Live From the Rose Bowl: A Blowout Brews

Keith Arnold, of Road to Game Day fame, is at the Rose Bowl and will be posting about the experience throughout the evening.

When Penn State hasn’t been killing itself with terrible penalties, they’ve been getting run off the field by USC’s wide receivers and the pinpoint passing of Mark Sanchez. Penn State has absolutely no answer for Damian Williams, who has been gouging the Penn State secondary with both deep routes and quick-hitters that he’s turned into big gains. Williams, who earlier in the week declared he’s returning for another year at USC, certainly has auditioned well for when he is ready to go to the NFL. He’s easily been the most explosive player on the field for either team.

Meanwhile, the guy under center for the Trojans played near perfect football in the first half. Completing 18 of 23 passes for 276 yards, Sanchez has been making his case for the green room at the NFL draft next year with a great mix of timing passes, nimble footwork, and absolute cannon throws. For a guy who early in the year was trying to carry the weight of Los Angeles’ Latino population, he looks pretty much at ease when he’s facing 11 guys who go to school in Happy Valley.

In slightly more interesting news, the battle of the marching bands has to go to Penn State, if only because I have to find something nice to say about the Nittany Lions. Their equipment manager also does a much better job of getting the water cups and Gatorade set up for the players than his counterpart for USC. So they’ve got that going for them, which is nice.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.