Wisconsin Badgers In the final game of the season, Wisconsin defeated
Michigan State in the last
Coca-Cola Classic to secure a conference co-championship. The Badgers' sole loss was to
Minnesota by a score of 21–28 in
their annual rivalry game.
Ohio State lost to
Michigan, 28–0, in
their annual rivalry game. Wisconsin and Ohio State ended the season with identical 9–1–1 records with 6–1–1 conference records, and tied when they met during the season in a game at
Camp Randall (college football would not adopt "
overtime" to resolve ties in regulation until the 1996 season). Wisconsin and Ohio State were co-champions of the
Big Ten Conference. Wisconsin won the Rose Bowl invitation tiebreaker due to Big Ten rules which resolved first-place ties by eliminating the most recent invitee: Wisconsin had last been to the
Rose Bowl in 1963, while Ohio State was in the
1985 Rose Bowl.
UCLA Bruins UCLA opened the season with two close losses: 25–27 against
California, and 13–14 against
Nebraska. The Bruins then won seven in a row, including a win over #7
Arizona. They lost 3–9 against
Arizona State. The 1993
UCLA–USC rivalry game had the
Pac-10 championship and the Rose Bowl berth on the line for both the Bruins and the
Trojans. UCLA won 27–21 at the
Coliseum. Arizona was tied for first, but did not receive the Rose Bowl invitation because of the head-to-head loss at UCLA. This was coach
Terry Donahue's last Rose Bowl appearance. ==Game summary==