Did that really just happen?

Penn State football was embarrassed by UCLA in the Rose Bowl on Saturday afternoon, suffering a 42-37 loss to what some considered the worst team in the Power Four. The Penn State faithful were plentiful in Pasadena, making the loss harder for those who traveled over 2,500 miles to watch the Nittany Lions play.

Our staff was in the Rose Bowl when the game went down. Here’s what we saw in and around Saturday’s game.

This Was UCLA’s Super Bowl (But Who Could Blame Them?)

UCLA’s start to the 2025 season has been dreadful. Before playing the Nittany Lions, the Bruins lost to Utah, UNLV, New Mexico, and Northwestern, being outscored 125-57 in those games.

Penn State served as UCLA’s biggest home game of the season as they were ranked in the top 10 entering Saturday’s contest. While it was cool to see more fans in the Rose Bowl than I expected, there were some obvious jabs at the Nittany Lions throughout and especially after the game.

UCLA frequently played “Mo Bamba,” the song that famously plays in Beaver Stadium during big moments. The song was also the subject of some online trolling by the Oregon Ducks social media team after their victory in the White Out last weekend. I didn’t think much of it originally because Penn State doesn’t have a trademark on this song, and other stadiums definitely play the song anyway, but when UCLA’s DJ started playing “Kernkraft 400” after the upset victory, I was a bit shook.

The cheers of “We Are UCLA” started ringing through the home crowd as the blue and yellow confetti (?) dropped from the sky. A crushing visual to an already disturbing outcome for Penn State fans.

Penn State Fans Showed Out

To no one’s surprise, the Penn State faithful showed its numbers in Pasadena. Whether folks traveled from State College or across town, there was a significant amount of white amongst UCLA’s Blue Out. It was hard to tell how much of the population was Penn State fans, but to our approximation, we’d say 40% would be accurate.

California Weather Was Beautiful

The weather in Los Angeles was perfect. The morning was cloudy and breezy, but as game time neared, the clouds parted and the sun shone the rest of the afternoon. From our seats, the clear skies made the pretty mountain scenery even more of a stunning view than advertised.

To those across from the press box, I hope you packed sunscreen because there was no shade for the entirety of the game.

Where’s The Rose Bowl Merch?

Before finding our way to our seats, we walked around the team store in the tailgate lots and then took a stroll around the stadium concourse, but could not find any Rose Bowl-related merch. Each store was only selling UCLA gear, which is fine, but we wanted a keepsake of the venue, not the team.