Penn State thumps Utah in the Rose Bowl as Sean Clifford ends his career with a bang

PASADENA, Calif. — Going into the Rose Bowl, headlines surrounding Penn State’s quarterback room focused less on starter Sean Clifford’s final game and more on how it would be the last game before heir apparent Drew Allar took over.

On Monday, Clifford reminded Penn State fans of what they have had, ending his Nittany Lions career with an exclamation point.

The sixth-year senior completed 16 of 22 passes for 279 yards and two touchdowns. His final touchdown pass, an 88-yard bomb to KeAndre Lambert-Smith, sparked a fourth-quarter explosion to lead the Nittany Lions to a 35-21 victory over Utah. With 2 minutes, 30 seconds left, Clifford left the field to a standing ovation from Penn State’s fans.

“I just can’t thank everybody enough for my experience at Penn State,” Clifford said. “I cherished every minute of it, the ups and the downs. I just couldn’t be more thankful.”

Nothing separated the two sides in the first half. The Utes put together the first drive of the game midway through the first quarter, but Penn State cornerback Kalen King blanketed Utes receiver Devaughn Vele and picked off a pass from Cameron Rising to end the threat.

Penn State scored its first touchdown of the day from the T-formation. After the interception, the Nittany Lions went 82 yards in 12 plays, capped with a 5-yard Nick Singleton carry for a touchdown. The teams went into the break tied at 14 with nearly the same yardage and time of possession.

The second half was all Penn State. As rain fell, the Nittany Lions defense dominated, holding the Utes scoreless in the half until the game’s final minute.

“I think in the second half we had to take a look at ourselves,” safety Ji’Ayir Brown said. “... We went in the locker room, and everybody got their jitters out, and we just played together, trusted each other a little more, and we were able to execute.”

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On its first possession of the second half, Penn State started at its 5-yard line against a Utah defense that had held the Nittany Lions to 3 yards per carry in the first half.

Singleton didn’t care.

On third-and-2, Singleton found a hole and burst through it, taking the ball 87 yards for the go-ahead score. With the carry, the freshman passed the 1,000-yard rushing mark. Singleton finished the game just shy of Penn State’s freshman rushing record, 15 yards short of Saquon Barkley’s 2015 tally.

Rising, a Davey O’Brien Award semifinalist as one of the nation’s top quarterbacks, suffered an apparent knee injury on a 9-yard scramble midway through the third quarter. He did not return to the game.

His backup, Bryson Barnes, was unable to replicate Rising’s success against the Nittany Lion defense. Barnes was intercepted on his third pass attempt and finished 10 of 19 for 112 yards, almost entirely coming on the game’s final drive.

Lambert-Smith had the best game of his Penn State career in the Rose Bowl, catching three passes for 124 yards and a touchdown. His 88-yard score was the longest in the Rose Bowl’s 109-year history.

“Great players make great plays, and KeAndre got — anybody could have thrown that one,” Clifford said. “Kudos to Dre. He played a great game.”

Penn State improves to 2-3 in Rose Bowl history, a full century after its first appearance. The Nittany Lions won in Pasadena for the first time in 1995.

The Utes have yet to win a Rose Bowl, falling for the second consecutive year.

Adding to the significance of Penn State’s victory is that it comes in the final “traditional” Rose Bowl, possibly the last matchup pitting the Big Ten against the Pac-12, because the 2024 edition will be a College Football Playoff semifinal. Next year is the final year of a four-team playoff, and the Rose Bowl will be a quarterfinal when the playoff expands to 12 teams.

“Not only that, I also understand that it’s the 100th anniversary of Penn State playing in this in 1923, as well,” coach James Franklin said. “So much tradition and history with this bowl ... But most importantly, I’m so proud of these guys.”