Penn State Awaits Rose Bowl Bid

Penn State ought to study Sunday that it’ll return to the Rose Bowl, a becoming reward for a group that went from unranked to top-10 throughout a 10-win common season.

The Lions will play Utah, which defeated USC 47-24 on Friday within the Pac-12 championship recreation. Utah (10-3) is enjoying in its second consecutive Rose Bowl. Penn State and Utah have by no means performed, establishing a novel duel between the groups within the Jan. 2 recreation in Pasadena, California.

The Faculty Soccer Playoff choice committee will announce the 4 playoff groups at midday Sunday, with the New 12 months’s 6 video games to comply with a couple of hours later. The Rose Bowl is Penn State’s likeliest vacation spot, regardless of what number of Huge Ten groups make the Faculty Soccer Playoff.

If Ohio State joins Michigan within the four-team playoff area, Penn State goes to the Rose Bowl because the next-highest ranked group from the Huge Ten. However even when Ohio State stays ranked No. 5 and is not noted of the playoff, Penn State nonetheless has the Rose Bowl observe.

The Match of Roses’ choice procedures present leeway when inviting groups that aren’t convention champs. Final week, The Athletic reported that the Rose Bowl would think about inviting Penn State over Ohio State, which might have headed to the Orange Bowl as an alternative.

As a substitute, Ohio State may qualify for the playoff, which will need to have Penn State questioning, ‘What if?’ The Lions led Ohio State 21-16 with 9:26 remaining within the fourth quarter in late October however could not stick the touchdown.

The Buckeyes scored 28 fourth-quarter factors, 14 off turnovers, in a 44-31 victory that stands as their signature this season. Had Penn State completed that win, the group is likely to be awaiting its first playoff bid Sunday.

As a substitute, the Lions will put together for his or her fifth Rose Bowl and first because the 2016 season. Penn State is 1-3 in Rose Bowl appearances, with all three losses to USC.

“The youthful guys are like, ‘Ten wins, that’s what we anticipate at Penn State,’ however it’s onerous to do. It’s onerous to do,” defensive sort out PJ Mustipher stated. “That is my second time having 10 wins, and I’ve been right here for 5 years. It means the world. We put in loads of work to get right here, however we’re not glad. We wish to maintain going.”

Added security Ji’Ayir Brown, “It is a 10-win program yearly. We’ve bought to get 10. I really feel like this program is particular. We have now very particular gamers right here and that ought to be the usual at Penn State. We must always have 10 wins each season with the gamers we’ve bought and the employees we’ve bought.

“And simply to place this system again the place we belong is a giant accomplishment for me, [quarterback] Sean [Clifford], PJ and the captains. That was what we got down to do; to place Penn State again on the map. We got here in [to the season] unranked and felt disrespected about that. However we put the bottom work in and we confirmed everyone the place we belong.”

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AllPennState is the place for Penn State information, opinion and perspective on the SI.com community. Writer Mark Wogenrich has coated Penn State for greater than 20 years, monitoring three teaching staffs, three Huge Ten titles and a catalog of nice tales. Observe him on Twitter @MarkWogenrich. And think about subscribing (button’s on the house web page) for extra nice content material throughout the SI.com community.