The Penn Stater Magazine

A “Curious” Rose Bowl Primer

December 9, 2008 at 10:43 am Ryan Jones Leave a comment

Last weekend’s college football results—particularly USC’s Pac-10-clinching win over rival UCLA—finally confirmed what most of us had been counting on since Penn State beat Michigan State a few weeks ago to clinch the Big Ten title: The Trojans and Nittany Lions will meet Jan. 1 in the Rose Bowl. Most national college football writers seem to agree that, after the 1 v. 2 matchup between Florida and Oklahoma in the BCS title game, the Rose Bowl offers the most compelling viewing. That’s largely because of how good these teams are this year, but there’s some little-known history between the schools that makes it even more interesting.

Yesterday, I stumbled across this L.A. Times blog that talks about some of the schools’ shared mottos—not that we’re the only two schools that can claim some variation of “We Are…” and “Fight On!”—and recounts the near-brawl that apparently erupted between the teams’ coaches when USC and Penn State met in the 1923 Rose Bowl.

Courtesy L.A. Times

But the highlight has to be this exchange between Joe Paterno and Trojans coach Pete Carroll, from their Sunday conference call:

CARROLL: “I heard that in 1923, SC played Penn State. I don’t think you were there, but there was a fight between the coaches in the pregame. I know that you’re a little under the weather recovering, but I’m sure you still got a good left hand.”

PATERNO: “If you got to worry about my left hand, you’re in real trouble.”

I expect we’ll be reading more of this sort of thing before the teams line up on New Year’s Day. Should be fun.

Ryan Jones, Senior Editor

Entry filed under: Joe Paterno, Penn State football. Tags: Joe Paterno, Penn State football, Pete Carroll, Rose Bowl, USC Trojans.