The 111th annual Rose Bowl game was one of the 2024–25 College Football Playoff (CFP) quarterfinals and featured top-ranked Oregon and sixth-ranked Ohio State, both members of the Big Ten Conference.

The 2025 Rose Bowl was a quarterfinal game for the 2024–25 College Football Playoff (CFP).

Sixth-ranked Ohio State, the number eight seed in the tournament, defeated Tennessee in the first round, 42–17, to advance to this game.

[6] Due to a medical issue, sportswriter Art Spander ended a 70-game streak of attending Pasadena-based playings of the Rose Bowl.

Ohio State's losses to Oregon and archrival Michigan were by a total of four points.