ALTOONA, Pa. -- You know what, Penn State actually was better all along than any of us believed.
We just never fully realized it, until the Nittany Lions went out to the Rose Bowl and put a whooping on Utah, 35-21, to cap a memorable 11-2 season.
We couldn't have known how good Penn State was because it lost its two most important games -- against Michigan and Ohio State -- and didn't beat a single ranked opponent during the regular season.
But now that we have everything in the rear view mirror, it adds a whole lot of perspective.
Those losses were against two of the four best teams in the country, as both made the College Football Playoff. And you cannot convince me otherwise that Ohio State would have won the national title had star receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. not gotten injured in the semifinals against Georgia. The Buckeyes would have beaten the Bulldogs and then gone on to beat TCU with a healthy Harrison.
Oh, by the way, Penn State outplayed Ohio State for 51 minutes. The Lions led, 21-16, and were outclassing the Buckeyes in just about every statistical category, before things collapsed in a hurry over those awful final nine minutes in a 44-31 loss.
But just think about that: Penn State was better than Ohio State for 85 percent of the game. An Ohio State team that was one missed field goal against Georgia from probably going on to win it all. There are, what, maybe 3-4 other teams in the country who could give the Buckeyes that kind of game?
Now look, Michigan obviously destroyed Penn State, 41-17. That was a bad day in Ann Arbor. But if you remember, despite playing a horrendous first half with only one first down, the Lions actually led that game early in the third quarter, 17-16, before the wheels fell off defensively as the Wolverines had two long touchdown runs that changed everything.
The Nittany Nation was furious about that loss to Michigan, believing it was a sign that Penn State was way worse than anyone believed after a 5-0 start. So, what happened with that loss is that it soured everybody to the degree where we could never quite view the Lions in the proper perspective.
The collapse late against Ohio State only reinforced the prevailing narrative we'd come to design over the past two years: That Penn State was not for real, and that James Franklin's program could only tease us with the promise of greatness, only to disappoint in greater fashion.
In order to believe in this team -- and in Franklin -- we needed proof. Not just proof of strong play against a tough opponent, but you know, actually winning the game.
After Ohio State, we just never got to see the Lions play another good team, so inevitably, it left everybody wondering just how good Penn State ever really was all along.
There was, however, proof of all that right in front of our eyes, although it was the kind of proof that was difficult to gauge at the time.
Penn State wasn't messing around against everybody else on the schedule, but instead was clobbering them.
The Lions pummeled a decent Minnesota team (45-17), and the Gophers went on to finish 9-4. The Lions also destroyed a decent Maryland team (30-0), and that level of dominance shouldn't be overlooked as the Terps finished 8-5 and gave Ohio State a really tough game (43-30 loss).
There's a lot to be said for making decent teams look really bad, and Penn State did that against the Gophers and Terps. The Lions also didn't play down to the competition against Rutgers (55-10) or Michigan State (35-16), and showed focus down the stretch to finish the regular season strong and be in position for a Rose Bowl berth.
I've said this all along: Being in the Rose Bowl gave Penn State a golden opportunity that would not have come along in pretty much any other bowl game. The Rose Bowl is still the Granddaddy of Them All, and playing a top 10 team out there gave the Lions a chance to impress the nation, which they absolutely did.
Had Penn State gone to the Cotton Bowl to face Tulane, the outcome -- even a blowout win -- wouldn't have moved the needle anywhere near as much as the Rose Bowl performance did. Goodness, just look at what happened to USC, which had a strong season with a Heisman Trophy QB, but was left somewhat humiliated by losing to Tulane.
An Orange Bowl victory over Tennessee or Clemson would have been excellent for Penn State, but still probably not as big as a Rose Bowl win.
About the only other bowl game that could have given the Lions more recognition would have been if they knocked off Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. I doubt that would have happened though -- yeah, go ahead and debate who would have won -- and had the Lions lost to Alabama, we all wouldn't be feeling as great about them as we do now following the Rose Bowl romp.
If you think about how one game changed everything, that's what the Rose Bowl did for this Penn State season. Maybe Utah never was as good as anyone thought -- the Utes did finish with four losses -- but at the same time, there's a lot to be said for Penn State going out there and clobbering that team, as opposed to winning by some close score.
At the end of the day, the Lions balled out on the biggest stage in college football -- outside of the playoff -- and had the kind of performance that finally proved they were indeed an outstanding team all along.
