PASADENA, Calif. -- Sorting through an explanation for Penn State's issues defending USC's Mark Sanchez and the Trojans' passing attack brought back Abbott and Costello's "Who's on first?" skit.
Joe Paterno thought the problems were a lack of pressure.
Tackle Jared Odrick, responding to Paterno's assertion, said USC threw the ball too quickly to generate a pass rush.
Cornerback Lydell Sargeant seemingly threw his hands into the air in despair when asked and said Sanchez's timing with his receivers was the reason.
Whatever the reason, the answer was clear: Penn State couldn't defend the Trojans' passing attack. The Nittany Lions, relying on a Cover 3 scheme with cornerbacks playing 10 yards off the ball, allowed Sanchez to throw for 413 yards and four touchdowns, which were the most of any quarterback against Penn State in a bowl game.
Sanchez became the third quarterback in Rose Bowl history to pass for more than 400 yards, and wide receiver Damian Williams was the primary target.
Williams caught 10 passes for 162 yards and routinely found weak spots in the Nittany Lions' coverage during USC's 38-24 Rose Bowl win over Penn State.
Williams spent 45 minutes in the Trojans' film room the morning of the game studying the defense he would tear up hours later.
"For me, I love it," Williams said, referring to a Cover 3 scheme. "I play in the slot, so I get to take most of those balls in the middle. When the corners drop off, you've got a linebacker trying to cover a receiver, and sometimes, that's difficult as well."
On this day against the Penn State secondary, it wasn't just sometimes.
It was all the time.
Only two other Big Ten offenses were in the top 50 nationally in passing offense, raising the question of how Penn State would handle a tougher passing offense.
It was emphatically answered.
"I don't even know" the numbers, safety Anthony Scirrotto said. "I don't even want to know the numbers. I'm disappointed in ourselves and myself personally."
The secondary was particularly hapless New Year's Day, routinely playing a zone defense that USC handled with ease.
The Trojans used size with 6-foot-5 wide receiver Patrick Turner (four receptions, 74 yards) and 6-foot-5 tight end Anthony McCoy (five receptions, 48 yards) and speed with Ronald Johnson, who runs a 4.2 40-yard dash, and Williams.
Johnson caught four passes for 82 yards.
"We're a three-deep team, and you gotta get some undercoverage," defensive coordinator Tom Bradley said. "We start [playing tighter] and then there'll be other things that'll happen, but some of those, once it's thrown out there, we gotta rally and do a better job of making a play."
Sanchez torched the Penn State secondary for 219 yards and two touchdowns on 14-of-17 passing in the second quarter before the Trojans put on the brakes. When Penn State cut the deficit to 31-14 early in the fourth quarter, Sanchez again imposed his will and drove 82 yards on three plays to put the game out of reach.
"I'm feeling like if we would have played a little tighter, maybe the game would have been a little bit different," Scirrotto said. "All the credit has to go to Mark and the receivers. It seemed like they knew our coverage every time."
