DaytonDailyNews.com

Because they had traveled to Columbus anyway, Fred Johnson and a few friends braved their way to Ohio Stadium on Nov. 25, 1950. A blizzard had covered the city in snow, but the group was going to be there when Ohio State played Michigan.

"Could you see?" said Johnson, then a graduate student at Michigan. "No."

In one of the most famous games in the rivalry's history, Michigan scored on a safety and a blocked punt to beat Ohio State 9-3, a loss that played in a role in the Buckeyes hiring Woody Hayes a year later. Michigan, meanwhile, defeated California in the 1951 Rose Bowl.

Continuing a tradition that began the year before Johnson's snowy experience in Columbus, Ohio State and Michigan will meet in Ann Arbor today for customary prizes — the conference championship and Rose Bowl berth. Those two things haven't necessarily been connected in recent seasons as the Bowl Championship Series took over college football's four major bowls.

But, to many, the mystique is back.

"My stance is traditional," said Johnson, a member of the Tournament of Roses since 1958 and a past president of the organization that produces the Rose Bowl. "We, partnering with the Big Ten and the Pac-10, started the bowl system. Ohio State and Michigan have been such a big part of that."

Bowl reps happy

Johnson is like most fans of the Big Ten, Pac-10 and college football who feel more comfortable this week with the Buckeyes and Wolverines meeting with the Rose Bowl on the line. In his 49 seasons associated with the bowl, Johnson has watched Ohio State and Michigan participate in Pasadena, Calif., a combined 27 times.

There's a sense of normalcy, like the worn-in spot on your easy chair. In the third week of November, you can count on Ohio State and Michigan playing for the conference championship and the Rose Bowl berth. That reassurance of college football's place in Midwestern routine is back.

"I understand this season didn't go the way some hoped it to go, for both teams," said Mitch Dorger, CEO of the Rose Bowl. "But for many the true judge of a successful season is a conference championship and a Rose Bowl appearance. We certainly think that makes a successful season."

BCS changes game

Michigan played in the first Rose Bowl when James Wagner, the president of the Tournament of Roses in Pasadena, suggested playing a postseason football game to increase interest in his organization's annual New Year's Day event. That was 1902, and the Wolverines beat Stanford so thoroughly (49-0) that they didn't host another Rose Bowl until 1916. In between, they organized chariot races.

Ohio State first played in the Rose Bowl in 1921. Michigan didn't go again until 1948. But particularly starting with Ohio State's 1968 national championship season, the Buckeyes and Wolverines made the Rose Bowl a constant destination.

"I bet they don't know for certain what it used to be," said OSU coach Jim Tressel of his 1980s-born players. "I'm sure they've had time to watch it over the years and they know something we always talk about is our Big Ten partnership with the Rose Bowl."

That partnership altered with the creation of the Bowl Championship Series, and the Rose Bowl went three of the past six years without a Big Ten participant. But with the introduction of a fifth BCS game to serve as the national championship, the bowl is back to its roots: Big Ten vs. Pac-10.

That's why Tournament of Roses president C.L. Keedy will be in Ann Arbor today with a bundle of roses to present to the winner. The Rose Bowl is back as the OSU-Michigan prize.

"If you're not vying for a national championship, maybe your fans are upset or your team is upset at first," said OSU receiver Brian Hartline. "But we're past that."

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7389 or knagel@DaytonDailyNews.com.