USC regular season football history vs Ohio State: 1948

The Trojans and Buckeyes were both unbeaten in 1944. Four years later, they struggled to maintain dominance.

USC and Ohio State both possess proud and prodigious histories as college football programs. The records speak for themselves.

USC quickly rose to prominence and remained elite under program patriarch Howard Jones. Jeff Cravath’s first several seasons, through 1947, were largely successful. Then came Jess Hill’s respectable tenure, followed a few years later by the John McKay-John Robinson era, followed in the 21st century by Pete Carroll and, after a decade-plus of struggle, the Lincoln Riley era.

Ohio State won a national championship in 1942 under future football legend Paul Brown. Then, in 1951, Woody Hayes began his storied 28-year tenure in Columbus. Over the past 55 years of college football, Ohio State has failed to win nine games in a season only 13 times. The Buckeyes win. Regularly.

Yet, as great as these programs have been, the late 1940s was a time when neither school maxed out. In 1948, USC’s run of Rose Bowls under Cravath came to an end. The USC Trojans lost at home to Ohio State, 20-0. This was the third straight shutout between these two teams, with the two schools alternating wins and losses.

USC ended the 1948 season with a 6-3-1 record and no bowl game. Ohio State ended at 6-3. It was simply an unremarkable year for two remarkable programs. Better days were behind the Trojans, and better times lay ahead for OSU, with Woody Hayes just three years away from starting his historic tenure in Columbus.

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