PASADENA, Calif. — KeAndre Lambert-Smith had the longest touchdown reception in Rose Bowl history on an 88-yard pass from Sean Clifford, freshman Nicholas Singleton broke a tiebreaking 87-yard touchdown run, and No. 9 Penn State rallied past No. 7 Utah 35-21 in the 109th edition of the Granddaddy of Them All on Monday.

Clifford passed for 279 yards and two touchdowns in an impressive farewell to Penn State, and Singleton rushed for 120 yards and two more scores on a rainy day filled with spectacular big plays by the Nittany Lions (11-2).

Utah couldn’t rally with quarterback Cameron Rising sidelined by a second-half injury, and coach James Franklin’s exuberant group comfortably won the Rose Bowl for the second time in school history and the first since Jan. 2, 1995.

Singleton got the Nittany Lions rolling in a well-played game when he broke through Utah’s defensive front and outran the secondary for his second touchdown early in the third quarter. The 87-yard romp was the third-longest TD run in Rose Bowl history and the second-longest in Penn State’s bowl history.

Shortly after rain began to fall on the Rose Bowl Game for the first time since 1997, Lambert-Smith got open deep and eluded the defensive backs of Utah (10-4) on the first snap of the fourth quarter for the longest pass completion in Penn State’s bowl history. Clifford’s pass also broke the Rose Bowl record of 76 yards by Michigan’s Rick Leach to Curt Stephenson in 1978 against Washington.

Freshman Kaytron Allen added a 1-yard TD run with 10:36 to play, and Penn State’s defense got stops on the Utes’ first six drives of the second half.

The victory was a fitting finale for Clifford, the sixth-year senior who finally added a memorable bowl performance to his slew of Penn State career passing records in his 51st game. Clifford also became the winningest quarterback in school history with his 32nd victory, passing Trace McSorley.

Franklin called a timeout with 2:30 left to allow a hero’s farewell for Clifford, who waved at the standing ovation from Penn State’s white-clad fans while his teammates applauded.

“I’m just so thankful for this place,” Clifford said. “I can’t put it into words. It’s so amazing. I just love Penn State so much.”

TULANE 46, USC 45: Tight end Alex Bauman caught a 6-yard touchdown from Michael Pratt with 9 seconds left to cap a frantic finish by the 14th-ranked Green Wave in a stunning comeback over Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams and No. 8 Southern California at the Cotton Bowl in Arlington, Texas.

Bauman’s contested catch, with linebacker Eric Gentry draped over him, was initially ruled an incompletion, but a replay review showed the ball never touched the ground as the players rolled over in the end zone. The Green Wave scored 16 points in the final 4:07, the game-winning touchdown coming after they got the ball back following a safety.

“I might have had a heart attack,” Tulane coach Willie Fritz said moments after the game ended.

Williams was 37-for-52 passing for 462 yards and a Cotton Bowl-record five touchdowns, exactly one month after the quarterback suffered a hamstring injury in USC’s loss to Utah in the Pac-12 championship game that kept the Trojans from making the four-team College Football Playoff.

Tyjae Spears ran for 205 yards and his career-best fourth touchdown started the final scoring surge for the American Athletic Conference champion Green Wave (12-2), who completed an FBS-record 10-win turnaround around after going 2-10 last season. They were in the New Year’s Six game as the highest-ranked Group of Five team.

After Spears’ 4-yard TD with 4:07 left, the Green Wave opted to kick deep instead of trying an onside kick. Mario Williams signaled for a fair catch, but fumbled the ball out of bounds at the 1. Two plays later, defensive tackle Patrick Jenkins met Austin Jones in the end zone and smothered him for a safety.

Pratt completed only 8 of 17 passes for 234 yards, but had two 24-yard completions on that final drive after the safety. The first one to Bauman converted a fourth-and-10, and Deuce Watts held on despite a crushing hit from a defender that left both of them on the ground after a 24-yard gain to the 6 with 18 seconds left.

After Williams followed coach Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma, the Trojans (11-3) matched the biggest turnaround in school history despite the coach’s first loss in six games at AT&T Stadium. It was a seven-win improvement over last season’s 4-8 record before Riley and Williams arrived on the West Coast.

LSU 63, PURDUE 7: Malik Nabers threw for a touchdown, caught one and had 163 yards receiving as No. 16 LSU cruised in the Citrus Bowl at Orlando, Florida.

LSU never trailed against the Boilermakers, recording 594 yards of offense and concluding the scoring with Quad Wilson’s 99-yard interception return for a touchdown.

The Tigers (10-4) finished with at least 10 wins for the first time since the 2019 season, when Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson led undefeated LSU to a national title.

The Boilermakers (8-6) were led by interim coach Brian Brohm after his brother, Jeff, left at the end of the regular season to take Louisville’s head coaching job. Ryan Walters, formerly the defensive coordinator at Illinois, will now take over as Purdue’s coach.

MISSISSIPPI ST. 19, ILLINOIS 10: Massimo Biscardi made a 27-yard field goal with four seconds left to break a 10-10 tie and then Marcus Banks returned a fumble 60 yards for a touchdown on the game’s last play as No. 24 Mississippi State (9-4) rallied to win the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa in the Bulldogs’ first game since Coach Mike Leach’s death.

Banks’ score came on Illinois’ fifth lateral following a completed pass after the Fighting Ilini (8-5) got the ball at their own 29. There was a scrum on the field as the game ended, but order was restored after a couple of minutes.

Illinois’ Chase Brown, the nation’s second-leading rusher with 1,643 yards, sat out to prepare for the NFL draft.