Rose Bowl Game
| Rose Bowl | |
|---|---|
| The Rose Bowl Game presented by citi | |
| The Granddaddy of Them All | |
| File:RoseBowlLogo.jpg Rose Bowl logo, 2006 | |
| Stadium | Rose Bowl |
| Location | Pasadena, California |
| Previous stadiums | Tournament Park (1902, 1916 — 1922) Wallace Wade Stadium (1942)[1] |
| Previous locations | Durham, North Carolina (1942)[1] |
| Operated | 1902, 1916 — present |
| Conference tie-ins | Big Ten, Pac-10[2] |
| Previous conference tie-ins | Pacific Coast |
| Payout | US$17,000,000 (2006) |
| Sponsors | |
| Former names | |
Tournament East-West football game (1902) The Rose Bowl Game presented by AT&T (1998 — 2001) The Rose Bowl Game presented by PlayStation 2 (2002) | |
| 2007 matchup | |
| Southern California, Michigan (32-18) | |
| 2008 matchup | |
| TBD (Jan 1, 2008) | |
The Rose Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the stadium of the same name in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is then played on the following Monday. Nicknamed The Granddaddy of Them All, the Rose Bowl is the oldest and, over the course of its history, the most prestigious bowl game. It is part of the annual Tournament of Roses event, which also includes the Tournament of Roses Parade.
In 2002 and 2006, the Rose Bowl game was also the BCS National Championship Game. In the current BCS alignment, the Rose Bowl will host the Big Ten and Pacific 10 conference champions unless they are involved in the national championship game.
History
Originally titled the "Tournament East-West football game," the Rose Bowl was first played on January 1, 1902, starting the tradition of New Year's Day bowl games. The inaugural game featured Fielding Yost's dominating 1901 Michigan team, representing the East, who crushed a previously 3-1-2 team from Stanford University, representing the West, by a score of 49-0 after Stanford quit in the third quarter. Michigan finished the season 11-0-0 and was considered the national champion. Yost had been Stanford's coach the previous year. The game was so lopsided that for the next 15 years, the Tournament of Roses officials ran chariot races, ostrich races, and other various events instead of football.[3] But, on New Year's Day 1916 football returned to stay.
Before the Rose Bowl stadium was built for the January 1, 1923 match, games were played in Pasadena's Tournament Park, approximately three miles southeast of the current stadium. In the game's early years, except during World War I, the Rose Bowl always pitted a team, but not necessarily the conference champion, from the Pacific Coast Conference, the predecessor of the current Pacific Ten Conference, against an opponent from the Eastern U.S. Beginning with the 1947 game, the game's participants were established as the champions of what is now the Big Ten Conference and the Pac-10.
Since 1998, however, with the creation of the Bowl Championship Series, team selection for the Rose Bowl is now tied to the other three BCS bowls, although in any given year the Rose Bowl still attempts, if possible, to maintain the traditional Pac-10 versus Big Ten format. Twice in this era, the Rose Bowl has served as the BCS championship game.
The 2002 game, between Nebraska of the Big 12 Conference and Miami, then a member of the Big East Conference, was the first matchup since 1946 not featuring the traditional pairing and the first matchup ever without a West Coast team.
The 2006 game featured offensive powerhouses Texas, riding a 19-game winning streak, and USC, who entered the game with a 34-game winning streak and 2 Heisman Trophy winners. Texas won 41-38. Many regard this game among the most exciting championship games in sports history. The game's television viewership was the highest for college football contest since the 1987 Fiesta Bowl between Penn State and Miami.
On two other occasions during the BCS era, Rose Bowl participation has expanded beyond the Big 10 and Pac-10. The 2003 game featured the first appearance by Oklahoma. The 2005 game featured Texas of the Big 12 Conference, selected, amid some controversy, over California, of the Pac-10.
The 2004 game is also noteworthy. In this game, USC defeated Michigan, 28-14, thus earning the top ranking in the AP Poll and a share of the national championship with BCS champion LSU.
