The 2024-25 college football season features 13 games that are rematches of past Rose Bowl Games. With conference realignment moving Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington to the Big Ten, many of the rematches are now regular season conference games.

In week five of the 2024 college football season, Wisconsin heads west to play USC in a rematch of the 1953 and 1963 Rose Bowl Games. The Trojans won both of those games, but only by one-score in each game.
 
The 1953 Granddaddy of Them All was significant in a couple ways, but not for the product on the field. USC won the game, 7-0, on a third quarter touchdown that would be the only score of the game. The importance of that win was that it marked the first time in the seven years of the Big Ten and Pacific Coast Conference pact that the West Coast team had won the game. Additionally, USC head coach Jess Hill became the first person to have played on and coach a winning Rose Bowl Game team.

Wisconsin out-gained USC in the loss, 353 yards to 233 yards, with All-American and future Heisman Trophy winner Alan Ameche leading the way with 133 yards rushing. But it was USC backup quarterback Rudy Bukich who led the Trojans to victory, as he completed five-of-six passes on the key third quarter drive, including a 22-yard touchdown pass to receiver Al Carmichael.

The 1963 Rose Bowl Game was the first bowl game to feature a No. 1 versus No. 2 matchup. Over 60 years later, it still ranks highly among the greatest bowl games of all time.

Wisconsin quarterback Ron Vander Kelen threw for a then-record 401 yards and despite his incredible performance, the Badgers lost 42-37 to USC. Vander Kelen, who shared Player of the Game honors with USC's Pete Beathard, led a fierce comeback in the fourth quarter, bringing Wisconsin within five points after trailing 42-14. USC split end Hal Bedsole caught four passes for 108 yards and two second half scores to stretch out the lead, while Wisconsin tight end and future athletic director Pat Richter tallied 11 catches for 163 yards and a touchdown. Trojans coach John McKay secured the first of his five Rose Bowl Game wins and his first national title.