Lions and Trojans.
Sounds like the perfect makeup for a battle of mythological Greek figures. Or one highly anticipated football game.
Too bad the Rose Bowl doesn’t necessarily give this war the bad-ass name it deserves.
On a more sensitive side, it’s always nice to smell the roses.
The Penn State Nittany Lions have been on the scent for quite some time now, after Saturday they have someone to fight for it.
The University of Southern California romped Pac-10 rivals UCLA 28-7 Saturday to secure the matchup of conference champions in Pasadena, Calif., on New Year's Day 2009.
Penn State earned its right to the BCS Rose Bowl after walloping No. 21 Michigan State 49-18 in the Big 10 "championship" on Nov. 22.
Now the Nittany Lions (11-1) and the Trojans (11-1) will face off Travolta and Cage style.
Penn State is coming off its first conference championship since 2005 and will compete in its fourth straight bowl game. They won the previous three.
Head coach Joe Paterno is fresh off of hip surgery but hasn’t lost a step, leading the program to its 800th win this season. He has had his well-rested boys in the trenches since their bid preparing for the school's first Rose Bowl since defeating Oregon 30-28 during the 1993 season.
Southern Cal head coach Pete Carroll gave Trojans fans something to hum about, wrapping up the team’s seventh consecutive Pac-10 championship, 11th BCS bowl bid and -- get this -- USC’s fourth straight Rose Bowl appearance, which is annually hosted in Pasadena, the Trojans' home territory.
Prepare for an epic battle of two of college football’s elite programs. Talent wise, these teams are so evenly matched that like most Greek tales, there will have to be a lone hero in this one.
Penn State has the nation's No.11 offense, scoring 40.2 points per game, but the Trojans can sling some pigskin too, riding the Nittany Lions' tails with 37.5 a game, good for No.14 in the nation.
Defensively this one goes to the Trojans, who have the nation's No.1 shutdown defense, allowing a minuscule 7.8 points a game, the lowest since Auburn in 1988. The Nittany Lions at 12.4 points rank No.4 nationally.
In this battle it looks like the defenses will prevail. Don’t expect either team to score 30 points, but then again that’s why Vegas always wins in the end -- you can never fully predict these heart-throbbing, bone-breaking, win-or-die-while-sipping-on-martinis-in-the-Pasadena-sun BCS bowl games.
So forget the New Year’s parade, grab your own cocktail, if you can still stomach it and wake up smelling the roses.
Now that’s a tune worth humming to.
