Freshman Nicholas Singleton ran for 120 yards and two touchdowns in seven carries, including the tie-breaking 87-yard run in the third quarter, and Sean Clifford threw two touchdown passes to lead Penn State to a 35-21 victory over Utah Monday in the 109th Rose Bowl.
The Nittany Lions scored 21 unanswered points in the second half to break a 14-14 halftime tie.
Penn State (11-2) increased its lead to 28-14 11 seconds into the fourth quarter on Clifford’s 88-yard touchdown pass to KeAndre Lambert-Smith. Lambert-Smith out-ran the defense to catch Clifford’s pass just past the 50-yard line and sprinted into the end zone.
Freshman Kaytron Allen ran 1 yard for the Nittany Lions’ final touchdown with 10 minutes, 36 seconds remaining.
The loss was the Utes’ (10-4) second in the Rose Bowl in two appearances over two seasons. Utah lost to Ohio State, 48-45, on New Year’s Day, 2022, in their Rose Bowl debut, unable to hold a 35-21 halftime lead, with C.J. Stroud throwing three of his six touchdown passes in the second half and Noah Ruggles kicking the tie-breaking 19-yard field goal with nine seconds left.
Just like the previous loss, Utes quarterback Cameron Rising was injured in the second half. Rising suffered an apparent leg injury when he was tackled after a 9-yard run midway through the third quarter. Utah was scoreless on its first five drives without Rising, a graduate of Newbury Park High School in Ventura County, before Bryson Barnes threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Dixon with 25 seconds to play.
Penn State outgained the Utes, but trailed 23-14 in first downs and 35:13-24:47 in time of possession.
Clifford completed 16 of 22 passes for 279 yards.
Rising completed eight of 21 passes for 95 yards and one touchdown with one interception. His replacement, Bryson Barnes, completed 10 of 19 passes for 112 yards and one touchdown with one interception.
The victory was the Nittany Lions’ second in their five Rose Bowl appearances and first in two under James Franklin. Franklin was Penn State’s coach in its most recent Rose Bowl appearance before Monday, a 52-49 loss to USC on Jan. 2, 2017.
The Nittany Lions opened the scoring with seven seconds left in the first quarter on Singleton’s 5-yard run culminating a 13-play, 82-yard drive that began when Kalen King intercepted a pass by Rising at Penn State’s 18-yard line.
The next three drives also resulted in touchdowns.
Utah drove 75 yards on 13 plays, with Rising throwing a 1-yard pass to tight end Thomas Yassmin for the score. Yassmin began his football career as a freshman in 2018 after playing rugby at The Scots College, a primary and secondary boys’ school in New South Wales, Australia.
The Nittany Lions responded with a six-play, 70-yard drive with Clifford throwing a 10-yard touchdown pass to Mitchell Tinsley with 4:47 left in the first half.
The Utes re-tied the score on redshirt freshman Ja’Quinden Jackson’s 19-yard touchdown run 2:38 before halftime.
Utah earned its second consecutive Rose Bowl berth with a 47-24 victory over USC in the Pac-12 Football Championship Game Dec. 2.
Penn State received its berth after Michigan and Ohio State both finished in the top four in the final College Football Playoff rankings, putting both in the playoff. Penn State was the only other Big Ten team in the College Football Playoff rankings,
Because New Year’s Day fell on a Sunday, the game was played one day later than usual because of the Tournament of Roses Association’s “Never on Sunday” rule. This was the 15th time the Rose Bowl was played on Jan. 2 and the first since 2017.
This was likely be the last time the Rose Bowl is guaranteed its traditional Big Ten-Pac-12 matchup. The next game will be a College Football Playoff semifinal. Beginning with the 2024 season, the Rose Bowl will be a playoff quarterfinal in the years it is not a playoff semifinal in the expanded 12-team playoff. Each of the New Year’s Six bowl games will continue to be playoff semifinals once every three years.
The Rose Bowl annually matched teams from what are now the Big Ten and Pac-12 from Jan. 1, 1947 through Jan. 1, 2001. The Rose Bowl served as the Bowl Championship Series national championship game on Jan. 3, 2002, the first of five nontraditional matchups through 2011, including the Jan. 4, 2006, BCS national championship game.
The Rose Bowl has annually matched Big Ten and Pac-12 teams since 2012, except in 2018 and 2021 when the game served as a College Football Playoff semifinal.