The 2008 Rose Bowl Game presented by Citi, the 94th

Rose Bowl Game The Rose Bowl Game is an annual American college football bowl game, traditionally played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the Rose Bowl (stadium), Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on ...

, played on January 1, 2008 at the

Rose Bowl Stadium The Rose Bowl is an outdoor athletic stadium located in Pasadena, California, United States. Opened in October 1922, the stadium is recognized as a National Historic Landmark and a California Historic Civil Engineering landmark. With a modern al ...

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

, was a

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

. The contest was televised on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

, the 20th straight year the network aired the Rose Bowl, starting at 4:30pm EST. The game's main sponsor was

Citi Citigroup Inc. or Citi (stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company based in New York City. The company was formed in 1998 by the merger of Citicorp, the bank holding company for Citibank, and ...

. The 2008 Rose Bowl featured the 7th-ranked

USC Trojans The USC Trojans (also Southern California Trojans) are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ...

hosting the 13th-ranked

Illinois Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the College athletics, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's Varsity team, varsity sports. The university op ...

. As with the previous year's game, the contest was a semi-traditional Rose Bowl in that while it was a

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

versus

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

matchup, the Big Ten representative was an at-large team because the conference champion,

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

, which lost to Illinois earlier in the season, was selected to play in the

BCS National Championship Game The BCS National Championship Game was a postseason college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), first played in the 1998 college football season as one of four des ...

. USC was making its third straight appearance in the Rose Bowl, while Illinois had not played in the game since

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

. Though Illinois won the Big Ten Conference title in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, the then-rotating BCS title game moved them to the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed only ...

Game summary

USC took an early 21–0 lead, including a touchdown pass by backup quarterback Garrett Green on a trick play. Illinois verged on closing to 21–10 midway through the third quarter, but receiver Jacob Willis fumbled into the end zone after a catch and Trojans linebacker Brian Cushing recovered for a touchback. USC converted that miscue into a touchdown and then cornerback Cary Harris intercepted Illinois quarterback Juice Williams's pass on the first play of the ensuing possession. Five plays later, Trojans freshman

Joe McKnight Joseph Nathan McKnight Jr. (April 16, 1988 – December 1, 2016) was an American professional gridiron football, football player who was a running back and return specialist in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL ...

scored on a 6-yard run, making the score 35–10. USC gained a Rose Bowl-record 633 yards of offense in defeating Illinois 49–17.

Scoring summary

Game records

Most TD passes career, Rose Bowl History- 7, John David Booty

References

{{USC Trojans bowl game navbox Rose Bowl Rose Bowl Game Illinois Fighting Illini football bowl games USC Trojans football bowl games Rose Bowl January 2008 sports events in the United States 21st century in Pasadena, California