PASADENA, Calif. -- This should've been expected. Year after year Big Ten teams venture through the mountains to the Rose Bowl only to be lambasted by the awaiting Men of Troy.

But this year was supposed to be different. Penn State was supposed to have the speed to hang with the Trojans (offensively it did).

The Nittany Lion defense was supposed to have enough playmakers and hard-hitters to go blow for blow with the nation's top-ranked defense (Navorro Bowman did).

And while other Big Ten squads folded after the Trojan's opening salvos, the Lions were supposed to remain composed and respond (during the second half they did).

But two very important points were forgotten.

First, Penn State's defense did not face an elite passing game all season. The quarterbacks the Lions faced during Big Ten play were average, at best.

USC's Mark Sanchez, meanwhile, is a legitimate NFL prospect surrounded by the country's best combination of size and speed in his receiving corps.

Second, whenever USC decides it wants to play to its potential, the Trojans are, save for once-in-a-lifetime efforts of a freak of nature from Texas named Vince Young, unbeatable.

With enough individual talent in its starting lineup to make the Detroit Lions jealous, USC is the preeminent program in college football today, and they showed why on New Year's Day.

Sanchez, who had been as consistent as the enigmatic State College weather, was as reliable as sun in Los Angeles.

His 82 percent completion percentage was a Rose Bowl record, but it was his surgical precision in dissecting Penn State's secondary that troubled the Lions.

Wary of USC's deep threats, the Lions opted to sit back in an umbrella and try to keep the Trojan wideouts in front of them.

Penn State employed a similar gameplan to stop Miami's prolific offense to capture the national championship at the 1987 Fiesta Bowl.

But that squad had linebackers Keith Giftopoulos and Shane Conlan confusing Miami's passing game.

The Trojans' Rose Bowl gameplan called for their receivers to simply find the gaps in Penn State's secondary. USC only beat the Lions on a true deep ball once, but with Penn State's corners playing off the line, the Trojan wideouts simply cut under the coverage.

While defensive coordinator Tom Bradley did put green linebackers Mike Mauti and Nate Stupar in certain packages to get more speed on the field, there was no Conlan or Giftopoulos there to jump in front of Damian Williams who finished with 162 yards on the day.

It didn't help Penn State's back seven that the defensive front couldn't get to Sanchez. Defensive coordinator Tom Bradley prefers to rush four and stays away from blitzes, and for the most part it has worked.

But against a USC line that steadily improved during the course of the season, Penn State's defensive line couldn't create enough pressure forcing Bradley to blitz more than he has all season.

And when the Lions did blitz, save for Navorro Bowman's second-quarter sack, the blitzes didn't get home.

There's not one person or coach to blame for the defensive implosion at the Rose Bowl. There wasn't enough pressure, the linebackers had trouble in coverage and the secondary appeared, at times, confused by USC's quick routes.

But the truth of the matter is that USC was the better team. The Trojans have the most individual talent in college football and Sanchez played far and away the best game of his career.

The Trojans executed so well on New Year's Day that any defense, even one with the Lions' '86 masterful gameplan, would've had trouble shutting them down.

So while the Rose Bowl domination was considered a surprise, it should've been what was expected. Penn State was a very good team all season, the Lions finished with their 22nd top-10 ranking under Joe Paterno. But the Trojans were truly great.