The Penn State Nittany Lions ended their championship season on a low note, falling to USC, 24-38 in the Rose Bowl.

I first picked Penn State to win this in a close battle, but I was obviously wrong as USC won big. I also originally thought that if Penn State were to lose, it would be a close game with USC pulling slightly ahead. If I knew the team we saw in today's Rose Bowl and not the team we saw all season was going to show up, neither of these thoughts would have entered my mind.

This loss could be simply put: the defense didn't show up. The secondary unit was lackadaisical and unfocused and was unable to stop the Trojan pass game. This poor secondary coverage has been the case all year with the Nittany Lions, but only in this game was it exposed the most, with Mark Sanchez and company taking advantage of open space all night.

While the guys up front were definitely present in this game, there was little pressure consistently put on Sanchez and he was able to throw for big gains down field. In fact, Sanchez set a Rose Bowl record with his pass completion percentage.

The Nittany Lion offense started strong in the beginning, but their momentum trailed off late in the first and for most of the second quarter. Pressure was consistently put on Darryl Clark and he was unable to get things really going aside from several bursts and gains down field. The running game was led by Evan Royster until he sustained an injury and then Stephon Green took the reigns and was able to break through the USC defense and gain big yardage. He kept the Lions alive in sticky situations.

The Lions recovered late in the second half and scored enough to be within reaching distance of victory. Victory seemed feasible until the Nittany Lions turned the ball over twice near the goal. However, this offense managed to score 24 points against what has been called 'the best defense ever in college football' by some, which was the most put up by an opponent of USC in the last three Rose Bowls.

While a victory in the Rose Bowl would have been the icing on the cake of a great season, this team has nothing to be ashamed of, for winning a Big Ten championship, making an appearance in the Rose Bowl, and playing blow for blow against a very good USC team is something some teams can only dream about.

THE GOOD: The USC Trojan defense

THE BAD: Costly mistakes made by a very good PSU team

THE UGLY: "We are SC"

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME: Darryl Clark

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME: Navarro Bowman

UP NEXT: The Penn State Nittany Lions begin 2009 regular season play on September 5 with the opponent to be announced. Thanks for a great 2008!

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