ALTOONA, Pa. -- Utah is back in the Rose Bowl for the second straight year, and this time the Utes will be trying to finish strong instead of folding late.
Welcome to the debut of Friday top 5, which will be the offseason replacement for the popular and well-received Midweek top 10. I heard great feedback from readers throughout the season about the midweek feature, which was a compilation of a whole bunch of stuff going on in the Penn State football program and with other programs.
The Friday top 5 will be the same sort of thing, so you can end your work week with news about football, basketball, wrestling, hockey or anything else that needs covered from earlier in the week.
1. Utes praise Penn State, Clifford while looking forward to Rose Bowl return
Utah played Ohio State in last year's game, and got off to a great start with a 35-21 lead at the half. The Utes were up 38-31 entering the fourth quarter, then Ohio State scored two touchdowns to take the lead. Utah tied it with 1:54 to go, only to see the Buckeyes kick the game-winning field with 9 seconds left for a 48-45 victory.
It was one of the best bowl games in the country last year, but for the Utes, it was a very disappointing ending that they hope to change this time around against the Nittany Lions.
"It was cool to go to the Rose Bowl last year," senior safety R.J. Hubert said, per All Utes. "But it was a letdown that we lost. Even though we gave a great effort, a loss is a loss. There were really no consolation prizes for losing the Rose Bowl. I feel like we made a lot of people proud, but it wasn't to our standards. Winning is our standard here. It's a big emphasis this year to win."
Utah quarterback Cameron Rising noted, "You always have to have confidence going into a venue you've played in before."
In that regard, given that the Utes were there just last year, it could end up giving them an advantage since they've already experienced all the Rose Bowl hoopla.
"It'll be a great matchup," Hubert said. "Penn State's a great team. The Rose Bowl's got such great history, especially between the Pac-12 and the Big Ten. I think it'll be a special moment and a special game."
Sophomore cornerback Clark Phillips III was impressed by what he saw from Penn State and Sean Clifford.
"Good team," Phillips said. "Based on the film that I've watched thus far, they've got a good quarterback. Defense is solid. They run a similar style offense and defense to us in the fact that they use their tight ends and they're able to mix things up."
Phillips also mentioned the Utes' experience playing in the Rose Bowl could help.
"It's not new. I think that's a good way to look at it," he said. "I think that's kind of the tale of our season. Running it back, all of those things and the kind of mantra that we went into the season with. I think it plays the same part for the Rose Bowl. This will be our second time, and this time we can go and do it the right way."
2. All-America honors for three Lions
Cornerback Joey Porter Jr. was named second-team All-American on Thursday by the Walter Camp Foundation, which was no surprise given his name recognition and stellar play this season.
But the Lions also had a pair of other second-team All-Americans that were perhaps a bit of a surprise.
Left tackle Olu Fashanu was named an All-American despite playing in just eight games. Fashanu is widely considered to be a great NFL prospect, but he already has announced he will return to Penn State next year.
Fashanu was only second-team all-Big Ten, which made it surprising that he also was second-team All-American. The Walter Camp folks didn't hold it against him that he played in only eight games.
But how's this for a big surprise?
Cornerback Kalen King was only third-team all-Big Ten by the league's coaches and media, yet he was named a second-team All-American. He is second in the country with 18 pass breakups, to go along with two interceptions.
King also was named third-team All-American by Pro Football Focus.
In other awards news: Porter was named first-team all-Big Ten by The Associated Press, while Fashanu, King and defensive tackle PJ Mustipher were all second-team. Running back Nicholas Singleton was the AP Big Ten Newcomer of the Year.
3. Former 4-star recruit enters transfer portal
The highest-rated recruit to enter the transfer portal from Penn State so far happened Wednesday when defensive lineman Davon Townley decided to look elsewhere.
Thank you psuππΎπ pic.twitter.com/BKMa9Ysgp2
β D1.Davon (@D1Davon) December 7, 2022
Townley was rated the No. 3 prospect in Minnesota and No. 40 defensive lineman in the country as part of the 2021 recruiting class. He redshirted and didn't appear in any games in 2021, then played in eight games and had three tackles this season.
Townley became the fifth Penn State player to enter the transfer portal. The other four:
β’ QB Christian Vielleux, a redshirt freshman and the third-stringer this season who played sparingly.
β’ OL Maleek McNeil, a freshman who was no longer on the roster late in the season and did not appear in any games.
β’ DE Rodney McGraw, a redshirt freshman who saw limited action in four games.
β’ CB Jeffrey Davis Jr., a redshirt freshman who played briefly in one game (Ohio).
4. Top-ranked wrestling off to strong start
Penn State has perhaps the most dominant program in all of college sports with Cael Sanderson's wrestling team, which has won nine national titles in the past 12 seasons.
The Lions, ranked No. 1 this season, are off to a 3-0 start with wins over Lock Haven (44-3), Rider (37-3) and Lehigh (24-12).
Penn State will host Oregon State on Sunday at Rec Hall. The match starts at 2 p.m. and will be televised on ESPNU.
Here's a look at Penn State's starters and their records so far:
125: Gary Steen (4-3)
133: No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young (2-0)
141: No. 9 Beau Bartlett (7-0)
149: No. 17 Shayne Van Ness (6-0)
157: No. 30 Terrell Barraclough (5-2)
165: No. 15 Alex Facundo (6-0)
174: No. 1 Carter Starocci (3-0)
184: No. 1 Aaron Brooks (2-0)
197: No. 5 Max Dean (5-2)
285: No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet (3-0)
5. Women's volleyball ends season with heartbreaking loss
The Lady Lion volleyball team showed tremendous fight and resiliency in their NCAA Tournament match Thursday night at Wisconsin, the defending national champion.
Penn State, ranked 11th, dropped the first two sets against the No. 2 Badgers, 25-21 and 25-19. But then the Lady Lions roared back to take the next two sets (25-23, 25-20) to force a decisive fifth set.
Wisconsin prevailed in the final set, 15-8, to win and end Penn State's season.
The Lady Lions finished the season 26-8 and made their 42nd appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Penn State is the only program in the nation to appear in all 42 NCAA Tournaments.
Katie Schumacher-Cawley, who succeeded legendary coach Russ Rose, finished her first season as Penn State's coach. Rose won seven national titles and an NCAA-record 1,330 games during his career at Penn State.
