BWI Photos: Celebration shots from Penn State's 35-21 win over Utah
LOS ANGELES – Penn State wrapped up its 2023 season with an important win Monday in the Rose Bowl. Facing the Pac-12 champions in Utah, the Nittany Lions racked up 448 total yards of offense in the win, averaging an impressive 8.3 yards per play. Defensively the Lions were also strong, especially in the second half, totaling nine tackles for loss and six sacks.
“I’m just proud of these guys. I was here in 2016, one of the better Rose Bowl games, and watched somebody else celebrate, and I wanted this for them,” said Penn State head coach James Franklin. “I couldn’t have wrote the script any better for Sean Clifford to be the offensive MVP, and my man Tig to be the defensive MVP. It’s awesome, sending these guys out the right way, in a time in college football that I think it’s more challenging than ever.
Highs & Lows: Penn State caps bounce-back season on brightest note
“Just really proud of our guys. Offense, defense and special teams really played a really good, complete game. I thought Kalen King’s interception really got us going and got us started. And then we were able to get pressure on their quarterback, which we weren’t able to do early in the game and that started changing some things for us. Obviously the big run by Nick Singleton, Barney Amor punted well all night long, because it was a position game, playing Coach Whittingham, is a defensive head coach. And you talk about drive-start battle, they were really winning that.
“Our guys just stuck together, made some big plays when we needed to, and we found a way to get a win against a really, really good Utah team.”
Check out our photo gallery below if you missed anything from the postgame celebration.
Related: First Impressions from Penn State’s Rose Bowl win over Utah
Related: Sean Clifford, battling through setbacks, slays final test
