No rain, but I was freezing my ass off. Luckily I bought three commemorative rose bowl shirts and wore them all to stay warm. i'm posting pictures and writing my rose bowl journal right now.
That's usually the sentiment, but it doesn't come out that way. As a 21 year old, I speak from experience here.
Mack was right, there isn't one. There are a few that are close, though. The 1997 and 1993 Rose Bowls are the two best I've seen up until now. Historically speaking, the 1975 and 1963 games would compare.
Take your pick: 1926 - Alabama 20 Washington 19 Wallace Wade's Alabama (9-0) launches the "Age of Dixie" by edging Washington (10-0-1) in a 20-19 thriller despite the heroics of the Huskies' great running back George Wilson. In the 38 minutes Wilson is able to play, Washington scores three times and gains 300 yards, but in the 22 minutes he is out with an injury, his team gains only 17 yards and is outscored three touchdowns to none. Wilson has 134 yards in 15 carries and completes five passes. Johnny Mack Brown and "Pooley" Hubert lead Alabama rally after trailing 12-0 with three third-quarter touchdowns. Bill Buckler's two of three conversions makes the victory difference. 1929 - Georgia Tech 8 California 7 The most famous play in Rose Bowl history occurs this day. Georgia Tech (9-0) defeats California (7-1-1) by an 8-7 margin when Cal center Roy Riegels runs 65 yards the wrong way with a recovered fumble. Riegels is twisted to the ground by teammate Benny Lom on the one, setting up a Tech safety on a blocked Lom punt by Tech's Vance Maree. Later touchdowns by Tech's "Stumpy" Thomason and Cal's Irvine Phillips become meaningless and 71,000 fans go home shocked by what they had seen. Riegels, who plays a great game at center, says he got mixed in directions. Lom says, "I shouted but he couldn't hear me because of the crowd noise." Tragic as the Riegels wrong way run is, it gets the Rose Bowl Game national notoriety that never existed in such scope previously! 1956 - Michigan State 17 UCLA 14 Another colorful Big Ten coach, Duffy Daughterty, is introduced to Pasadena as the 8-1 Michigan State Spartans edge the 9-1 UCLA Bruins of Henry (Red) Sanders 17-14. Dave Kaiser wins the game for Daugherty with a 41-yard field goal with seven seconds to play. Bob Davenport gives UCLA a 7-0 lead on a short touchdown buck, but an Earl Morrall pass to Clarence Peaks for 13 yards ties the game. A lateral-forward pass play from Morrall to Peaks to John Lewis produces a 67-yard Spartan touchdown before Ronnie Knox leads a Bruin drive that makes it 14-14 on Doug Peters' short scoring run. 1963 - USC 42 Wisconsin 37 Passing records are established as USC (10-0) gives Johnny McKay his first of five Rose Bowl victories against three defeats by outlasting Milt Bruhn's Wisconsin Badgers (8-1) in a 42-37 aerial show. Pete Beathard throws four touchdown passes for the Trojans while Ron VanderKelen of the Badgers completes 33 of 48 attempts. The long duel ends in hazy darkness as Wisconsin rallies from a 42-14 deficit. Pat Richter catches 11 of VanderKelen's passes. Hal Bedsole stands out as a Trojan receiver. Wisconsin outgains USC 486 to 367 in total yardage and 32-15 in first downs. 1980 - USC 17 Ohio State 16 John Robinson makes his Rose Bowl total 3-0 and the West cuts the Big Ten lead to 18-16 since the pact began as USC (10-0-1) bumps Earl Bruce's Ohio State (11-0) out of a national championship with a comeback 17-16 victory. Trailing 16-10, USC gains possession on its 17 with 5:31 to play and drives to the winning touchdown by Charles White before the final gun. With Anthony Munoz returning from a season-long knee injury to open holes, White carries six times for 70 of the needed 83 yards in the drive, his final effort one previous yard. Eric Hipp then kicks the winning point. USC's earlier points come on a 41-yard Hipp field goal and a 53-yard touchdown pass from Paul McDonald to Kevin Williams. Helping the Trojan cause is a successful goal line stand led by Myron Lapka after an Art Schlichter to Gary Williams bomb puts the ball on the two. Earlier a 67-yard Schlichter to Williams touchdown bomb and three Vlade Janakievski field goals give Ohio State 16 points. White has a record 247 yards in 39 carries, an iron man extraordinary. 1991 - Washington 46 Iowa 34 The Washington Huskies of Don James (9-2) defeat Hayden Fry's Iowa Hawkeyes (8-3) in the Rose Bowl's highest scoring game ever 46-34. Quarterback Mark Brunell passes for two touchdowns and runs for two more. Iowa never quits after trailing 33-7 at halftime. Greg Lewis rushes 128 yards in 19 carries for the Huskies. In the 20-point fourth quarter "never say die" Iowa resurgence, quarterback Matt Rodgers runs for two scores and passes for one. 1993 - Michigan 38 Washington 31 Washington attempts to win three consecutive Rose Bowl games but falls short as undefeated but thrice-tied Michigan outlasts the Huskies 38-31 before a crowd of 94,236. The suspenseful offensive show featured Player of the Game Tyrone Wheatley of Michigan who scores on runs of 56, a record 88 and 24 yards. The 225-pound running back finds wide open country after he breaks through a jammed line of scrimmage and races away from futile Washington chasers. Quarterback Elvis Grbac engineers a winning drive midway in the fourth quarter, throwing a 15-yard scoring pass to tight end Tony McGee who catches six passes for the day. Michigan outgains 9-2 Washington 483 yards to 413 in a game that see-saws to a 31-31 tie before the Grbac-McGee connection settles it. The record breaker for the game, however, is the southpaw Washington quarterback Mark Brunell who passes and turns to three-time career highs in Rose Bowl action -- passing yardage (560), total offense (618), completions (39), touchdown passes (5), and touchdowns involved (7). Brunell hits Jason Shelley for a 64-yard touchdown pass and Mark Bruener for 18 years and another tally. The all-time, one-game Rose Bowl rushing record eludes Wheatley who has 235 yards before being sidelined by painful back spasms. 