Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.
With their 42-17 victory over Tennessee on Saturday night in the first round of the College Football Playoff, Ohio State secured a spot in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. The Buckeyes will take on the Oregon Ducks, who they lost to 32-31 in Eugene back in October. This will be the second time Ohio State and Oregon have met in the first year of an expanded playoff. The Buckeyes beat the Ducks 42-20 in January 2015 in the title game of the first four-team playoff.
This marks the 17th trip to Pasadena for Ohio State to play in the Rose Bowl. The Buckeyes have a 9-7 record in “The Granddaddy of Them All”, winning their last four appearances in the game. Their most recent Rose Bowl came in 2022, beating the Utah Utes 48-45 in a thrilling contest. This will be their third matchup with Oregon in the Rose Bowl. The Buckeyes won 10-7 in 1958 and 26-17 in 2010.
With their storied Rose Bowl history, today we want to know what is your most memorable Ohio State Rose Bowl. No matter who is playing in the game, the scenes in Pasadena are always a perfect way to start the new year with an iconic second-half sunset. Adding the Buckeyes into the equation only adds to the greatness of the game. Hopefully with the Rose Bowl being a part of the playoffs, Ohio State can make their way to Pasadena more frequently than they have over the last few decades.
Today’s question: What is your most memorable Ohio State Rose Bowl?
We’d love to hear your choices. Either respond to us on Twitter at @Landgrant33 or leave your choice in the comments.
Brett’s answer: 2022 vs. Utah
Ironically enough, in their second game of the 2021 season, Ohio State lost to Oregon 35-28 in Columbus. The Buckeyes would rebound to score at least 40 points in seven of their next nine games before falling to Michigan in Ann Arbor in their final game of the regular season. Since the Wolverines would go on to play in the College Football Playoff, Ohio State was chosen to square off with Utah. The Utes rode a six-game winning streak into the Rose Bowl. During that span, Utah beat Oregon twice, with the second victory coming in the Pac-12 Championship Game.
I specifically remember this game because earlier in the day I went to a Columbus Blue Jackets game and they blew a 4-0 lead, giving up seven unanswered goals. I was hoping that awful result wasn’t a sign of things to come for another team from Columbus playing on the first day of 2022. There already were plenty of questions about the offense heading into the game since wide receivers Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave weren’t playing since they opted out to prepare for the NFL Draft.
Early on it looked like some of my fears were coming to life, as Utah jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. Marvin Harrison Jr. scored the first of his three touchdowns in the game to cut the deficit to 14-7 in the first minute of the second quarter. Then there was a wild stretch in the middle of the quarter with four touchdowns in just over a minute. Two of those scores were 50-yard touchdown passes from C.J. Stroud to Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The Utes would go to halftime with a 35-28 lead.
After the teams traded field goals in the third quarter, a key point came with the game tied at 38 in the fourth quarter. Utah quarterback Cam Rising suffered a head injury that kept him out the rest of the game. The Buckeyes took their first lead of the game when Stroud found Smith-Njigba with just over four minutes left. Utah would tie the game with 1:22 left before Stroud and the Buckeyes were able to get into field goal range for Noah Ruggles to kick the game-winner with nine seconds left.
Along with all the action we saw in the game, I’ll remember this game for the performances from Stroud, Smith-Njigba, and Harrison. Stroud set Rose Bowl records with 573 yards and six touchdowns. Smith-Njigba amassed 347 yards, which is a bowl game record, while Harrison set a tone for the next two years in scarlet and gray with a three-touchdown game in his first collegiate start. Even though the game didn’t really mean anything in the grand scheme of things, it certainly was an entertaining watch.
Matt’s answer: 1997 vs. Arizona State
I came of age as a Buckeye fan in the 1990s, so my early fandom was riddled with upsets, disappointments, and squandered opportunities. But this game could arguably considered the peak of the John Cooper Era in Columbus. This roster was one of the greatest of all time led by Orlando Pace in his final season before becoming the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft with other all-time great names like Shawn Springs (that year’s Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year; his back up Antoine Winfield; a defensive line consisting of Mike Vrabel, Luke Fickell, and Matt Finkes; and true freshmen Andy Katzenmoyer and David Boston.
Under center, the Buckeyes ran a two-quarterback system of Stanley Jackson and Joe Germaine and that continued against the No. 2 Sun Devils. Ohio State had secured a trip to Pasadena in the penultimate game of the regular season with a 27-17 win over the Indiana Hoosiers, but, because it was a Cooper-coached team, the then-second-ranked Buckeyes lost to No. 21 Michigan 13-9 in The Horseshoe to finish the regular season.
Nonetheless, the expectations were insanely high for the game (so much so that my parents went to California for the game), and Granddaddy of Them All did not disappoint.
In a back-and-forth game, OSU entered the fourth quarter up 14-10, but after a long Pepe Pearson run late in the quarter, the Buckeye offense stalled inside ASU’s five-yard line. Having to settle for a field goal was less than ideal, but a conversion would put OSU up by seven.
However, the attempt was blocked and thanks to a lateral was returned for a touchdown by Derrick Rodgers. However, a flag negated the score as it was ruled a forward pass. However, that gave Jake Plummer plenty of time to lead his team down the field.
The Snake marched his team down the field on a 10-play drive and eventually took a 17-14 lead with less than two minutes remaining. While Plummer had cultivated a reputation for comeback victories, the day was destined to belong to Joe Germaine.
With 1:40 left, the OSU quarterback orchestrated an iconic drive aided by multiple third-down conversions to the late, great Dimitrious Stanley. Thanks to a defensive pass interference call, the Buckeyes were back at ASU’s five-yard-line when Boston toasted corner Courtney Jackson and was wide open in the flat. Germaine found him and Boston scampered into the end zone with just 19 seconds remaining.
As with many things during the ‘90s, the win was somewhat bittersweet. As thrilling as the victory rightfully was, had OSU beaten their rivals, it almost certainly would have led to a national championship as the No. 1 Florida State Seminoles lost 52-20 in the Sugar Bowl to the No. 3 Florida Gators.
Since FSU had beaten Florida already that season, had Ohio State been undefeated, they likely would have ascended to the top spot, instead of being jumped by Florida; the Buckeyes finished second.
Nonetheless, this Rose Bowl game, especially the final scoring drive lives in Buckeye lore as one of the most thrilling moments in program history, and hopefully another true freshman wide receiver — Jeremiah Smith — can create even more indelible memories in Pasadena this season.