PASADENA, Calif. — Overwhelming from the start, Southern California put on a championship performance.
Too bad for the Trojans that they weren’t playing for the national title.
Mark Sanchez passed for 413 yards and four touchdowns, USC dominated on defense and the fifth-ranked Trojans beat up No. 6 Penn State 38-24 on Thursday in the Rose Bowl.
Penn State coach Joe Paterno watched from the press box, where he has been for most of the season because of hip problems. He couldn’t have liked what he saw — at one point in the first half, the TV camera caught him shaking his head as USC (12-1) rolled to a 31-7 lead.
But even before the game, the 82-year-old coach said several times he thought USC was at least as good as any other team in the country, perhaps better.
It doesn’t matter.
Out of the BCS championship mix, the Trojans can only wonder what might have been had they not lost at Oregon State 27-21 on Sept. 25.
What was thought to be a weak Pac-10 hurt the Trojans’ chances to reach the national championship game in Miami, where Florida and Oklahoma will play next week. But the Pac-10 finished the postseason 5-0.
“With all due respect — those are two great programs — I don’t think anybody can beat the Trojans,” USC coach Pete Carroll said. “I just think we can beat anyone we played.
“This is a terrific-finishing program. I just wish we could keep playing. Unfortunately, we don’t get to. Maybe someday there will be a chance, but not now.”
USC scored four touchdowns and a field goal on five consecutive first-half possessions for a 24-point halftime lead against a team that allowed only 12.4 points per game during the regular season.
With the No. 1 defense in the nation, there was no way the Trojans would blow that kind of lead. The Nittany Lions (11-2) scored 17 points in the fourth quarter to make the final score respectable, yet fell far short of their 40.2-point average.
Paterno, who has won 383 games, including 23 bowls — both records — thought the Trojans were every bit as good as advertised.
USC won 10 straight after losing to Oregon State, outscoring the opposition 380-80.
“I thought that we were playing against the best, and I thought we had to play our best to be competitive,” Paterno said. “In the first half, we just did the dumb things that we have not done all year. We didn’t play our game in the first half, but we came back and we hung in there.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Southern Cal, because they played a heck of a football game and certainly deserved to win it, but I’m a little disappointed that we weren’t a little bit more competitive. And a lot of that was because we made so many mistakes in the first half.”
The Trojans have won seven straight conference championships and played in seven consecutive BCS bowls — both records. They’re 6-1 in big games — 5-0 against Big Ten teams such as Penn State — and 82-9 since 2002, Carroll’s second year on the job.
They’ve also won 11 or more games in seven straight seasons — another record. They also became the first team to win three consecutive Rose Bowls.
Penn State 7 0 0 17 — 24
Southern Cal 7 24 0 7 — 38
First quarter USC — Williams 27 pass from Sanchez (Buehler kick), 4:12. PSU — Clark 9 run (Kelly kick), :04. Second quarter: USC — Sanchez 6 run (Buehler kick), 12:27. USC — FG Buehler 30, 7:00. USC — R. Johnson 19 pass from Sanchez (Buehler kick), 1:24. USC — Gable 20 pass from Sanchez (Buehler kick), :36. Fourth quarter: PSU — Williams 2 pass from Clark (Kelly kick), 13:33. USC — R.Johnson 45 pass from Sanchez (Buehler kick), 12:02. PSU — FG Kelly 25, 7:22. PSU — Norwood 9 pass from Clark (Kelly kick), 4:24. A — 93,293. PSU USC
First downs 19 27
Rushes-yards 29-137 35-61
Passing 273 413
Comp-att-int 21-37-2 28-35-0
Return yards 0 2
Punts-avg. 4-47.8 4-40.0
Fumbles-lost 1-1 2-1
Penalties-yards 9-72 6-60
Time of possession 28:01 31:59
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Penn State, Green 10-57, Royster 6-34, Williams 4-17. Clark 7-17, Beachum 1-8, Lawlor 1-4. Southern Cal, S. Johnson 15-63. Sanchez 7-16, McKnight 5-13, Gable 6-13, R. Johnson 1-(minus 7). Team 1-(minus 37).
PASSING — Penn State, Clark 21-36-2-273, Team 0-1-0-0. Southern Cal, Sanchez 28-35-0-413.
RECEIVING — Penn State, Green 5-67, Butler 4-97, Williams 4-34. Norwood 3-32, Brackett 3-21, Quarless 2-22. Southern Cal, Williams 10-162, McCoy 5-48, R. Johnson 4-82, Turner 4-74, Gable 1-20. McKnight 1-9, Goodman 1-8, Ausberry 1-5, S. Johnson 1-5.