1996 - USC 41 Northwestern 32 USC has two players who stand above all others -- the reason the Trojans defeat the popular Northwestern Wildcats 41-32 in the 50th anniversary game of the Pac-10, Big Ten, Tournament of Roses pact. Wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson makes 12 catches for a Rose Bowl record 216 yards (and Player of the Game status), and quarterback Brad Otton completes 29 of 44 passes for 391 yards, including two touchdowns. The key Johnson catch is good for 56 yards and a score when Northwestern rallies in the second half, the play Wildcat coach Gary Barnett admits "parted the seas," before 100,102 spectators. Darnell Autry scores three touchdowns for Northwestern while gaining 110 tough yards on 32 carries. Quarterback Steve Schnur passes for 336 yards on a 23 for 39 passing day, and D'Wayne Bates catches seven, but USC gives John Robinson his fourth Rose Bowl victory during his career by making the big plays at the crucial moment. One of these plays occurs when Sammy Knight strips the ball from Brian Musso and Daylon McCutcheon races 53 yards for a touchdown to make the score 24-7 late in the second quarter. The other comes when a Schnur pass sails too high with Northwestern trailing only 34-32 in the fourth quarter. The ball is intercepted by Trojan safety Jesse Davis, who returns it 41 yards and sets up the clinching touchdown by Delon Washington. 1999 - Wisconsin 38 UCLA 31 Wisconsin running back Ron Dayne rushed for 246 yards and four touchdowns, leading No. 9 Badgers to a 38-31 triumph over the UCLA Bruins in the 85th Rose Bowl, January 1, 1999. Named Player of the Game, Dayne came just short of the Rose Bowl record of 247 rushing yards, but tied a record with his touchdowns and certainly not without the help of freshman defensive back Jamar Fletcher and freshman defensive lineman Wendell Bryant. Fletcher intercepted a pass thrown by UCLA quarterback Cade McNown and returned it for a touchdown to give the Badgers a 38-28 lead with 14:08 left in the Game. UCLA cut the Badgers' lead to 38-31 and had one last chance with less than two minutes remaining. But on fourth-and-3 from the Badgers' 47 yard line, McNown was sacked by Bryant, leaving UCLA with its second consecutive Rose Bowl loss to Wisconsin (the previous in 1994 Game.) Wisconsin finished the season with a school-record 11 wins to go with one loss. No. 6 UCLA finished 10-2.
You didn't see half of those. BTW, after reading all those, I'd still have to go with the UT game with the 1980 and 1963 games being close. The first two in the 20s don't count because football sucked back then.
LOL...true. I mentioned the 1929 game because of "Wrong Way Roy Riegels". My Dad was born and raised in Ohio, and he was always (and still is) a big Ohio State fan, so we always made it a point to watch the Rose Bowl game to see OSU win or to see Michigan lose.
It was such a good game because of individual efforts of Young and Edwards who each pretty much carried their team. Last secong fg to win. Plus it was the first meeting ever between two of the most historic programs in the country and UT's first trip to the Rose Bowl.
I can. Kordell Stewart could actually pass when he was in college. A better comparison for Vince Young would be Quincy Carter. Vince Young is Quincy Carter with better running skills. Young better learn how to catch a ball, because WR would be the position he would have the most success in the NFL. Yes, OU is losing some players but Texas is too. I will give the edge to OU though since they have shown the ability to consistently get the most out of their talent.
Does anyone happen to know where I can download this game? My DVR wasn't smart enough to keep recording and I literally got cut off right at the commercial break after the PAT for Vince's last TD (5:09 left in game). I am one depressed person watching the replay and not seeing the ending... .
That's a pretty lame list. I watched most/all of these and not one of these games was as exciting as the one last night, not even close. Last night was the first one in history where the game was decided by a score on the last play, not a bunch of QBs taking knees like these ones. As for whether or not a bunch 8-7 games from the single wing era were more exciting, I don't know or care.
Loosen the bone, Wilma..... I'm not here to debate the title of Greatest Rose Bowl Ever. If you think that this year's game fits the bill, great. I simply pointed out the excessive hyperbole of a 19 yr old making such a statement. RM95 said "Can you point to one, oh wiser and more experienced Behad?", so I pulled a few from a list. Chill.
