Rose Bowl: What to Know

In collaboration with M!KEDROPSPORTS

Rose Bowl

Washington Huskies (10-3) vs Ohio State Buckeyes (12-1)

Date: Tuesday, January 1 at 4 pm CT

Location: Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California

General Rose Bowl history

Originated: 1902

History of Conferences: Big Ten conference teams are 31-38 and Pac-12 conference teams are 50-43 all-time in the Rose Bowl

Last year’s results: Georgia beat Oklahoma 54-48 in a playoff semifinal game. USC beat Penn State in the last traditional Pac-12 vs Big Ten Rose Bowl in 2017.

2019 Rose Bowl 

This will be the 15^th Rose Bowl for both schools. It’s the first traditional Big Ten champ vs Pac-12 champion game since 2011. This is Washington’s first appearance since 2001 while going 7-6-1 all-time. Ohio State is making their first appearance since 2010 with a record of 7-7.

Washington bowl history

The Huskies are appearing in their third consecutive New Year’s Six bowl game. In 2016, they lost to Alabama in the CFB Playoffs semifinals, in the Peach Bowl. In 2017, they lost to Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl. The Huskies last win was in 2015 over Southern Miss in the Heart of Dallas Bowl, which was during QB Jake Browning and RB Myles Gaskin freshman seasons.

Washington head coach Chris Peterson is 6-5 in his career as a head coach, including his years with Boise State. However, he is just 1-3 at Washington. He is 2-0 in BCS games at Boise State but 0-2 the last two years in the NY6 bowls.

Since the Huskies last Rose Bowl appearance, a win in 2001, they are just 3-7 overall in bowl games.

Why has it been so long since Washington made the Rose Bowl? What have they been up to?

Ohio State bowl history

Here is the list of bowl games that Ohio State has played in during Urban Meyer’s seven-year tenure at Ohio State: Orange, Sugar, Fiesta (twice), Cotton, and National Championship Game. Now they add the Rose Bowl to the list. That is quite a run. OSU is 4-2 in those games, including winning the 2015 National Championship. Including his time at Utah and Florida, Meyer is a whopping 11-3 in bowl games while winning three total Championships (one at OSU, two at Florida).

Ohio State’s last Rose Bowl was 2010, a win over Oregon  

 All-time series history

This is the 12^th all-time meeting between schools and the first since 2007. Ohio State holds the 8-3 all-time lead, including the last three wins in 2007, 2003 as well as 1995. Washington last beat Ohio State in 1994. This is the first bowl game or neutral site game between the two schools.

Chris Peterson and Urban Meyer have never coached against each other. Meyer left Utah before Peterson took over at Boise State. Both men got their starts in the Mountain West with those respective teams, winning a Fiesta Bowl (or two in Peterson’s case) before moving on to bigger schools.

Game Notes

Players to watch

Ohio State: Dwayne Haskins, quarterback – Not only was there no drop off in Ohio State’s offense without JT Barrett, they got much better. Haskins set a new Big Ten record for passing touchdowns, with 47 (shattering Drew Brees record of 39).

Washington: Myles Gaskin, running back – Certainly, Gaskin is the best running back in school history. In fact, he broke every school record. Gaskin compiled 5,202 yards in four years, breaking Chris Polk’s record of 4,049. His 55 career touchdowns is 18 more than Bishop Sankey’s previous record. In 2018, he ran for 1,147 yards along with 10 touchdowns.

Ohio State 2018 Season

For much of the year, this season looked like it was going to be a disappointment and consistently teetered on the brink of disaster for Ohio State. The Buckeyes survived Maryland due to an incomplete pass on a two-point conversion. Then, they lost to Purdue by 29 points. They also struggled in games against Michigan State and Nebraska. But then, they closed out the regular season by, again, beating Michigan while scoring 62 points. One week later, OSU won their second straight Big Ten title game and suddenly, at 12-1, this season became a success.

This will be coach Urban Meyer’s final game (for now). He is 82-9 in seven years in Columbus, including a 4-2 bowl record as well as the 2015 National Championship. Meyer has led the Buckeyes to five different New Year’s Six bowl games with the Rose Bowl being the cherry on top of his career.

Ohio State was eighth in the country averaging 43.5 points per game while putting up the second most yards in the country.

Washington 2018 Season

Washington entered 2018 ranked sixth and had College Football Playoff expectations. Those expectations were quickly deflated with an opening week loss to Auburn. They lost at Oregon in overtime and two weeks later dropped an ugly 12-10 game to California. In fact, senior QB Jake Browning was benched at one point during that game. However, the Huskies ended the year by winning four straight, including the Pac-12 title game over Utah. It also included a sixth straight win over rival Washington State in Pullman, to close out the year.

Huskies allowed just 15.5 points per game. At times, the offense seemed stagnant and slow but the defense carried the Huskies and they still have Gaskin and Browning, the school’s all-time winningest quarterback/running back combination.

Final Analysis

The Rose Bowl figures to be the ultimate chess match between two of the best coaches in college football. This will be Meyer’s second retirement game. Meanwhile, Petersen, who has a track record of winning big games at Boise State, is still looking for that signature win at Washington. The Huskies will move forward with Jacob Eason at QB in 2019, a former Georgia transfer while the Buckeyes will move forward with Ryan Day at head coach and possibly a new quarterback (possibly another Georgia transfer)?

The Rose Bowl Game is big in terms of momentum for 2019. Can the Buckeyes close out strong and send their coach out a winner? Or will the Huskies end the careers of their seniors with a major bowl win?

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