Penn State will face Pac-12 champion Utah in the Rose Bowl

No. 9 Penn State (10-2) can officially smell the roses.

For the second time under James Franklin, the Nittany Lions will return to Pasadena, Calif., facing No. 7 Utah (10-3) in the 109th Rose Bowl game on Jan. 2. It will be the Utes’ second consecutive year in the game.

The road to the Rose Bowl was simple for coach Kyle Whittingham’s Utes: win the Pac-12 and they were in. Utah accomplished the goal Saturday by beating Southern Cal, 47-24. For the Nittany Lions, they needed some assistance in the form of USC’s losing in the conference title game, making way for No. 4 Ohio State to sneak back into the College Football Playoff picture.

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After the Trojans lost, a game Penn State coach James Franklin says he watched closely, the final piece to the puzzle for Penn State came late Saturday night, when No. 2 Michigan pulled away from the upset-minded Purdue Boilermakers to secure its second straight Big Ten title. With Michigan and Ohio State in the CFP picture, the Rose Bowl bid fell to the next-highest-ranked Big Ten team, the Nittany Lions.

“You look at the University of Utah and the success they’ve had under Kyle’s leadership, to me it was exciting [when the bowl was announced]” Franklin said in the Rose Bowl teleconference. “Then, after watching them play here recently, tough, hard-nosed, disciplined, gritty team that finds ways to win all different ways, we have a ton of respect for what they do and how they do it.

“It’s going to be a heck of a game, a heck of a challenge in a tremendous venue, and I know our guys will be looking forward to it.”

This will be Penn State’s fourth New Year’s Six bowl game in the last seven years and the program’s first since its Cotton Bowl appearance against Memphis following the 2019 season.

Both teams fell short in shootout fashion in their last Rose Bowl appearances, with the Nittany Lions being outlasted by Southern Cal, 52-49, in 2017 and the Utes falling in the final seconds to Ohio State, 48-45, last season.

Utah and Penn State will play for the first time ever, with the Nittany Lions making their fifth appearance in the Rose Bowl and the Utes making their second appearance overall. The Nittany Lions are 1-3 all-time in the Rose Bowl, last winning the game in 1995.

“Penn State’s played every Pac-12 school except for Utah. It’s not too often in 2022 that you’re able to do things for the first time ever, so that’s really cool,” the Nittany Lions coach added during the joint teleconference with Utah’s Whittingham.

Franklin and the rest of his staff were on the road recruiting when the official bowl announcement came in, with the Penn State head coach making himself available from the Kansas airport.

Tickets will go on sale to the general public Thursday for the Rose Bowl game.

Penn State cornerback Joey Porter Jr. has decided to opt out of the bowl game and begin preparing for the NFL draft. In 10 starts this season, Porter finished with 27 tackles and 11 pass breakups. The Nittany Lions played two of their last three regular-season games without Porter.

Franklin said he was proud of what the Western Pennsylvania native was able to accomplish for the program.

“We were able to call certain things or run certain schemes because of the confidence we had in our defensive backs and specifically our corners when we’re talking about Joey,” Franklin said. “For him to be able to fight and battle and try to come back as quickly as he could from his medical situation, his appendicitis, was telling on his commitment to his teammates, and his commitment to this program and university.”

Penn State will have talented left tackle Olu Fashanu for another season in State College. The redshirt sophomore said on social media last week that he plans to return. Franklin did not confirm whether Fashanu would be available for the Rose Bowl.

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