Woody Hayes’ 1955 Rose Bowl game

Ohio State University will play Utah this Saturday, Jan. 1, in the 108th Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. Interestingly, the team has played Utah only one other time, in 1986 in Columbus. The Buckeyes beat the Utes by a lopsided 64-6.

This Saturday’s game will be the 16th time Ohio State has played in the Rose Bowl.

Its 1955 game was a memorable one. The Buckeyes, both Big Ten and national champions, were the only unbeaten college football team in a major postseason game and were favored by two touchdowns. Seventy million people were expected to watch the New Year’s Day game on NBC. (Fun side note: Tickets were only $5 plus tax.)

Coach Woody Hayes had been worried because nine of his players suffered upset stomachs and were feeling below par just two days before the big game. Despite this, they recovered, and the team sloshed its way to a 20-7 triumph over Southern California on a field that was described by The Dispatch as a “quagmire” after an all-day downpour. The Buckeyes, covered in mud, celebrated as their fans tore down

the goal posts.

Dean Dugger, an All-american end in 1954, vividly recalled the day’s muddy field at a reunion of the championship team 30 years later. He said the rain had mixed with sand on the field, got under their equipment and gave most players severe sandpaper-like skin abrasions.

The Buckeyes have an 8-7 all-time record in the Rose Bowl. Wins were in 1950, 1955, 1958, 1969, 1974, 1997, 2010 and 2019. Losses were in 1921, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1980, and 1985. Contributor Linda Deitch was a Dispatch librarian for 25 years.

JOE PASTOREK / DISPATCH FILE PHOTO Ohio State’s Rose Bowlers sent holiday greetings to readers back home in this photo that ran across the front page of the Columbus Evening Dispatch on Jan. 1, 1955. Coach Woody Hayes and the Big Ten Champion Ohio State Buckeyes took on Southern Cal that day and won. The starting Buckeyes were (L to R): Howard Cassady (who would go on to win the Heisman Trophy the next year), Hubert Bobo, Dick Brubaker, Francis Machinsky, Dave Williams, Bob Thornton, Jim Parker, Dick Helinski, Dean Dugger, Bobby Watkins, Dave Leggett and Coach Hayes.

DISPATCH FILE PHOTO In December 1954 in California, just a few days prior to the Rose Bowl game, “Christmas away from home wasn’t too bad,” The Dispatch reported. Grouped around Coach Woody Hayes are (L to R) Dick Helinski, Jim Parker, Ed Howley, Dave Leggett and Howard Cassady. Hayes’ son, Steven, is the boy on the right.

DISPATCH FILE PHOTO Ohio State Marching Band trumpet players (L to R) Tom Larimer, Harold Bingham and Wilbur Garland model their new sweatshirts at the 1955 Rose Bowl.