January 2017 (1) Candygrams

Monday, January 2, 2017---The Rose Bowl game

My sister Patti Poon, brother-in-law Dudley, son Greg and I arrived at the Rose Bowl early, around 10:00 am. We got our usual good parking space and walked to the north gate to enter the stadium for the "Fan Fest." We saw two friends at the gate. Elaine and Ron Tom waved to us. Patti, Elaine, and I are USC Delta Phi Kappa sorority sisters. They posed with Patti.

Unfortunately we discovered that no food was allowed in Fan Fest. There was no mention of this in the guidelines. The four of us had to unexpectedly gobble down our Subway sandwiches before we could enter the Fan Fest. We gave away all of our bags of chips to other fans.

Once inside the Fan Fest, we were able to sample new Coca Cola drinks and spin to win prizes. Luckily, Greg and I both won plastic ticket holders. That was fortuitous, since my ticket holder broke just when I entered the stadium.

On to our seats. It was hard to climb the uneven steps to row 65. After we settled into our seats, we asked a nice lady seated two rows above us to take this picture of the four of us. She was a great photographer! Thank you!

I took a picture of the Rose Bowl signs in front of the press boxes directly opposite our seats over Tunnel 5. Yuck, I didn't see Terry Donahue's name before I took the picture. I guess the Bruins do play their games in the Rose Bowl, but my USC plays in the REAL Rose Bowl!

Unexpectedly, the big screen started showing the USC team starting lineup. Here is my video of our offensive and defensive players. Sadly, I missed Senior Chad Wheeler's introduction.

The team ran out of the tunnel for warm-ups. Some of the players huddled along the sideline.

In the pre-game show, our Spirit of Troy spelled out "USC" not upside down!

Next, the Penn State Band spelled out "LIONS."

Rebecca, Alexandra (Stills), Richard, and Marciano Flores

Trojan Candy noticed some friends seated a few rows down from us. Richard Flores and his family smiled for this picture. Patti, Dudley, and I see Richard at many away games and bi-weekly at Monday Morning Quarterback meetings.

During the Star Spangled Banner, a B-2 stealth bomber flew over the stadium to much applause.

Luckily, when the team ran out of the tunnel for the pre-game rush, I was able to get #72 Chad Wheeler (3/23/2012) near the beginning of this video.

Now it was time for the game. My Trojans kicked off to Penn State.

Trojans lined up for first offensive play

We made an interception on Penn State's first possession! We lined up for our first offensive play.

This field goal by Matt Boermeester (3/25/2016) made the score USC 10, Penn State 0.

Mark Sanchez (4/4/2008), our quarterback in the last Rose Bowl game that USC played in, was interviewed by a sideline reporter.

Our score should have been higher, but we were ahead 27-21 at half-time.

During the half-time the Penn State Band performed first.

Then the Spirit of Troy performed.

During the second half, USC alumnus Ricky Ervins was interviewed by a sideline reporter. Ricky was inducted into the 2017 Rose Bowl Hall of Fame Class. Congratulations, Ricky! He encouraged our Trojans to "Fight On" to Victory!

Penn State rallied to go ahead 42-27 in the third quarter. Sam Darnold slipped but still managed to complete a two point conversion to Taylor McNamara to close the gap to 42-35. Penn State closed the scoring in the third quarter to go ahead 49-35.

The fourth quarter was ours. Two SC touchdowns later, the score was tied at 49-49 with 1:20 left in the game. Here is a video of the tying touchdown catch by Deontay Burnett.

After an interception by friend Leon McQuay III (12/14/2016), USC moved the ball to within field goal range with 5 seconds left.

Trojan Candy was able to take this video of the winning field goal attempt by Matt Boermeester. Good! Chaos ensued on the field! My Trojans were running all over the Rose Bowl field in every direction!

The awards stage was set up in the middle of the field.

Two videos show the celebration! An interview of Coach Clay Helton and Offensive MVP Sam Darnold (12/14/2016).

Sam Darnold and Defensive MVP Stevie Tu'ikolovatu (12/14/2016).

What a classic Rose Bowl game! What a VICTORY!