Going into Championship Week in college football there was a solid consensus about which teams would make it into this year’s Final Four. It would be Georgia, Michigan, TCU and Southern California, assuming those teams won their respective conference championships.
At No. 4, USC was favored to beat 9-3 Utah in the Pac-12 Championship Game, and when the Trojans went ahead 17-3 early in the second quarter, it looked like their path into the playoff was clear.
Except that the Utes had other ideas. When USC quarterback Caleb Williams seemed to injure his leg on a scramble in the second quarter, the Utes felt like they had an opportunity.
They scored two touchdowns in the final four minutes of the first half to tie the game–the second one on a four-yard pass from Cameron Rising to Jaylen Dixon with two seconds left–and completely shifted the momentum of the game.
Then in the second half the Utes used a flurry of big plays to sweep away from the Trojans for a stunning 47-24 win and their second Pac-12 Championship in a row.
First there was a 57-yard pass from Rising to Money Parks and a field goal by Jadon Redding to take a 10-point, 27-17 lead.
USC inched back with a touchdown pass from Williams to Mario Williams to begin the fourth quarter, but Utah was just warming up.
The Utes answered with a 60-yard pass from Rising to Thomas Yassmin, a 53-yard run by Ja’Quinden Jackson and a 23-yard run by Micah Bernard with 1:52 left to play.
All the while, the Utah defense allowed the Trojans to go virtually nowhere on offense as it sewed up the stunning 47-24 victory that threw the college football playoff picture — and bowl-game matchups — into complete disarray.
When the air finally cleared, the final teams were No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 TCU and No. 4 Ohio State.
Utah, now as the Pac-12 champs, would replace Washington in the Rose Bowl, and Penn State, now that OSU was in the playoff, would represent the Big Ten in Pasadena.
As it turned out, USC was far from a strong favorite over Utah anyway. The Utes had beaten the Trojans at home earlier in the season, 43-42, after Rising scored on a one-yard touchdown with 48 seconds left and then ran in a two-point conversion to win the game.
The Utes had three losses, but they were not an easy out for anyone. The losses were all in away games — at Florida, 29-26, at UCLA, 42-32, and at Oregon, 20-17.
Otherwise, the slate was perfect and included some impressive wins like 42-16 over Oregon State, 21-17 over Washington State, 45-20 over Arizona, and 42-7 over Stanford.
Rising, who is a junior and a transfer from Texas, is the player who makes it all go for the Utes. He completed 241-of-364 passes (66%) for 2,939 yards and 25 touchdowns for an average of 244 yards per game in 12 games. He also ran the ball 68 times for 409 yards and six touchdowns.
In the backfield with Rising is leading rusher Tavion Thomas who carried the ball 142 times for 715 yards and seven touchdowns, and he is followed by Micah Bernard who ran 95 times for 484 yards and four touchdowns.
Dalton Kincaid is the top receiver with 70 catches for 890 yards and eight touchdowns, with Devaughn Vele at 50 catches for 585 yards and five touchdowns lining up on the other side.
In all, Utah gained 220 yards per game on the ground (and gave up just 107) and passed for 252.
On defense, the Utes gave up 325 yards per game, including 218 through the air, snared 12 interceptions, recovered 12 fumbles and recorded 38 sacks for 293 yards in losses. Opponents, on the other hand, recovered eight fumbles, intercepted eight passes and had just nine sacks for a total of 68 yards.
Utah made 50 percent of its third-down conversions (80-of-161) and went for it 27 times on fourth down (17-of-27).
As a two-time Pac-12 champion and the No. 8/7 team in the country, Utah will be a formidable opponent in Penn State’s fifth Rose Bowl appearance. The Nittany Lions are 1-3 all time in the bowl with all three losses coming at the hands of USC. Penn State beat Oregon in 1995, 38-20, for its only win and lost to USC, 52-49, in its last appearance in 2017.
Penn State claimed its 10th victory of the 2022 season with a 35-16 decision over Michigan State at home on Nov. 26.
The Lions, ahead 14-3 at halftime, saw the Spartans briefly close to within 21-16 in the fourth quarter but then scored twice on touchdown passes by senior quarterback Sean Clifford to clinch the win.
The biggest stories for the Nittany Lions this year have been the emergence of their running game with freshmen Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen combining to run for 1781 yards and 19 touchdowns and an attacking, aggressive defense that specialized in sacks and tackles-for-loss.
The combination, with Clifford’s 2543 passing yards and 22 touchdowns, led Penn State to be the No. 3 team out of a conference that placed two teams into the national final four.
Going into the game, the word is that Penn State will be close to full strength with All-American defensive back Joey Porter the most notable player opting out of the game.
Speaking at a Rose Bowl Media Day, Penn State head coach James Franklin had high words of praise for Utah.
“I’ve known Kyle Whittingham (Utah’s head coach) for a long time,” Franklin said. “Ton of respect for him. He’s been at Utah for almost 30 years … He’s done a great job.
“I think if you’re a true football guy, you watch them, that’s what a team is supposed to look like, in my opinion. Offense, defense, special teams, complementary football there. Tough football team there. They’re a physical football team. They know how to win games in a lot of different ways. I’ve got a bunch of respect for them.”
Penn State will be looking to complete its 19th season all time with at least 11 wins, including its fourth under head coach Franklin.
The Lions will also be trying to win their 14th bowl game since joining the Big Ten in 1993.
Kickoff is at 5 p.m. on Jan. 2 in Pasadena.
