COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- The Ohio State Buckeyes are heading back to the Rose Bowl after defeating the Tennessee Volunteers 42-17 Saturday night.
It will be a warm welcome for Ohio State fans traveling to Pasadena after a frigid December home game at The Shoe.
"I was really, really warm the whole game because the energy was just crazy,” Ohio State senior Thomas Ray, a lifelong Columbus resident and fan, said. “Energy was so crazy, it was impossible to be cold in the student section.”
Ray won't be making the cross-country trip to Pasadena, but he's glad the Buckeyes got an extra home game with the new 12-team College Football Playoff format.
"I was a little sentimental because I'm a senior,” he said. “It's my last home game, and (game at) the Shoe is a student, but I was feeling confident. I feel like maybe the loss to that team up north was kind of the spark we needed to say, ‘You know what? Screw it. We're going for it all.’"
For fans who are traveling to the Rose Bowl, there are plenty of tickets available on resale sites like StubHub, Seat Geek, Vivid Seats, and Ticketmaster. The cheapest ticket as of Sunday night to get into the game was $224. Prices did drop about an average of $25 throughout the day on Sunday.
The Rose Bowl offers VIP ticket and accommodations packages on their website. Those packages, which include lodging and tickets to the game and parade, starting at $2,265.
There are five airports within 40 miles of Pasadena, California. Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) is the closest in proximity. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Santa Ana, Ontario International Airport (ONT) in Ontario, California near San Bernardino, and Long Beach Airport (LGB) are all within 40 miles of Pasadena. A Google Flights search shows the cheapest day to fly out of Columbus is New Year's Eve; customers would save about $200 flying out that day instead of the three days prior.
If a road trip is more your speed, the journey from Ohio Stadium to the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena would cover 2,238 miles and would take about 32 hours.
The last time the Buckeyes played in the Rose Bowl was Jan. 1, 2022, when the #7 Buckeyes won a shootout against #10 Utah 48-45.
The Buckeyes and Ducks have matched up in the Rose Bowl before. The first meeting was in 1958, which ended with the National Champion Buckeyes pulling out a 10-7 victory. The only other meeting in the Rose Bowl was in 2010 when the Buckeyes were victorious 26-17.
Buckeye fans on Sunday are feeling a little more confident than just a couple weeks ago after losing to Michigan in the regular season finale.
"I'm feeling good,” Ray said. “You know, we lost to Oregon by, what, one point in the first game of the season at Oregon? It's a whole different game. We're coming in with the best momentum. I think we're going to go and roll them.”
