The 1975 Rose Bowl was the 61st

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of the

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

, played at the Rose Bowl in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

, on Wednesday, January 1. The fifth-ranked

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ' ...

of the

Pacific-8 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...

defeated #3

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree ...

of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

, in one of the most exciting games in the history of the After a touchdown pass with two minutes remaining to draw within a point, USC quarterback

Pat Haden Patrick Capper Haden (born January 23, 1953) is an American former professional football player and college administrator. He was the athletic director at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles from August 2010 to June 2016 ...

passed to Shelton Diggs for a two-point conversion to take the lead. It gave the Trojans the Rose Bowl victory and the UPI coaches poll

national title A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

. This was the third consecutive year for these teams in the Rose Bowl: USC won in

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

, Ohio State in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

Teams

Ohio State Buckeyes

The defending Rose Bowl champs were the nation's top-ranked team for much of the season, until they were upset by

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

at East Lansing on November 9. Two weeks later, the Buckeyes earned the Rose Bowl berth with a victory over

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, when kicker Mike Lantry's last-second field goal attempt sailed Ohio State was favored to win the Rose Bowl by six points.

USC Trojans

USC was upset by

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

in Little Rock in the season opener, then reeled off five straight wins before a at home against

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. They won their final four games, the most dramatic being a season-ending win over #5 Notre Dame in which the Trojans trailed

Scoring summary

First quarter

* USC – Chris Limahelu - 30-yard field goal."USC Football 1975" media guide

Second quarter

* OSU –

Champ Henson Harold R. "Champ" Henson III (born June 1, 1953 ) is a former college and professional American football fullback. Henson attended The Ohio State University where he led the nation in scoring as a sophomore in 1972. In the second game of the ...

- 2-yard run (PAT - Tom Klaban kick)

Third quarter

:''No scoring''

Fourth quarter

* USC –

Jim Obradovich James Robert Obradovich (born January 7, 1953 in Los Angeles, California) is a former professional American football tight end in the National Football League for the New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His 80 caree ...

9-yard pass from Pat Haden (PAT - Limahelu kick). * OSU –

Cornelius Greene Cornelius Green (born January 21, 1954) is a former American football quarterback who played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes. He was the first African American quarterback to start at Ohio State. Early years Green attended Dunbar ...

3-yard run (PAT - Klaban kick) * OSU – Klaban - 32-yard field goal. * USC – J. K. McKay 38-yard pass from Haden (PAT - Haden pass to

Shelton Diggs Shelton Diggs (born April 23, 1955) is a former American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rec ...

)

Aftermath

Undefeated

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

was the #1 team in the

AP poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

, but were on probation and ineligible for a bowl game. The UPI poll excluded teams on probation, and after the regular season, the UPI had

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

first, followed by Ohio State,

, USC, and

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

. The Trojans' dramatic Rose Bowl win over Ohio State enabled them to leapfrog idle Michigan, and when Notre Dame upset Alabama in the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in th ...

, 13–11, USC was voted #1 in the UPI poll. This game marked USC head coach John McKay's eighth and last appearance in the Rose Bowl and his fifth win. This was the last season in which the Big Ten and Pac-8 conferences allowed just one bowl team each, to the Rose Bowl. Michigan and twelfth-ranked

did not participate in this bowl season; USC was the only Pac-8 team in the top twenty of either final poll. Michigan missed the postseason for three straight seasons, despite ten wins each year and an overall record of .

Game notes

* Third straight time the two teams meet in the Rose Bowl. * Head coach John McKay wins fourth national title. * McKay ends his Rose Bowl career with a 5–3 record, tying Howard Jones for victories. *

Anthony Davis Anthony Marshon Davis Jr. (born March 11, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He plays the power forward and center positions. Davis is an eight-time NB ...

injured and plays less than 1 quarter. * Quarterback Pat Haden & split end John McKay, Jr. were named co-MVPs. * USC kicker Chris Limahelu died of prostate cancer in 2010 at age 59.

References

* {{USC Trojans bowl game navbox Rose Bowl Rose Bowl Game Ohio State Buckeyes football bowl games USC Trojans football bowl games Rose Bowl January 1975 sports events in the United States