The Buckeyes have not played in the Granddaddy of Them All since the conclusion of the 2009 season and a game with the Oregon Ducks on January 1st, 2010 as the No. 8 Buckeyes were too much for first-year Oregon head coach Chip Kelly in a 26-17 win.

That game served as a national statement for Terrelle Pryor as he walked away from Rose Bowl MVP honors and set up Ohio State for what was supposed to be a big 2010 season. We all know that the 2010 season ended up being one that was stricken from the NCAA record books after the news of the ‘Tat-Five’ scandal broke and set Ohio State on a course on uncertainty until Urban Meyer took over the program in advance of the 2012 season and cost one of the best to ever patrol the sidelines, Jim Tressel, his job as Ohio State’s head coach.

As we are just a little more than a week away from the Rose Bowl, we look back at Ohio State’s last appearance in the game and how Ohio State came out on top against the Ducks.

The Buckeyes came into 2009 coming off of a 10-3 season in 2008 that saw Ohio State share a Big Ten title but lose out on the auto-berth into the BCS due to a 13-6 loss to Penn State in October of that year. That would be Ohio State’s second loss after a bludgeoning at the hands of USC in Los Angeles, 35-3. Ohio State would score the first three points of the game and USC would score the next 35 in a game that was note even as close as the score would indicate.

The Buckeyes would end up beating Michigan by 35 to end 2008 and go on to the Fiesta Bowl and not be able to hang on against Texas despite scoring the go-ahead touchdown with two minutes left in the game on a Boom Herron 15-yard touchdown run as Colt McCoy would find Quan Cosby from 26 yards out for the game winner with 16 seconds left in the game.

Ohio State would open the 2009 season as the No. 6 team in the poll and would be taken to the brink by Navy in the season opener in Columbus in a 31-27 win over the Midshipmen before Ohio State would not be able to hang on against USC in a battle of top-10 teams as the Trojans would score in the final 70 seconds of the game to steal an 18-15 win.

Tressel's Buckeyes would run off four straight wins after that before getting tripped up at Purdue in a 26-18 loss.

Tressel’s team would win out for the rest of the season including a big 24-7 win at Penn State as well as a 27-24 win over Iowa at home in overtime before a 21-10 win over Michigan that would give Buckeyes the conference title and send Ohio State to the Rose Bowl.

Oregon would come into the game with two losses as well, losing the season opener at Boise State and then a loss at Stanford in November would keep the Ducks out of the BCS conversation as well, but the Ducks would end the season on a high note with a double overtime win at Arizona and follow that up with a tough 37-33 win over Oregon State in the ‘Civil War’. This would be Chip Kelly’s first year as head coach of the Ducks as he took over for Mike Bellotti and Kelly would win Pac-10 coach of the year honors in his debut season.

The Buckeyes knew that the Ducks had a powerful offense and it would be best to keep the ball out of the hands of quarterback Jeremiah Masoli and the talented running back room that included LaMichael James, Kenjon Barner and LeGarrette Blount. The Buckeyes managed to do just that by possessing the ball for a staggering 41:37 while running 89 offensive plays to Oregon’s 53 and holding the Ducks to just 260 yards of total offense including 81 by way of the pass.

Pryor would outgain the Ducks with 266 yards passing on 23-37 passing including two touchdowns and an interception along with 72 yards of rushing on 20 carries. Everyone expected the Buckeyes to come into this game and really showcase the run with Pryor, Brandon Saine and Boom Herron and while the Buckeyes did run the ball 51 times in the game, it was the passing game that carried Ohio State including an eight-reception for 101 yards outing by DeVier Posey who ended up catching the final touchdown of the game to seal the deal.

Ohio State had to settle for four field goals in the game, two by Aaron Pettrey and two by Devin Barclay or the game may have seen a wider margin.

The Ohio State inability to punch the ball into the end zone on those drives made the game much closer than it really should have been and Oregon took a 17-16 lead in the 3rd quarter after a one-yard Masoli rushing touchdown gave the Ducks their only lead of the contest.

Barclay’s second field goal of the game would give Ohio State a 19-17 lead with six minutes-plus to go in the 3rd quarter and then in the 4th quarter, Pryor and Posey would hook up for a 17-yard touchdown that was a very similar play call to a pass that Posey could not haul in earlier in the game. It was a good bit of redemption for Posey to bring that one in and Ohio State would hold a nine-point lead with seven minutes to go in the game.

Oregon knew it needed two scores and Kelly opted to try and get three points back with a 44-yard field goal try on the ensuing drive but Morgan Flint would go on to miss his first field goal since the 3rd of October and that would essentially salt the game away as the Buckeyes would keep it on the ground and Pryor would pick up first down after first down to keep the ball away from the Ducks as Ohio State held on to the ball for the final 5:10 of the game.

The win would snap a three-game BCS losing streak for the Bucks and would mark Ohio State’s first Rose Bowl win since John Cooper’s Buckeyes defeated Arizona State in the 1997 Rose Bowl in dramatic fashion.

The following season, Oregon would run off of perfect 12-0 to advance to the BCS Championship Game against Auburn. The Ducks would get up to No. 1 in the rankings in October and would have ranked wins over Stanford, USC and Arizona before falling to Auburn in a 22-19 on a last second field goal by Wes Bynum from 19-yards out.

Oregon would take over the No. 1 ranking from the Buckeyes who lost in Madison (Wisc.) against the Badgers in a 31-18 stunner that would see Wisconsin return the opening kickoff of the game for a touchdown. A furious comeback would see Ohio State close the gap to 21-18 before the Badgers would run off the next 10 points to seal the deal.

Ohio State would not lose again and would go to the Sugar Bowl to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks and win in a 31-26, in a game that Ohio State would hold a 28-10 edge going into halftime and would have to survive a blocked punt late in the game to hold on for dear life before Solomon Thomas saved the day with an interception to end the Arkansas threat. It would make Ohio State's first win over an SEC team in a bowl game in program history.

The NCAA would go back in and wipe that season out and mark it down as an 0-1 year with 12 vacated wins. It would also lead to the departure of Tressel and clear the path for Meyer to take over the program after a 6-7 season under Luke Fickell.