Ohio State head coach Woody Hayes made his final appearance in the Rose Bowl, as Michigan represented the Big Ten in the next three editions.
[5] After the game, Hayes prophetically told his Buckeyes that they would be facing UCLA again in the Rose Bowl; they were the only opponent to score more than fourteen points against Ohio State, and they did it twice.
Ohio State capped an undefeated regular season with a 21–14 win over rival Michigan in Ann Arbor for Hayes' last outright Big Ten championship, and also his last victory over former assistant Bo Schembechler.
With less than three minutes remaining, Michigan's freshman quarterback Rick Leach was intercepted by sophomore safety Ray Griffin, who returned it thirty yards down to the 3-yard line, and fullback Pete Johnson ran it in for the winning touchdown.
[6][7] Michigan was the Big Ten runner-up for a fourth straight year; in the previous three, they stayed home during bowl season because of conference rules.
[9] In his second season as head coach, Dick Vermeil made his only Rose Bowl appearance; weeks later he left for the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL.
In addition to the 41–20 loss to Ohio State, UCLA also fell at home to Washington 17–13 and was tied by Air Force 20–20, but won their other six conference games, including a fumble-plagued 25–22 win over cross town rival USC to clinch the Rose Bowl berth.
[10] UCLA ended up tied with California for the Pac-8 championship, but advanced to the Rose Bowl on the strength of their 28–14 win in an October matchup with the Golden Bears.
This was UCLA's first Rose Bowl appearance in a full decade; in the 1966 edition, they also defeated a team which they had lost to earlier in the season, top-ranked Michigan State.
Ohio State, which inexplicably began passing the ball with regularity, returned to its dominating ground attack and scored early in the fourth quarter to cut UCLA's lead to 16–10.