Sponsorship and broadcasting rights
For many years the Rose Bowl eschewed sponsorship, but in 1998 the game became known as The Rose Bowl Game presented by AT&T and in 2002 as The Rose Bowl Game presented by PlayStation 2. Since 2003, when the agreement with Sony expired, the game has been presented by citi. The Rose Bowl still spurns sponsorship to a degree, as its sponsor's name is listed less prominently than in other bowl games. Other bowls typically list their sponsor as part of the game's name, rather than merely as the presenter of the game.
From 1952 to 1987, the Rose Bowl was televised by NBC in a 1 p.m. PST time slot, the only New Year's bowl airing at that time. Since 1988, it has been broadcast on ABC. While FOX has secured the broadcasting rights to the other Bowl Championship Series games, the Rose Bowl, which negotiates its own television contracts independent of the BCS, has agreed to keep the game on ABC.
Frequent participants
USC has played the most times in the Rose Bowl, with 31 appearances, followed by Michigan (20), Washington (14), and Ohio State (13). Alabama, 4-1-1 in Rose Bowls, has made the most appearances of any team outside the Pac-10 and Big Ten conferences.
USC has won the most Rose Bowls (22), followed by Michigan (8), Washington (7), and Ohio State (6). Michigan has lost the most (12), followed by USC (9), UCLA and Ohio State (7 each).
The most frequent Rose Bowl matchup is USC-Michigan, occurring for the eighth time in 2007, with USC holding a 6-2 advantage. (Including rare meetings outside the Rose Bowl, USC leads this series 6-4.) The next most frequent matchup is USC-Ohio State, occurring for the seventh time in 1985, with USC holding a 4-3 advantage.
From the 1946 season (1947 game), when the Big Ten-Rose Bowl agreement began, through the 1971 season (1972 game), the Big Ten did not allow its teams to appear in the Rose Bowl in consecutive years. There was one exception: Minnesota played in the 1961 and 1962 games. (Several unusual circumstances occurred in the 1961 season: the Big Ten-Rose Bowl contract had been allowed to lapse, Big Ten champion Ohio State was invited anyway, and the Ohio State faculty turned down the bid.)
Also of note, during this era Big Ten and Pac-8 teams could play only in the Rose Bowl; this restriction was not lifted until the 1975 season.
The only member of the Pac-10 or the Big Ten to have never appeared in the Rose Bowl is the University of Arizona.[4]
The Rose Bowl was exclusively a Big Ten-Pac-10 affair for 52 years, from 1946 (1947 game) through 1997 (1998 game). While the Big Ten dominated the game in the late 1940s and 1950s, and the Pac-10 dominated during the 1970s and early 1980s, over the entire 52-year span, each conference won 26 games.
The BCS era now covers the past nine seasons, starting with 1998 (1999 game). Of the five games featuring the traditional Big 10-Pac-10 matchup, the Pac-10 leads 3-2.
Game results
- Years listed below indicate the January game date; for example, the 2007 game was played following the 2006 football season.
- Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the 1942 game was moved to Duke University's Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, North Carolina, as officials were wary of allowing such a large crowd to congregate anywhere on the West Coast due to World War II security threats.
Italics denote a tie game.
* denotes BCS National Championship Game
** game played in Durham, NC, due to a restriction on crowds allowed on the West Coast after Pearl Harbor
Game MVPs
Note: Beginning with the 2005 Rose Bowl Game, the Rose Bowl began awarding offensive and defensive players of the game.
Trivia
- On the Jimi Hendrix live performance "Live at the Filmore East" on New Years Day, 1970, Hendrix says before singing Power Of Soul "Right now I would like to congratulate the Southern California Trojans. I'm very happy that they beat Michigan." He is congratulating the USC Trojans victory against Michigan in the Rose Bowl that year.
Previous logos
-
2002 National Championship game logo
-
2006 National Championship game logo
Notes
- ^ a b The 1942 game was played in Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, North Carolina, due to a restriction on crowds allowed on the West Coast after Pearl Harbor.
- ^ If either conference champion is in the BCS National Championship Game, the champion is replaced by a BCS at-large team.
- ^ Bowl Games: College Football's Greatest Tradition, by Robert Ours, 2004, pgs. 3-4
- ^ "List of Rose Bowl Games from official website".
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