Maybe the best Rose Bowl game ever

PASADENA, Calif. — It wasn’t for the national championship, but that’s the only thing this football game on the first day of January 2022 wasn’t.

They’ve said the one in 2006, when Texas came back to beat USC, was the greatest Rose Bowl ever, and the most exciting. We’ll amend that contention.

The way a redshirt first-year quarterback from Ohio State amended the school’s and the game’s passing records.

C.J. Stroud grew up in Rancho Cucamonga, about 30 miles east of the Rose Bowl stadium itself, so maybe it was appropriate he would help lead the Buckeyes to a last-second win over Utah, 48-45.

The winning field goal from 19 yards with nine seconds remaining was by Noah Ruggles, but those were merely — merely? — the ultimate points in what had to be one of college football’s ultimate games.

It was a game that dragged before it erupted. Five touchdowns were scored in a three-minute stretch in the second quarter, Stroud responsible for six overall as he threw for 573 yards.

Never mind why Stroud left California, but a year ago as a freshman at Ohio State he never threw a pass, waiting behind Justin Fields, who of course was the No. 1 pick by the Chicago Bears in last year’s draft.

To recycle the line used about winning college football programs, the Buckeyes don’t rebuild, they reload.

But for the first time in eight years, they lost to Michigan in the annual matchup, which is why Ohio State was in the Rose Bowl while Michigan was in the playoffs getting pounded by Georgia.

Be assured, with Stroud back another couple of years, that won’t happen in the immediate future.

On the receiving end of Stroud’s passes were Jaxon Smith-Nigba, with 15 catches for 347 yards and three touchdowns, and Marvin Harrison Jr., the son of a onetime NFL star, with 8 catches for 32 yards and three touchdowns.

How times have changed. Ohio State, where the offense 60 years ago was often described as “three yards and a cloud of dust,” on this New Year’s afternoon ran for 110 yards but passed for almost 600.

Stroud said of his link with Smith-Nigba, “We came in together as freshmen. But me and him doesn’t have a good game without our offensive line. Our backs ran well. Our tight ends blocked well. When you get that combination, you get going.”

Stroud, who also was a fine basketball player in high school, has made it a habit of looking for Harrison. “I call him ‘route man,’” said Stroud. “His routes are amazing, especially against a good corner.”

This Rose Bowl was amazing. Utah was all over the field, but after leading through three quarters, the Utes couldn’t close.

“I’m sure the fans and the networks got their money’s worth out of this one,” said Kyle Whittingham, the Utah coach. “Our guys got nothing to hang their heads about.”

Ohio State has played in numerous Rose Bowls. This was the first for Utah.

“It was a heck of a football game,” said Whittingham.

That it was.