The Buckeyes and Wolverines then battled to a 10–10 tie, making it uncertain who would win the vote among Big Ten athletic directors to determine the league's Rose Bowl representative.
They then needed a miracle comeback to beat Stanford 27–26, getting a touchdown and field goal sandwiched around an onside kick in the last minute of the game.
USC regained the lead briefly at 21–14 early in the third quarter, then Ohio State scored four unanswered touchdowns to win 42–21.
Ohio State stopped a four-game winning streak by the Pac-8 (now Pac-12), but the next Big Ten victories were seven and fourteen years away.
The Buckeyes' next Rose Bowl win came in January 1997, stopping previously undefeated Arizona State.