College Football: 5 most interesting bowl games

3. Cotton Bowl — No. 8 USC vs. No. 5 Ohio State

USC and Ohio State used to meet on a near-annual basis in the Rose Bowl. Both had dreams of breaking into the College Football Playoff this season, but two losses on each team’s record meant that they would have to settle for squaring off against one another instead of against defending national champion Clemson.

But because the Rose Bowl is serving as a semifinal site this year, they missed out on a chance to play the first Rose Bowl against one another since 1985. Instead, the classic matchup of the Big Ten champion and the Pac-12 champion will take place instead 1400 miles away at the Cotton Bowl.

For Ohio State, this is the first time in three decades that they will appear in the Cotton Bowl. They knocked off Texas A&M on New Year’s Day 1987 in their only previous appearance in the game. USC, meanwhile, has also appeared only once at the Cotton Bowl. The Trojans took down Texas Tech 55-14 in the 1995 edition of the game.

As far as bowl games go, a matchup between Southern California and Ohio State is always going to draw intrigue. It is amazing that it has been 33 years since they last matched up in the postseason. Both teams will be motivated to prove that they were unfairly kept out of the College Football Playoff.