Ohio State vs. USC through the years

There have only been 23 match-ups between Ohio State and Southern Cal through the years but there are few out of conference rivalries that stir up more imagery than when the Buckeyes and Trojans meet on the field.

The two storied rivals will trade in the familiar backdrop of either the Rose Bowl, Ohio Stadium or the LA Coliseum for cavernous AT&T Stadium for the upcoming Cotton Bowl game on December 29th. It will be the first time these two teams have played one another since September of 2009 and the Buckeyes would like to stop a recent seven-game skid that dates all the way back to the 1974 Rose Bowl.

The bluest of bluebloods will be on display as two programs that combine for 14 Heisman winners, more than 150 first round draft picks and almost a combined 200 weeks atop the Associated Press poll will take center stage in what most are saying is the best non-Playoff bowl game of the entire postseason slate.

Ohio State is on the wrong end of the series with USC holding a 13-9-1 edge in a series that started in 1937 and that last saw the two teams play 72 years later. Ohio State is 3-4 in the postseason all-time against USC and have lost the last three bowl games by a combined five points with one-point losses in both 1980 and 1975.

We're taking a look at some of the past games of this series between the Buckeyes and Trojans as fans across the country patiently wait for game number 24 in this series to take place in a just a few short weeks.

The Buckeyes were led by head coach Francis Schmidt in his fourth year as Ohio State head coach and would enter the game a perfect 2-0 after back-to-back shutout wins over TCU and Purdue in Columbus. The Buckeyes made the trip to Southern Cal to play the Trojans for the first time in program history, only to come up one point short in a 13-12 contest. Ohio State would go on to finish second in the Big Ten, one game behind league champion Minnesota.

After dropping their second game against USC in 1938, the Buckeyes would get a chance to get on the board in 1941 against USC back in Southern California. This time the Scarlet and Gray would get a measure of revenge in a 33-0 shutout win over the Trojans in Paul Brown's first year as Ohio State head coach. The 1941 team would feature future Heisman Trophy Winner Les Horvath but it was Jack Graf, Charlie Anderson and Dick Fisher who all would rush for first half touchdowns to set the tone in USC's first shutout loss in more than a decade.

Ohio State would open the season as the No. 1 team in Brown's second year as head coach and would run through the Fort Knox Army squad and Indiana in the first two games of the season. USC would come to town looking to spoil Ohio State's top-ranking. USC would get on the board first with an early touchdown but then Ohio State would rush back with 28 straight points including a 64-yard touchdown strike from Paul Sarringhaus to Bob Shaw, who caught the ball near the USC 37-yard line and raced the rest of the way for the score. Ohio State would go on to win 28-12 over the visiting Trojans. Ohio State would eventually fall to Wisconsin in Madison (Wis.) three weeks later, 17-7, but would win its last four games before being award the AP National Championship, the first AP title in program history.

Ohio State held a 4-3-1 lead in the series at this point before the two teams would play in the 1955 Rose Bowl. The legendary Woody Hayes would lead the Buckeyes into this game a perfect 9-0 and ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation. USC would come into the game ranked at No. 17 with an 8-2 mark. Ohio State would open a two-score lead after a Dave Leggett 3-yard touchdown run that was followed up by a 21-yard touchdown pass from Leggett to Bob Watkins. Southern Cal would answer with an 86-yard punt return from Aramis Dandoy but would never score again. Ohio State would add a 4th quarter touchdown to win the game 20-7 and finish off the perfect season and claim a national championship.

The 1968 Ohio State football team will always be remembered for the Super Sophomores that included players like Rex Kern, Jack Tatum, Jim Stillwagon, John Brockington and Mike Sensibaugh to name just a few. The 1969 Rose Bowl would pit the No. 1 ranked Buckeyes against the No. 2 ranked Trojans with their running back Phenom, O.J. Simpson. USC would get off to a 10-point lead that was capped off by an 80-yard touchdown run by Simpson with less than seven minutes left in the quarter. The Buckeyes would draw even after a one-yard Jim Otis touchdown run followed up by a 26-yard field goal. The Buckeyes would take the lead in the 3rd quarter with another short field goal before Rex Kern would lead the Buckeyes on a pair of 4th quarter touchdown strikes to put the Buckeyes up 27-10. USC would add a late touchdown and come up short, 27-16. The Buckeyes would be award yet another National Championship.

It is hard to believe that it has been more than 40 years since the Buckeyes have defeated USC, but that is the case with the 1974 being the last win for Ohio State over the Trojans. Ohio State entered this game off of a 10-10 tie with Michigan which led to a controversial vote by conference athletic directors that eventually sent Ohio State to the Rose Bowl. USC was the defending National Champion and started the season ranked No. 1 but had tied Oklahoma and lost to Notre Dame earlier in the season. Pete Johnson would have three short touchdown runs while Archie Griffin would run in a late 47-yard touchdown in the 4th quarter as Ohio State would go on to win 42-21 to finish the year 9-0-1.

Archie Griffin would win the Heisman Trophy and the Buckeyes were No. 1 for much of the season before a 16-13 loss to Michigan State in early November would hang the first loss on the Buckeyes for the year. Ohio State would win games against Iowa and Michigan to climb to No. 3 and would face the No. 5 ranked Trojans. Ohio State would take a 7-3 lead into the 4th quarter before Pat Haden would hit Jim Obradovich from nine-yards out to give USC the lead. Ohio State would score the next 10 points with a Cornelius Greene 3-yard touchdown run and a 32-yard field goal to take a 17-10 lead. USC would march 83 yards in the final minutes of the game where Haden would hook up with Johnny McKay for a 38-yard score. The Trojans went for two and the win and McKay hit Shelton Diggs for the two-pointer and Ohio State lost 18-17 in a heartbreaker.

It was a battle of top-10 teams at Ohio Stadium with No. 3 USC visiting No. 8 Ohio State. The Buckeyes were reeling from a 35-3 loss to USC in Los Angeles from a year before and had plenty of motivation to finally snap the streak against the Trojans and end a five-game losing streak against top-five opponents that had included a pair of BCS Title Game losses. Ohio State would have to settle for field goals instead of touchdowns on two separate drives from 18 yards and 22 yards as the Buckeyes held a 15-10 lead in the third quarter of the game. The Buckeyes had USC pinned on its own 5 with 6:09 left in the game and a 2nd-and-19 play call to be made. Running back Joe McKnight would come alive on the final drive of the game and a big pass play from Matt Barkley to Anthony McCoy would move the Trojans into Ohio State territory. The drive would be capped off with a two-yard touchdown run by Stafon Johnson to go up 16-15. USC would connect on a two-point try from Barkley to McKnight to give the Trojans a three-point led. Terrelle Pryor would take an 18-yard sack on the first play of Ohio State's last drive and the Buckeyes would end up going four-and-out as a Pryor pass attempt on 4th-and-10 went incomplete and the Buckeyes fell 18-15 in a heartbreaker.