The 1949 Rose Bowl was the 35th

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of the

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, played at the Rose Bowl in

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on Saturday, January 1. The seventh-ranked

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of the

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defeated the #4

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, champions of the

Pacific Coast Conference The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (including ...

, 20–14. Northwestern halfback

Frank Aschenbrenner Francis Xavier Aschenbrenner (July 12, 1925 – January 30, 2012) was a professional American football player for the Chicago Hornets and the Montreal Alouettes. Early years Aschenbrenner was born Francis Xavier Aschenbrenner on July 12, 19 ...

was named the Player of the Game when the award was created in 1953 and selections were made retroactively. It was the third Rose Bowl since the Big Nine and PCC made an exclusive agreement to match their conference champions; the Big Nine team won for the third straight year. Northwestern has played in just one Rose Bowl since, 47 years later in January

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. Until the

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, this was the program's only bowl game win.

Teams

Northwestern Wildcats

Northwestern had finished 8–2 in the Big 9 Conference, losing only to perennial powerhouses

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(0–28) and Notre Dame (7–12). Northwestern blanked

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19–0,

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21–0, and

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48–0. Northwestern rallied from three turnovers and a 16-point deficit to defeat

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19–16 as well as defeating

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21–7,

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16–7, and

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20–7. The Big Nine's "no repeat" rule prevented two-time champion Michigan from making a consecutive trip to the Rose Bowl, so second-place Northwestern received the invitation to the game.

California Golden Bears

California had a perfect record going into the game and had averaged 28 points per game over the course of the season. Although neither team had faced each other before, Coach Waldorf had previously been the Wildcats coach from 1935 to 1946 before leaving for the Golden Bears. Northwestern head coach

Bob Voigts Werner Robert Voigts (March 29, 1916 – December 7, 2000) was an American football and basketball player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Northwestern University from 1947 to 1954, compiling a record of 33–39–1. Voigts led ...

was only 33-years-old and had been named an All-American in 1938 playing for Waldorf. California and

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

both had perfect records in the

. California was undefeated overall, and Oregon's only loss was at undefeated

, that year's national champions, and the Ducks had seven victories in the PCC to Cal's six. Oregon, led by quarterback

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and halfback John McKay, opted for a playoff game, but California declined. The tiebreaker format the PCC elected to use was that the championship team be elected by the schools. The PCC had ten members in 1948, six in the Northwest and four in California, so it was assumed that Oregon would be the team playing in the Rose Bowl, as even a 5–5 tie vote would be in their favor. Instead California was voted champion of the PCC, because the University of Washington had persuaded the

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, then a member of the PCC, to vote for California, something that has not been forgotten by Oregon fans. (The PCC allowed a second bowl team that season and Oregon went to the Cotton Bowl, but lost 21–13 to hometown SMU in

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Game summary

ran 73 yards, the longest touchdown return in Rose Bowl history. In the second quarter, the Wildcats were awarded a touchdown in a controversial call when

Art Murakowski Arthur Raymond Murakowski (March 15, 1925 – September 13, 1985) was an American football player. He played fullback for the Northwestern University football team from 1946 to 1949. He was selected as a first-team All-American and won the Ch ...

fumbled the ball entering the endzone, but missed the point-after. Although Jensen is injured early in the third quarter, Cal mounted a 56-yard drive for a touchdown and point-after giving them a one-point lead. In the fourth quarter, with less than three minutes and 88 yards to go, the Wildcats launched a historic drive: Aschenbrenner made the only complete pass of the game to Stonesifer for 18 yards, followed by a 14-yard run by Perricone, a 5-yard penalty against Cal, and then a Statue of Liberty play and 45-yard run by Ed Tunnicliff for a touchdown. The Bears attempted a passing drive in the last minute, but PeeWee Day intercepted a pass to end Cal's hopes of a title. Both Aschenbrenner's and Jensen's runs were from scrimmage. The final touchdown was a direct snap from center to a running back (Tunnicliff) from a T-formation set.

References

{{Northwestern Wildcats bowl game navbox Rose Bowl Rose Bowl Game California Golden Bears football bowl games Northwestern Wildcats football bowl games 1949 in sports in California January 1949 sports events in the United States