USC beats PSU, 38-24

Penn State was taken to task by USC tonight in Pasadena. For some reason, it doesn't fell all that painful. Oh well, here's my initial thoughts on this game...

The Good - I really had hope for the PSU offense after that second drive. Penn State drove right down the field with good play calls and good balance. Things looked very good going into the second quarter. Clark overall had a good night. Both of his interceptions came well after the game was in hand for USC, well, at least the last play was. The loss of Evan Royster really threw a wrench into the offense early, but soon they figured out how to use the backups, mainly Stephfon Green on screens and quick-hitting runs. The one bright spot on defense was the play of Navorro Bowman. He was easily the game's defensive MVP, registering 8 tackles, 5 TFL, and the game's only sack. All but one of his tackles were solo, and this performance will propel him into the 2009 spotlight. Clark ended up with a very solid 273 passing yards, with two touchdowns, 17 rushing yards and a score. I really hope that the analysts won't hold this game against Clark as another "can't win in the fourth quarter." That's just not true. USC was going to win this game no matter what happened, but PSU really played hard in the final half, and fourth quarter. But the offensive MVP would have to be Deon Butler. I would almost give it to all three senior wide receivers, Jordan Norwood and Derrick Williams, but Butler stood out. With every chance to pack it in, and just take a submissive beating from USC, PSU hung on and played hard until the very end.

The Bad - This wasn't the same secondary we came to love the last three seasons, but it was the same secondary that had trouble with the tall Ohio State receivers that consistently went up and over the defensive backs. Mark Sanchez played the game of his life, helped by some fantastic receivers, but it was completely PSU's fault for not playing aggressively enough at the line of scrimmage. It was obvious after the second USC touchdown that PSU couldn't live by playing its corners nine to 10 yards off the line. Anthony Scirrotto and Mark Rubin were consistently out of position, but it wasn't all their fault. The pass rush had a terrible time getting to Sanchez, even when PSU blitzed five and six. It always seemed like Sanchez knew exactly how much time he was going to have on each play, but I guess that's what a good quarterback does. That's not a slight on Clark, Sanchez played against a much weaker secondary, at least on this day it was. I'm going to go so far as to say this loss was on my favorite coach, Tom Bradley. It was his defense that couldn't see what was going on, and didn't even adjust things really by the end of the game.

Overall - Early on, Royster went down, and wouldn't return. He only had six carries before that, for 34 yards. The injuries to him, and then to Green at the end, hurt PSU immensely and its chances for the complete comeback. We shouldn't get into many "what ifs" with this game, as USC just flat out played better than PSU in the second quarter. I was pleased that PSU didn't really give up, but then that always leads me to wonder "why didn't they just play like this earlier?" I'm sure we all asked that question sometime during the fourth quarter, when PSU scored 17 points, and held USC to 7, which came on broken coverage worse than the Iowa game. But we have to take this game for what it was. I would not bet against USC right now. Not against Florida, not against Oklahoma or Texas, not against Alabama. Penn State has a lot going for it next season, and shouldn't view this year as a failure. This was one of Joe Paterno's better coaching jobs, and this team and its fans should be very proud of the 2008 Nittany Lions.