Ohio State and Southern California have a long and colorful history in bowl games. For fans of a certain age, the scarlet and gray clashing with the cardinal and gold was a mainstay of New Year’s Days in Pasadena.
The Buckeyes and Trojans will renew their series this season, but the setting will be different.
The Cotton Bowl announced that #5 OSU and #8 USC will face off at Dallas Cowboys Stadium on December 29. It kicks off at 8:30 pm on ESPN.
It will be Ohio State’s second appearance in the Cotton Bowl, following a 28-12 win in the 1987 game. The Buckeyes also played at Cowboys Stadium when they won the 2014 National Championship against Oregon, and will return there next fall for a neutral-site game against TCU.
The game pits the two Power Five conference champions who finished the year with 11-2 records, but were left out of the playoff field. USC claimed the Pac-12 title Friday night in Santa Clara with a 31-28 win over Stanford. The Buckeyes captured the Big Ten title Saturday night in Indianapolis with a 27-21 victory over previously unbeaten Wisconsin.
The Trojans hold a 13-9-1 record in the series, and have won the last seven matchups with the Buckeyes. OSU’s last win against USC came in the 1974 Rose Bowl, after the Big Ten’s tie-breaker vote sent the Buckeyes to Pasadena over Michigan.
Since then, USC crushed unbeaten Ohio State’s national title hopes with one-point wins in the 1975 and 1980 Rose Bowls, won the 1985 Rose Bowl, and swept home-and-home series in 1989-1990 and 2008-2009.
A few unusual stats about the series:
- USC has more wins (13) against Ohio State in program history than long-time Big Ten members Indiana (9) or Minnesota (7).
- With a win in the Cotton Bowl, they would match Penn State’s all-time win total against the Buckeyes (14).
- Despite playing only twice, the Trojans have more wins over OSU in the past 14 years (2) than Michigan does (1).
- This will be the eighth neutral site game between the Buckeyes and Trojans, the most of any OSU opponent. Alabama is second with four.
SC can be run on very successfully especially if they have to protect the middle and flats against short passes. SC is likely to have a lot of trouble with the constant barrage of rushmen against Darnold. Hoping for a dominating win. Two of the 4 in the championship series are going to fall by the wayside, so a big win is a real plus.
GO BUCKS ! PLAY WELL AND WIN !
Go Bucks!
Still undefeated in all of Texas.
Buyers beware of getting tickets through ticketmaster verified/cotton bowl
I have spent $1200 and there is some technical glitch so I am out the cash and they say I will receive guaranteed tickets within 72 hours of the event. Are you freaking serious???
Today is 12/3 the game is 26 days away.
Not sure if the credit card company will help or not.
Was so looking forward to this match up
Southern Cal has done more than beat us the last 7 times we played them, they’ve humiliated us and rubbed our noses in it, they’ve even mocked our band, our coaches and our fans! They beat us with a true freshman qb in Ohio Stadium, gave us a beat down in L.A. 31-3 (but we didn’t have Beanie Wells) and Coop even gave up with a couple minutes left due to an approaching thunderstorm (that was the last year we paid for tickets to a game). Expect more of the same on January 1st my friends. We will be pouting over not making the playoffs, guys will be protecting their NFL fortunes and not risk injury and Urban will want to make J.T. the hero one final time. My hope is we kick the hell out of them but the reality is a humiliating defeat once again in front of a national audience.
This is going to be a GREAT game to watch if you are a football fan. You will be able to watch the top pick in the draft & others too. If Barrett starts, take the points!!!
Actually this will be the first neutral site game between the two – the Rose Bowl was an ‘$C home game despite the designation.
This will be the national Championship for Northern and Western teams. That other national Championship doesn’t count. You can’t win if they don’t let you play. Actually, Ohio State and USC will represent for more of the country than the playoff will. Clemson, Alabama and Georgia are all deep south teams, and Oklahoma is neither Western nor Northern. The Cotton Bowl will be the National Championship for 3/4ths of America.
No thanks, not interested in the least. Hope if the Buckeyes DO play in it, they win, but really don’t care if they don’t win. The implementation of the playoffs crap canned what Bowl games were supposed to represent. A participation trophy is a participation trophy and they hold exactly NO value.
If you think the playoffs are crap, then why would you also be disinterested in non-playoff games?
Because that’s the system that was forced on College Football. In the former system the Bowl games meant something. Along came a bunch of morons who decided they wanted to eliminate half (or more) of College Programs so they implemented the bizarre clown show of the BCS. They weren’t pleased with the clown show they created, so they invented the mental retardation of a “hypothetically” UNBIASED and equally fake playoff system.
They have done nothing except make into a clown show what has been the greatest of all American pastimes. All in the name of their god…..the almighty dollar bill. It will backfire on them this year………and it should.
Under the original pre B”c”S system the title was mythical. With the B”c”S system they were “supposed” to be fixing it, BUT, they automatically made it nearly impossible for more than half of College football to participate.
This ridiculous system of a fake playoff is entirely more biased than even the B”c”S system. At least the B”c”S used actual metrics in making supposedly unbiased decisions. This fraud of a committee hides behind doors and makes ENTIRELY biased decisions. If they WEREN’T biased, UCF would be in the playoff according to their stated goal. So because of their EXCLUSION (personal bias) against half or more of competing schools, this system STILL only offers a MYTHICAL national champion…………exclusively based on their personal bias.
THEY have reduced bowl game to meaningless poppycock with only negative results being possible. The games are meaningless and potentially dangerous to the players futures if they participate. Players are figuring that out and some have already decided not to participate in clown show spectacles because of those risks. Teams aren’t going to play their best because there really is nothing positive to be gained from participation. A cheap and corny trophy? LOL. Yeah, that’s something to play for which carries exactly NO merit or value.
Mr. Mills, your attitude about the game is (since you used the word first) crap. Ohio State and Southern Cal are two of the legendary programs in college football, and both have very good teams this year. I guess you haven’t been a Buckeye fan long enough to remember the games these two teams have played against each other in the past several decades. Now, I agree with you that the playoffs have minimized the importance of what many bowl games used to represent, such as Pac-8 vs. Big Ten in the Rose Bowl every year, but, well, it was inevitable it would happen. But #5 vs. #8 ain’t a bad matchup. I, for one, will be watching the game and, unlike you, I will enjoy it immensely.
I couldn’t care less what you think about my sentiments concerning this game.
2 legandary programs playing in what amounts to a circus act, a freaking side show attraction for novelty seekers.
Unlike you, I won’t be watching, or even pay any attention to results the next day. I couldn’t care less. I’ll expend my time doing something much more compelling and enjoyable, like, pulling nails out of a rotten piece of lumber, or buying a new television for next years season start when the game will actually mean something.
So in reality? I will neither enjoy it, NOR even consider it at all. But I am CERTAIN I will enjoy my day anyway.
Bah Humbug, someone stole my candy, you said a lot but the it was all your opining like a little child who didn’t get there way. Come up with some facts to back all your subjective opinions, boo hoo hoo, “Smoke or don’t smoke, all the rest is smoke talk.”
Why waste your time here then – go back to your mom’ms basement and fire up the xbox….Buckeye fan my ass….
The New Years 6 games are more compelling than the playoff games. OSU/USC, what a great game!!!
Agreed. PSU vs Washington should be good and even Wisky vs Cryami has plenty of intrigue. All of them sound more fun than either of the semifinals.