Sam Darnold cements himself as a star with Rose Bowl comeback win

USC quarterback Sam Darnold left no doubt that he’s a star by leading an epic comeback win in the Rose Bowl over Penn State

USC Trojans quarterback Sam Darnold led his team to eight consecutive wins to end the 2016 college football season, but he probably didn’t get all the credit that he deserved, to be honest. As we all know by now, emerging stars in the Pac-12 Conference don’t typically get the recognition that should be coming to them because … well, west coast. Everyone knows how that works in the wonderful world of college football when you have zero preseason hype.

On Monday night, though, the phenomenal redshirt freshman left no doubt roaming around anywhere that he is ready to be one of the biggest stars in the sport, and no one in the nation could ignore what they were seeing before their very eyes.

In one of the more epic Rose Bowl Games that we have ever seen in its illustrious history. Darnold and the Trojans were down by seven with just a little over a minute to go in the contest. Not letting himself get lost in the moment whatsoever, Darnold ripped a laser over the middle past the Penn State defense to Deontay Burnett which tied the game and kept the Trojans’ hopes alive in Pasadena.

That was his fifth touchdown pass of the evening in the win. Overall, Darnold finished with 453 yards on 33-of-53 passing with those five touchdowns. And for the real eye-popping stat of the night for the Capistrano Beach native, his 473 yards of total offense is now an all-time Rose Bowl Game record.

Whose record did he break? You can bet that USC fans know the answer to this one, because he broke the record of none other than longtime Trojans nemesis, Vince Young. How’s that feel, USC fans?

This Rose Bowl performance was really the only fitting way to end the inaugural season of a young man who will be in many Heisman conversations to come.

Darnold didn’t even start the season as the quarterback of the Trojans. No, that nod initially went to senior Max Browne, who has since transferred out of the program. Following a loss to Stanford that dropped USC to 1-2 at the time, head coach Clay Helton decided that the change most were calling for was in order, and he handed his young freshman the reins. Maybe little did he know at the time, it would be one of the best decisions that he would ever make as the full-time head man out in Los Angeles.

The new USC starter would eat a loss in his first game against a very good Utah team, but that would be it — Darnold and the Trojans would not lose again as he continued to only get better week in and week out. Just a reminder for anyone who may have forgotten, this winning stretch also included a very impressive win over the eventual Pac-12 Champion Washington Huskies.

Again, though, having to play on the west coast and with much more established college football stars overshadowing him, Darnold didn’t really get the amount of love that he had probably earned on the amazing run,

But after showcasing to the entire nation on Monday night in the Rose Bowl Game just what he can bring to the table, this new college football megastar won’t be ignored by anyone in 2017.