had been making plays for us all throughout the game," McSorley said. "I just tried to force it too many times. I tried to get it into his hands, let him make a play like he had been all game. But I can't do that. I've got to let the coverage dictate where the ball goes, not how guys play it or how the game has previously gone." Sweeping in front of McSorley's deep ball, Trojans defensive back Leon Mc- Quay was the one doing the nabbing, keeping himself in bounds and skirting up the sideline with the interception. Traversing 32 yards of the Rose Bowl's torn-up sod, McQuay set up the winning field goal by Matt Boermeester. It was a dramatic reversal of fortune, and it could have been avoided com- pletely. Having forced USC to use all three of its timeouts on their previous posses- sion, the Nittany Lions could have sent the game to overtime. But head coach James Franklin said the team's go-for- broke mentality factored into the decision to play for a first down through the air. "There was discussion on the headset [about whether] to run the ball and play for overtime. That's not really who we've been all year long," Franklin said. "Obvi- ously, you can't turn the ball over in that situation. I think that's the difference. We've been punting the ball really well, so we felt that with the amount of time le@ on the clock, let's try to get a first down right here on third down. If we don't, we'll punt the ball. They had no timeouts le@, and that factored into it. They would have had a long field to go with no time- outs, and we'd been punting the ball well. So that's really what went into the deci- sion." McSorley agreed with that approach, acknowledging that Penn State's offen- sive success this season was tied directly to its aggressive mindset. The first three quarters of the Rose Bowl provided fur- ther evidence of the Lions' big-play po- tential, with Godwin scoring on an acrobatic, 78-yard touchdown reception and Saquon Barkley running 79 yards for another score. But as the sophomore quarterback noted, Penn State's ap- proach is not without its risks. "That's kind of been our thing throughout the entire year, just being able to make big plays and letting our playmakers make them downfield," Mc- Sorley said. "But there's a fine line be- tween forcing one and taking what's there. You've got to take a smart chance and be aggressive but not reckless. I just got too reckless." With the game and the season over, McSorley's challenge now is to draw what lessons he can from the disap- pointing finish and turn it into off-sea- son fuel. He said he intends to "get this feeling and use this pit that you've got in your stomach, this pain, and use that as motivation into next year when you get into winter workouts and you get into spring ball, knowing how this feels at this point and never wanting to give back these tears." A HARD LESSON Trace McSorley intends to use loss as motivation heading into off-season McSorley threw four TD passes vs. the Trojans, but also had three intercep- tions in the Lions' loss. Photo by Steve Manuel

• Cover