FanHouse Batman

So it is written, so it shall be done. Pac-10 meets the Big 10's eleventh member as USC challenges Penn State in the Rose Bowl. Tradition wins out for two teams felled by a single defeat, making this one of the better Rose Bowl games in recent memory.

There were no head-to-head battles between the programs this year, but their common opponents give an unclear picture of where this one will go. Penn State thrashed Oregon State on Sept. 6, 45-14. USC followed that on Sept. 13 with a nationally-televised thrashing of Ohio State, 35-3. Then, the predictable on Sept. 25, with Oregon State working USC on a Thursday night game, 27-21. Penn State then snuck by Ohio State at home 13-6 in late October. There's not much meat in the common opponent comparisons, oddly.

The real story here is of a ridiculously talented team with the nation's best defense and a stubborn offense going up against another excellent defensive team that played fantastic offensive football early in the year before slowing down a bit. Television will play up the contrast in styles between USC's bubbly Pete Carroll and Penn State's curmudgeonly Joe Paterno. Think Jeff Spicoli meets Danny DeVito's snarling impersonation of Penguin in Batman Returns.

Color us amused.