2009 Rose Bowl The 2009 Rose Bowl , the 95th edition of the annual game , was a college football bowl game played on Thursday , January 1 , 2009 at the same - named stadium in Pasadena , California . Because of sponsorship by Citi , the first game in the 2009 edition of the Bowl Championship Series was officially titled the " " Rose Bowl Game presented by citi " " . The contest was televised on ABC with a radio broadcast on ESPN Radio beginning at 4 : 30 PM US EST with kickoff at 5 : 10 PM . Ticket prices for all seats in the Rose Bowl were listed at $ 145 . The Rose Bowl Game was a contractual sell - out , with 64 , 500 tickets allocated to the participating teams and conferences . The remaining tickets went to the Tournament of Roses members , sponsors , City of Pasadena residents , and the general public . Scoring 24 unanswered points in the second quarter , the Pacific - 10 Conference Champion University of Southern California Trojans defeated the Big Ten Conference co - champion , the Pennsylvania State University Nittany Lions , 38 - 24 , for their third consecutive Rose Bowl victory ( in their fourth consecutive appearance , having lost the 2006 BCS title game to the Texas Longhorns ) . The victory gave the Trojans their 24th Rose Bowl championship , the most by any team in the country . Quarterback Mark Sanchez scored five touchdowns , one rushing and four passing . Prior to the game , the Pac - 10 conference had a 4 - 0 record in bowl games this season with wins by Arizona , Cal , Oregon , and Oregon State . The Trojan win gave the Pac - 10 a perfect five out of five games , which was the only perfect conference bowl record of the season . The Big Ten conference had last won a Rose Bowl game in the 1999 season ; this streak ended when Ohio State beat Oregon in the 2010 Rose Bowl . In 2012 the NCAA vacated all of Penn State ' s wins from 1998 - 2011 due to a major child sex abuse scandal , but not the team ' s losses in this span so this game remains in the books as a Penn State loss . Teams . The teams participating in the Rose Bowl Game were announced on Sunday , December 7 , by the Pasadena Tournament of Roses football committee . Big Ten co - champions , Penn State , coached by Joe Paterno , were picked to play against Southern California , the champions of the Pac - 10 , coached by Pete Carroll . Penn State earned its bid via a head - to - head tiebreaker , beating Ohio State , 13 – 6 in Columbus , Ohio , on October 25 , 2008 . The Men of Troy earned their way in by defeating UCLA 28 - 7 on December 6 , 2008 . USC was designated as the home team , wearing dark jerseys and using the east bench on game day . The 2009 game marked the first time since that the traditional teams — the champions of the Big Ten and the Pac - 10 — squared off at the Rose Bowl , because at least one league champion played in the BCS Championship in each the previous four years . In , Big Ten champion Michigan met Texas , as USC played Oklahoma in the designated BCS Championship Game game that year , the Orange Bowl . The following year , USC met Texas in the game , which was designated as that year ' s BCS National Championship contest ; Big Ten champion Penn State played in the Orange Bowl against Florida State . In and , the runners - up of the Big Ten were sent to this game , since the champion , Ohio State , participated in the newly - established separate BCS Championship Game : the Wolverines played in 2007 and Illinois would do so the following year ; both teams played ( and lost to ) the Trojans . Both teams lost one game during the 2008 regular season . Penn State was defeated by Iowa ( 24 - 23 ) and Southern California lost to Oregon State ( 27 - 21 ) . USC and Penn State had faced two common opponents in the regular season . Both teams defeated Ohio State and Penn State beat Oregon State prior to the Beavers ' defeat of the Trojans . Penn State had appeared in the Rose Bowl twice before , losing to the Trojans 14 - 3 in in their only previous meeting in " The Granddaddy Of Them All " , and winning in over 1994 Pac - 10 champion Oregon 38 - 20 , the latter game capped an unbeaten season in which Penn State finished # 2 in both major polls . The Trojans have played in the Rose Bowl more times than any other team and made its fourth consecutive appearance in 2009 . The two teams have faced each other eight times , with each team winning four games . The Kickoff Classic XVIII on August 27 , 2000 , in Giants Stadium at East Rutherford , New Jersey , was the last time they met : the Trojans defeated the Nittany Lions , 29 - 5 .