ROSE BOWL - Rose Bowl Stadium - Pasadena, CA
Kickoff: Monday, 5:00 p.m. ET
Line: USC -7.0, Total: 59.5

Two of the hottest teams in the nation meet when #9 USC faces #5 Penn State in the historic Rose Bowl on Monday.

It once seemed extremely unlikely that both USC and Penn State would be playing in a major bowl game, but both teams improved significantly over the course of the regular season. After making a change at quarterback, the Trojans just might have been one of the top-four teams in the nation. They won their last eight games of the regular season, and beat teams like Colorado and Washington in doing so. Penn State was similarly hot, winning their final nine games of the year, including a Big Ten Championship victory over Wisconsin. The Nittany Lions also beat the Buckeyes and covered in their last eight games as well. USC and Penn State actually met in the Rose Bowl in 2009, and the Trojans won that game 38-24 as 10-point favorites. They also won their only other game against the Nittany Lions in the 2000s in a 29-5 victory over Penn State on Aug. 27, 2000. Both teams have favorable trends coming into this game, as USC is 6-0 ATS after two or more consecutive straight up wins this season and Penn State is 8-0 ATS off a win over a conference rival on the year.

USC had a rough start to the season, but this team might be one of the best in the country right now. With QB Sam Darnold (2,633 yards, 26 TD, 8 INT) starting under center, the Trojans went 8-1 and their one loss was by single digits at Utah. Darnold has thrown for at least two touchdowns in each of the past eight games, and this USC offense has scored at least 40 points in five of those contests. Darnold should be in for a big game against Penn State, and that means that WR JuJu Smith-Schuster (63 rec, 781 yards, 9 TD) could be as well. Smith-Schuster did not have many big games down the stretch, but he is still one of the most talented receivers in the nation. This also should be a high scoring game, so it’s hard to imagine him not finding the endzone at least once in this one. Another guy that could have a big game is RB Ronald Jones II (1,027 yards, 11 TD). Jones rushed for at least 120 yards in four of the final five games for USC, and this Penn State defense is definitely vulnerable against the run. Defensively, USC needs to have its secondary prepared for this game. The Nittany Lions like to throw the ball deep, and they can swing a game with a few big plays.

The Nittany Lions are coming off of one of the more impressive conference championship wins this year, as they trailed the Badgers 28-7 at one point in the first half. Penn State ended up winning 38-31 and QB Trace McSorley (3,360 yards, 25 TD, 5 INT) proved that he is one of the best quarterbacks in the nation. McSorley threw for four touchdowns and no picks for the second straight game for Penn State in that one. He’ll look to attack the Trojans deep whenever he can on Monday. The scary thing for USC is, however, that McSorley isn’t even the best player on his team. That would be RB Saquon Barkley (1,302 yards, 16 TD), who rushed for 83 yards and a touchdown against Wisconsin last game. Barkley had two 200-yard rushing games this season, and he’ll need to be ready to go in the Rose Bowl. If he can’t get it going then Penn State will not be able to utilize the play action pass as well. Defensively, the Nittany Lions need to be better than they were against the run in their last game. If they let USC gash them on the ground then they might get blown out.