Penn State will be heading to the Rose Bowl for the fourth time since joining the Big Ten to close out the 2022 season, and they will be taking on Pac-12 champion Utah. The Rose Bowl matchup was confirmed Sunday following the release of the College Football Playoff matchups and the rest of the New Years Six bowl pairings for this year’s bowl season.
Penn State finished off a 10-2 regular season with a dominant run through its November portion of the schedule. The only two teams Penn State lost to this season were Michigan and Ohio State. Both the Wolverines and Buckeyes were selected to play in this year’s College Football Playoff, which left the Big Ten’s spot in the Rose Bowl vacant. Penn State was the only other team ranked in the College Football Playoff selection committee’s rankings at the end of the season, thus making them the obvious pick to represent the Big Ten in Pasadena.
🌹🌹🌹 pic.twitter.com/ml7Zkpvfaq
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) December 4, 2022
#CFBPlayoff New Years Six: @rosebowlgame
8️⃣. Utah // @Utah_Football
🆚
1️⃣1️⃣. Penn State // @PennStateFballMonday, January 2.
— College Football Playoff (@CFBPlayoff) December 4, 2022
There had been reports prior to the weekend that Ohio State was asking the Rose Bowl not to invite them for a second straight season if the Buckeyes were left out of the playoff, which led to the assumption Penn State would be playing in the Rose Bowl anyway, as long as Purdue didn’t upset Michigan to win the Big Ten championship and secure the Big Ten’s contracted spot in the Rose Bowl.
Utah is coming off a second straight Pac-12 championship following its win over USC on Friday night, which opened the door for Ohio State to the playoff and made it more likely Penn State would be in the Rose Bowl as their opponent. Utah lost to Ohio State in last year’s Rose Bowl, so the Utes are ready to have a different result this season.
Utah will head to the Rose Bowl with a record of 10-3 highlighted by its Pac-12 championship. Utah lost its season opener at Florida and lost two conference games to UCLA and Oregon. But Utah came out on top of a three-team tiebreaker in the Pac-12 with Oregon and Washington to get a shot at USC.
Penn State will face Utah in the Rose Bowl on Monday, January 2, 2023.
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