1988 Rose Bowl The 1988 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1 , 1988 . It was the 74th Rose Bowl Game . The Michigan State Spartans defeated the USC Trojans 20 - 17 . Michigan State Linebacker Percy Snow was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game . This was the last Rose Bowl game to air on NBC after a 37 - year partnership . ABC Sports picked up rights to broadcast the game the following year . Teams . The teams opened the season against each other in East Lansing , MI in a nationally televised game on Labor Day night . Michigan State took advantage of three USC turnovers to defeat the Trojans , 27 - 13 . Michigan State Spartans . Michigan State , led by former Pittsburgh Steelers assistant coach George Perles , had its best team in many years , beat traditional Big 10 powers Michigan and Ohio State , and won the Big 10 by 1½ games over Indiana and Iowa , who tied for 2nd place . The Spartans followed up the USC win by a 31 - 8 loss at Notre Dame , and then a 31 - 3 home loss to Florida State . The season got back on track with a 19 - 14 win at Iowa . A dramatic 17 - 11 win over in state rival Michigan occurred on October 10 . On October 31 , the Spartans defeated Ohio State , making this the first season since the 1966 National Championship when the Spartans defeated both Michigan and Ohio State . The Indiana Hoosiers also had beaten Michigan and Ohio State , and the meeting between Michigan State and Indiana on November 14 determined the Big Ten championship . Michigan State won 27 - 3 to clinch their first Rose Bowl appearance since the 1965 season . Note that they are the only team in college history to not only beat Big 10 powers Ohio State and Michigan in the same season , but also the USC Trojans twice . USC Trojans . USC struggled early and was only 4 - 3 after 7 games , but won its next 3 to set up a showdown with rival UCLA ( 9 - 1 - 0 ) for the Pac - 10 title and Rose Bowl berth . The UCLA Bruins , with Troy Aikman at quarterback and Gaston Green at running back were favored , and led 13 - 0 at halftime . It could have been worse , as on the last play of the first half , UCLA ' s Eric Turner intercepted a deflected pass at the UCLA goal line and had nothing but green grass ahead of him as he appeared primed to return it for a touchdown . But USC QB Rodney Peete ran down Turner and tackled him at the 10 yard line as time expired . USC had cut the lead to 13 - 10 , and then midway through the 4th quarter , quarterback Rodney Peete threw to WR Erik Afholter in the back of the end zone . Afholter juggled the ball atop his shoulder pad as he slid out the end zone ; television replays indicated no possession but the referees ruled it a touchdown . Leading 17 - 13 , USC then intercepted Aikman as he tried to lead UCLA back and ran out the clock . Game summary . The game was a rematch of the season opener in East Lansing , Michigan , that Michigan State won 27 - 13 . The game was dominated by defense ; the story was Michigan State linebacker ( and game MVP ) Percy Snow , who had 17 unassisted tackles , and 4 USC turnovers . After USC tied the game early in the 4th quarter at 17 , Michigan State marched to a game winning field goal by John Langeloh with 4 minutes to play . The key play of the drive was a 3rd down play in which Michigan State quarterback Bobby McAllister was nearly sacked , then scrambled and at the last instant found receiver Andre Rison at the sideline for a first down that kept the drive alive . USC had time to try to come back , and Trojan QB Rodney Peete led USC on a drive to the Spartan 29 - yard line with 2 minutes to play . But Peete fumbled the next snap , Michigan State recovered , and the Spartans ran out the clock .