The 111^th Rose Bowl Game marked a significant change in the history of the game. With its matchup no longer tied to its partners at the Big Ten and Pac-12 Conference,  the Rose Bowl Game became a part of the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff. The 2025 edition of The Granddaddy of Them All served as a quarterfinal, the first in the history of the game. But despite the new format of the postseason, familiar foes returned to Pasadena on January 1, 2025: No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 1 Oregon.

The Ducks and Buckeyes met earlier in the 2024 season in a "games of the year" type affair, as Oregon outlasted Ohio State, 32-31, with the Ducks stopping the Buckeyes just outside field goal range as time expired. Oregon finished the season undefeated, earning a bye in the first round of the playoff while Ohio State, fresh off a rivalry game loss to an unranked Michigan, would face Tennessee at home in the first round.
 
This game followed a different script than the meeting earlier in the year. Oregon had nearly a month-long stretch without playing a game after winning the Big Ten Championship and the Ducks started slow. On the other hand, the Buckeyes, fresh off their first-round victory over Tennessee, rolled into Pasadena like a freight train and cruised to a comfortable 41-21 win over Oregon.
 
Ohio State scored a touchdown on the third play of the game. Quarterback Will Howard threw a swing pass that freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith took 45 yards to the end zone. After the teams traded a few punts back and forth, the Buckeyes once again struck from long range as Howard hit senior receiver Emeka Egbuka on a 42-yard strike down the middle of the field to make it 14-0, Ohio State.
 
The Buckeyes kept their foot on the gas into the second quarter, scoring 20 more unanswered points to push their lead out to 34-0. Ohio State had four touchdown drives of three plays or less in the first half, including three passing scores of 40 yards or more and a 66-yard rushing touchdown by running back TreVeyon Henderson.
 
Oregon finally found paydirt on the final play of the first half when quarterback Dillon Gabriel hit receiver Traeshon Holden in the back of the end zone from five yards out to cut the halftime deficit to 34-8.
 
The Ducks carried that momentum into the second half when they started the third quarter with an 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive capped off by running back Noah Whittington, who scored on a two-yard run.
 
Oregon then forced Ohio State into a three-and-out, giving the Ducks fans in attendance a glimmer of hope for their beloved Webfoots to get back into a game that once looked doomed.
 
But it was not meant to be as Ohio State sacked Gabriel on second and third down, forcing Oregon to punt the ball away.
 
Ohio State scored on the ensuing possession, an eight-yard touchdown run for Henderson, effectively putting the game out of reach at 41-15 late in the third quarter.
 
The Ducks added another touchdown midway through the fourth but couldn't overcome the 34-0 first half deficit.
 
Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith ended the day with 187 receiving yards and two touchdowns,  tied for the fifth most receiving yards and the most by a freshman in Rose Bowl Game history.
 
As a team, the Buckeyes defense tallied eight sacks, the second most by a defensive unit in the history of The Granddaddy of Them All. Those sacks led to 56 yards lost, resulting in Oregon finishing the game with -23 rushing yards, the fewest rushing yards in the history of the Rose Bowl Game.
 
The Buckeyes went on to defeat Texas in the CFP Semifinal at the Cotton Bowl, then beat Notre Dame in the 2025 CFP National Championship in Atlanta to become the 32nd team to win a national title in a season they played in the Rose Bowl Game.