*All athletes have that one game, that one contest, that ranks as the most unforgettable of their lives. It can be memorable because of a personal or team achievement, a dramatic finish, a sentimental moment, or any number of other factors.
Continuing an annual summer series, Packers.com caught up with the members of the 2009 draft class to ask them about the game they'll never forget. It could be a game at any level of competition that took place at any time. They're all hoping their new NFL careers will give them new memories and new games to cherish, but for now, these rank at the top.*
It's one thing to end a college career with a victory. It's yet another to end it in dominating fashion on the national stage.
That's what USC linebacker and Packers first-round draft pick Clay Matthews got to experience last year, as his Trojans routed Penn State 38-24 in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.
The game was nowhere near as close as the final score. Behind quarterback Mark Sanchez, who threw for 413 yards and four touchdowns, USC scored on five consecutive possessions in the first half to take a 31-7 lead at intermission. Penn State, averaging 40 points per game coming in, was held by USC's defense, ranked No. 1 in the nation, to that seven points until the final quarter.
"We really gave it to them as far as showing up from the first play to the last play," Matthews said. "We got out of the gates fast and we didn't let off until the end of the game. Offensively they were on point, with Sanchez and everything he did, and the defense, we really showed the nation why we were the No. 1 'D'. We just had a great time out there. We were having fun, flying around the ball."
The dominant performance had many wondering whether USC, at 12-1, might have been the best team in the country, and USC coach Pete Carroll declared after the game he didn't think anybody could beat his squad. But an early-season upset loss at Oregon State for all intents and purposes had knocked the Trojans out of the national title picture.
That seemed to be a regular refrain for USC throughout Matthews' career, after the Trojans lost in the final seconds to Texas in the BCS National Championship game his redshirt freshman season. USC would lose a game it shouldn't have and ultimately make it to the Rose Bowl but not the title game.
It frustrated the Trojans, to say the least, but Matthews said it always made them more determined in their bowl game, last season perhaps moreso than any other.
"We had a few losses in those years to teams maybe we shouldn't have lost to, so every game after that you could see we had something to prove," Matthews said. "All the critics wrote us off, but if you notice at the end of the year, there was no team playing as well as we did. I think we always had something to prove."
Matthews spent his entire college career with that attitude. Originally a walk-on, Matthews became a special teams regular in his early years at USC and eventually worked his way into the starting lineup as a senior.
As part of what was considered the best linebacking corps in the nation, along with Rey Maualuga and Brian Cushing, Matthews was a major factor in USC's top defensive ranking last year, having traveled as long a road as anyone to reach that status in one of college football's elite programs.
{sportsad300}"Obviously with starting and making plays for the team and contributing moreso overall, it was that much more special," Matthews said of his final year, and final game. "Considering it was my senior year and going out with all the other seniors, we were a real special team and a real special class, so it meant a lot to finish strong out there.
"I had one year to do what most people had in four years to do, so I tried to show each and every play why I deserved to be on the field, to make a name for myself to be in the position I am today. I made sure going out there I was going to have a stellar game, and fortunately enough I did that."
Statistically, Matthews' contributions in the Rose Bowl were modest, with five tackles, but bottling up Penn State was truly a team effort, as seven defensive starters posted four or more tackles.
Matthews recalled one big hit he made late in the game on Penn State quarterback Darryl Clark, forcing a wobbly pass that was intercepted by a teammate, the final big play in a day full of them for the USC defense.
"Coach Carroll met me on the sideline gave me a big hug, kind of for all the work I'd put in and everything I'd done for the program," Matthews said. "To be rewarded in that type of manner and make a play like that culminated not only a great season but a great career, not as far as productivity and starting time, but where I've come from and where I'm going."
