Penn State, Utah seek missing complements in Rose Bowl matchup: Column
James Franklin acknowledged the validity of the question. Coming out of a two-loss October, blown out at Michigan and falling late to Ohio State, his Penn State program was on the precipice of, by nearly every metric, a solid 2022 season.
Though having passed every other test prior, and favored in the remaining challenges both home and away, his Nittany Lions hadn’t secured a signature win in either opportunity.
“There’s value in it,” Franklin said at his Nov. 8 weekly news conference. “It’s interesting because you’ve got some teams and some programs that have not been consistent but have big-time wins. And then you have others that have been consistent, but not the signature win. You want both.”
On Jan. 2, Penn State will get one final chance at ticking off the second piece of that equation.
A formality, given the Buckeyes’ ascent into a College Football Playoff berth, the Nittany Lions will face Utah in the Rose Bowl. The 10-3 Utes are the Pac-12 champions after stabbing Southern Cal’s CFP hopes in the heart on Friday night.
And, in a back-to-back appearance at the Rose Bowl, they also represent Penn State’s best and last opportunity to knock off a top 10-ranked opponent during the 2022 season.
For Utah’s part, it’s a status earned on the marquee end of the spectrum Franklin described. Losing at Florida to open the season, 29-26, Utah cruised through its next four games against unranked opponents before dropping a 42-32 decision at then-18th-ranked UCLA.
But, by upsetting No. 7 USC in the next game in a 43-42 thriller, Utah secured the scalp that would help propel it back into the Pac-12 title game. Following the upset with wins against Washington State, Arizona and Stanford, the Utes climbed back to No. 10 in the rankings ahead of a meeting at No. 12 Oregon. Like their loss at UCLA, though, the Utes dropped another decision to the Ducks for their third loss of the season and second out of three against ranked opponents.
Juxtaposed against Franklin’s sentiment, one in which the Nittany Lions fell to two eventual CFP opponents, but secured wins against all others on the schedule as the favored teams, the contrasts are clear.
“You want the consistency week in and week out, which I think we’ve all seen is hard to do. And the signature wins are hard to do. And what you’re trying to do is trying to do both. That’s what the best programs in college football are able to do,” Franklin said. “I don’t know if I would necessarily say consistently, but yes, that’s what the best programs in college football are attempting to do.”
Having secured the other side of the equation, one in which Penn State topped eventual Big Ten West representative Purdue to open the season, MAC runner-up Ohio, an 8-4 Minnesota team that finished No. 16 in the final SP+, and not much else from which to boast in terms of opponent prestige, Utah will deliver that chance.
But only by holding up its end of the bargain, winning games home and away against all teams not finishing in college football’s final four, is that reality true.
“Hopefully at the end of the season,” said Franklin, “we’re where we need to be and put ourselves in the best position possible for the bowl season as well as momentum going into next season.”
At the Rose Bowl, that notion can come to fruition.
