Rose Bowl autopsy: The moment USC beat Penn State

Penn State was pronounced dead with 36 seconds left in the first half of the 2009 Rose Bowl.

Probable cause: asphyxiation.

When USC scored to go ahead 31-7, it sucked the air out of the Nittany Lions' lungs.

The Penn State crowd, which boasted an impressive turnout and was ominously loud (especially its first down chant), couldn't muster a whimper.

Watching from his seat in the press box, even Joe Paterno knew it was over:

Then the Trojans danced on their grave.

From a psychological standpoint, USC's on-field celebration was fascinating. According to Sports Illustrated's Arash Markazi, USC had been marking its territory even before kickoff -- using symbolic acts to assert dominance like a dog off of its leash. But the pre-halftime dance took it to another level.

This isn't exactly new behavior for the Trojans in the Rose Bowl.

They did it against Illinois.

They did it against UCLA.

And, yes, they did it against Penn State (video drags on a bit ... skip ahead to 1:12).

Pete Carroll loves this stuff. He wanted to do it again and get penalized, but "forgot" (obviously because Penn State made a comeback bid):

It's mind boggling that Pete Carroll needs to coordinate about 70 players for a second attempt to draw a flag, but Washington's Jake Locker accomplished the same thing just by flipping a ball in the air.

It wouldn't have been the first time a team was intentionally penalized for excessive celebration. Last season, Georgia's Mark Richt threatened to punish his players if they didn't get penalized after a touchdown against Florida. The tactic seemed to motivate the Bulldogs, who pulled off a big win.

Richt's decision was hotly debated. Some pundits felt he was too dull and mechanical, so the momentary lapse of composure was well received in certain circles. Most blasted the decision, calling it unsportsmanlike and inappropriate. He eventually apologized to the Gators and the entire SEC.

There wasn't a clear "decision" to critique in the Rose Bowl, but it seems inevitable that something like this will happen while Carroll is coaching at USC. Will he land in hot water like Richt? Or will the Teflon Trojan be credited with a new advance in adversarial sports psychology?

Carroll, of course, is a student of the mental game -- but usually the individual, zen-like wisdom of The Inner Game of Tennis.

All teams depend on group motivation, from tunnel introductions to team huddles to whatever Texas did last season. Most of the time, it's a healthy manifestation of primal good vibes. But if you're on the other end of it, it can feel a little different.

These on-field dance-offs could be interpreted in radically different ways: contained group motivation or in-your-face trash talk.

-- Adam Rose

Comments

[Tom]

Was it Arash who called out PSU for not responding to the dancing? I always see these pregame, we're gonna get in your face cause you just jumped on our symbol, acts pretty contrived, so I'm glad Penn St went the "classy" route.

Its obvious that Carroll enjoys his players to have some bravado and swagger, but I imagine he'd get derided for it if they did draw a penalty intentionally. He caught a small amount of flak for suggesting he might give up 2 timeouts so they could wear the wrong colored uniforms vs UCLA

And thanks for contrasting the team celebration to the ridiculous Jake Locker penalty. Good point.

[Tamara Brooks]

I'm also glad there were no tussles with the Penn State team. I guess I'm one of those people who's naive because I think that the majority of the jumping and dancing around is done for team bonding, not to taunt the opponent.

And yeah, Jake Locker totally got hosed.