Val Evans ordered a blue and white flag with the words “We are Penn State” so the 1975 graduate could proudly hang it at her house in time for Monday’s Rose Bowl.

Only trouble is, there aren’t many like-minded fans in her locale.

She lives in Salt Lake City, home of the University of Utah Utes, Penn State’s opponent in Monday’s 5 p.m. Rose Bowl matchup.

Evans and other loyal Penn State alumni in that state will gather to cheer on the Nittany Lions at a watch party, knowing well that the community around them wants a different outcome. When you’re a 2,000-mile drive from your alma mater but still want to raise your team’s flag, it’s what you do.

Not everyone can make it to a bowl game, even “the granddaddy” of them all in Pasadena, Calif., first played in 1902.

So there will be Penn State alumni watch parties Monday hosted across Pennsylvania and in cities like New York, Washington D.C. and Chicago. There will be gatherings in various other towns, too — from Winooski, Vt., to Wethersfield, Conn., to Costa Mesa, Calif.

Not to mention Utah.

Evans, a recent retiree originally from Phillipsville outside of Erie, majored in medical technology and is president of the Penn State Alumni Association’s Utah chapter. In person and on social media, she’s now used to the words “Go Utes!” delivered as playful ribbing from locals.

“It’s already been a lot of fun, because as you can imagine, most of my friends are rooting for Utah,” she said.

Still, she’s not exactly isolated as a fan, even being two time zones away and in a town where locals bleed Utah red. Every week during the football season, she said, Penn State’s alumni association would serve up reassurance on Twitter to its faithful by asking: Where are you watching the game from?

“There’s a connection to me to read down through the list and see posts from London and from other places in the world that are way farther away than we are,” she said.

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Some TV watch parties will likely fill entire restaurant meeting rooms, while others will be more modest. Some will sponsor raffles and seek support for charitable causes.

Taps, of course, will be flowing.

The Greater Pittsburgh chapter hopes some of the fans expected on the South Side will bring canned goods, school supplies or toiletries to be donated to current students.

.@PennStateFball has arrived at Rose Bowl Stadium donning No. 34 jerseys in honor of Franco Harris. pic.twitter.com/Wg6vjCx0ig

— Onward State (@OnwardState) January 2, 2023

The group’s watch party at Sly Fox PGH Brewery at the Highline will likely include a brief tribute to legendary Steelers Hall of Fame running back Franco Harris, 72, who died last month and was a football star at Penn State.

“The Rose Bowl comes with a little more ceremony, pomp and circumstance than a lot of the other bowls,” said Kristen Conti, 39, a 2005 media studies graduate and president of the Greater Pittsburgh Chapter.

She offered no score prediction but was upbeat about her team’s chances.

“Hopefully it’s going to be loud,” she said of the gathering. “I mean loud in a good way.”

Penn State’s alumni chapters aren’t the only ones that had bowl plans over the New Year’s weekend.

On Friday, University of Pittsburgh alumni, too, had choices of where to root for the Panthers if they could not make it to El Paso, Texas, for the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl.

They gathered enthusiastically around TVs in their homes, in Western Pennsylvania bars and eateries or elsewhere in places such as New York, Denver, Philadelphia and Washington D.C.

They were rewarded by a 37-35 win over UCLA — and the biggest bowl comeback (from 14 points down) in Pitt’s history.

Nittany Lions Nation hopes for the same sort of outcome in Pasadena.

Penn State has about 700,000 living graduates. It has at least one alumni association chapter in most states. The association’s group’s listing showed watch parties planned as far south as Fort Lauderdale, Fla. and Huntsville, Ala. and northward nearly to the Canadian border.

In Winooski, Vt., a silent auction of a football signed by Penn State coach James Franklin is planned as the Vermont alumni chapter gathers for its watch party at Four Quarters Brewing near Burlington.

Owned by an alum, it is a friendly gathering spot for her members, said chapter president Karen Edwards. The brewery has grown considerably from earlier days when space was limited.

“One year we sat in the brewery part of the place. We were projecting the game onto a bed sheet on the wall. We were sitting on kegs or we brought our own seats,” recalled Edwards, 63, a 1981 graduate from Milton, Vt., who studied math and computer science. “It was really — how should I say it? — kind of rustic.”

The chapter in Utah covers the entire state, though most of the known 1,400 alumni there are in the Salt Lake Valley or Ogden Valley, said Evans, who before retiring worked 47 years as a medical laboratory scientist.

Some in her Penn State chapter also are Utes season ticket holders. Evans herself holds a second bachelor’s degree from Utah.

But her preference for the Nittany Lions is absolute, even though she hunted for and found a Rose Bowl sweatshirt with depictions of both schools on it.

Sometimes the Utah watch parties are at a downtown Salt Lake City bar called Gracie’s. But Monday’s gathering will be hosted at the home of Dave and Relma Miller in suburban South Jordan. Pulled pork and baked beans will be provided and side dishes are welcomed.

It has snowed there in recent days, said Dave Miller, 67, who studied mining engineering and graduated with the Class of 1977. But shovel-able snow hasn’t chilled the enthusiasm.

“Right now, we’ve got 15 people who have confirmed, positively, that they are coming,” he said.

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