Ranking the 30 Greatest National Championship Games
By Zach Bigalke
22. 1969 Rose Bowl
#1 Ohio State d. #2 USC 27-16
BEFORE THE GAME
The Rose Bowl for a long time thwarted the creation of an annual national championship game at the top level of college football. However, the oldest bowl game of them all also provided a unique opportunity for postseason games featuring the top two teams in the country — at least when those two teams were the champions of the Big Ten and Pac-8/Pac-10 conferences. 1968 was one such year, as Ohio State and USC stormed undefeated through the regular season.
The Buckeyes opened their season by demolishing a top-15 SMU team by three touchdowns. They stormed through an Oregon team that finished below .500, but schedule strength counted for far less than victories in the days of the purely poll-driven national championship. Woody Hayes’ team allowed just 16.3 points per game in Big Ten play, including a 13-0 shutout of then-#1 Purdue and a 50-14 win over then-#4 rival Michigan.
Penn State, an independent program in Joe Paterno’s third season as head coach, had a case to be made as the only other undefeated and untied team in the land. But the polls felt that USC’s 21-21 tie against top-10 Notre Dame was not enough to put them below the Nittany Lions. Instead Penn State survived a 15-14 Orange Bowl against Kansas and was forced to settle for second in the final AP poll. For the second time in the decade, the Rose Bowl would serve as a de facto national championship game.
THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
The game kicked off a celebration of college football’s centennial celebrations, and the two teams seemed to take some time to get up to speed in Pasadena. The first quarter passed in a scoreless tie, but the Trojans soon found their stride. They seemed poised to take a 10-0 lead into the locker room at halftime, but then a momentum swing in the final two minutes saw Ohio State tie the game up before the intermission. Things slowed back down after halftime, and a Buckeyes field goal separated the two teams heading into the fourth quarter.
A USC fumble opened the door for the Buckeyes to take control of the game in the final frame. Rex Kern found Leo Hayden just over a minute into the fourth quarter, and another fumble gave Ohio State another easy touchdown five minutes in. With a 17-point lead, the OSU defense continued to tee off on the Trojans, who finished the game with five total turnovers. While Penn State had also won their bowl game and finished the year with one more victory, the voters in both the AP and Coaches polls kept the Buckeyes at the top of the rankings after taking down O.J. Simpson and crew.