Talk about some big time star-power. Anytime you can get Cloris Leachman to be the Grand Marshall of the Tournament of Roses and then have her at the 50 to flip the commemorative coin, you know you’re in for a good game. Apparently, Estelle Getty and Bee Arthur were busy. Also, a great Stealth Bomber fly-by in pregame. Even if the military does decide to retire the plane, maybe we can keep a few in working order, as it’s a great touch for a big football game.

After the first couple drives, it looked like the commercial breaks were wining the first quarter. Both Penn State and USC were happy feeling out the other team’s defense, with Penn State mixing in Evan Royster, while USC moved Mark Sanchez in the pocket while feeding the ball to the trio of CJ Gable, Stephon Johnson, and Joe McKnight. But after both teams tried a little something called the forward pass, the game quickly opened up.

Sanchez has to be the early favorite for MVP honors, as he’s 7 of 9 with a pretty TD pass to Damien Williams, and he just snuck in a draw from the six-yard line for the Trojans second TD. The Nittany Lions put together a nice drive themselves after self-inflicted wounds hurt both their defense and their offense in the first quarter. It looks like Penn State is going to have to rely on the passing element of their HD offense if they’re going to hang with the Trojans. While they’re moving the ball okay on the ground, they aren’t going to be able to keep going three-and-out if they want to hang around in this one.

In other news, Joe Paterno is enjoying a pudding snack in the coaches box.

Just kidding.

Will the Hokies or Bearcats score in the first seven minutes of the Orange Bowl?

Which team will score first?

These are just some of the props related to the Orange Bowl at SPORTSBETTING.COM.

More here.

SPORTSBETTING.COM’s first half line for the Orange Bowl sees the Cincinnati Bearcats listed at -0.5 and the Virginia Tech Hokies at +0.5.

The Total is set at 21.

I could get used to this stuff. Even living in Los Angeles, you forget how awesome Pasadena is. The neighborhoods look like honest to goodness neighborhoods with trees and clean streets, and perfectly manicured yards. Pasadena is so eerily perfect that Desperate Housewives uses a random street in the city for its set design. (I’m not sure Pasadena can be happy with that decision.) The Rose Bowl is one of the most picturesque venues for college football, and true to form, it’s 72 degrees, sunny, and a perfect day for football. Driving north up the Harbor Freeway, I left with plenty of time this morning, as the 35 miles can sometimes take hours, not minutes. But there wasn’t a sniff of traffic, as the New Years festivities of last night must’ve rendered commuters too hungover to go anywhere this morning.

If you’re looking for any analysis of the Rose Parade, you’re out of luck. I’m not sure what I find more ridiculous, the fact that people spend months cutting up flowers and gluing them into floats, or the fact that thousands of people get up before sunrise on New Years Day to get in place to watch these floats drive by.

Most of the parking for Rose Bowl tailgating is on a golf course. Instead of being set up on acres of parking lots, most people are parked on lush fairways or Bermuda grass rough. The Penn State faithful might not have had USC fans outnumbered at the scene, but they certainly seemed more jacked up. I arrived about three hours before the game to find Paternoville West already rocking. Setting up shop just off a greenside bunker, they had a PA system, full-working bar with top-shelf drinks, and enough people collectively drinking to think that the Nittany Lions actually have a shot. There were more than a few drunk college kids using the sandtrap as a mini-beach, and white, tanless bodies were plentiful.

I think I parked next to Curtis Enis, but I was too big a chicken to go up and say something, especially since the conversation might have gone something like this:

Me: Hey, Curtis Enis, what’s going on?

Curtis Enis: I’m going to the Rose Bowl, what does it look like I’m doing?

Me: (stuttering) Going to the Rose Bowl. … Me too. (Pause) Hey, remember your cameo in Jerry Maguire? That was awesome. What happened with the Bears?

Curtis Enis walks away, shaking his head.

End Scene.

I’ll be coming to you live after each quarter, from up top at the Rose Bowl, so check back here for some hard-hitting analysis from the Grand-Daddy of them all …

After the final whistle at the Rose Bowl, the Orange Bowl will kickoff with the No. 12 Cincinnati Bearcats vs. the No. 19 Virginia Tech Hokies with Cincy favored by 3 and the Total at 41.5.

Dating back to 1995, the two have gone 1-1 SU but the Bearcats have covered both times with a 2-0 record ATS.

The Bearcats are -140 on the Money line and the Hokies are +120.