Penn State Football: Nittany Lions Headed To Rose Bowl

The Nittany Lions are going to Pasadena.

While Penn State narrowly missed out on a spot in the College Football Playoffs, the Nittany Lions’ 11-2 Big Ten title season will end at the ‘Granddaddy of Them All’ inside the historic Rose Bowl on Jan. 2. Penn State will face the Pac-12’s USC. The No. 9 Trojans finished the regular season with eight straight wins after opening the year at 1-2. Kickoff for the Rose Bowl is set for 4:30 p.m. EST.

The announcement came during the reveal of the final College Football Playoff rankings. The Nittany Lions finished No. 5 in the poll just outside the Top 4 that went Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Washington.

Penn State returns to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 2009, when the Nittany Lions fell to USC 38-24 ending an 11-2 season in which they won a share of the Big Ten title.

‘Obviously the Rose Bowl, and I hear people on TV talking about that they feel like — they feel like maybe the playoff has taken away from the bowls.’ James Franklin said Saturday night. ‘Are you kidding me? The Rose Bowl? It doesn’t get a whole lot better than that. That’s a special deal. So, again, we would love to be a part of the playoff conversation. We’d love that opportunity. But also to be able to represent the Big Ten as the Big Ten Conference champions, playing in the Rose Bowl, that will be great as well.’

StateCollege.com will have more as the story develops.