The 1969 Rose Bowl was the 55th
edition
Edition may refer to:
* Edition (book), a bibliographical term for a substantially similar set of copies
* Edition (printmaking), a publishing term for a set print run
* Edition (textual criticism), a particular version of a text
* Edition Recor ...
of the
college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most ...
bowl game
In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...
, played at the
Rose Bowl in
Pasadena, California
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
I ...
, on Wednesday, January 1. The top-ranked
Ohio State Buckeyes
The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree ...
of the
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
defeated the defending national champions - #2
USC Trojans
The USC Trojans are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ' ...
of the
Pacific-8 Conference
The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...
, 27–16.
Sophomore
quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
Rex Kern
Rex William Kern (born May 28, 1949) is a former American football player. He played professional football in the National Football League at defensive back for the Baltimore Colts and Buffalo Bills. In college, Kern was the quarterback for ...
of Ohio State was the
Player of the Game.
[2008 Rose Bowl Program](_blank)
, 2008 Rose Bowl
The 2008 Rose Bowl Game presented by Citi, the 94th Rose Bowl Game, played on January 1, 2008 at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California, was a college football bowl game. The contest was televised on ABC, the 20th straight year the network ...
. Accessed January 26, 2008.
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...
winner
O. J. Simpson rushed for 171 yards and an 80-yard touchdown run, but USC had five turnovers, including an interception and a fumble by Simpson. It was only the second #1 vs. #2 matchup in the Rose Bowl, the first was
six years earlier. It was the first time in the history of the
Big 9(Ten) – PCC/
Big Ten – AAWU agreements that two unbeaten teams met in the Rose Bowl.
It was the first of four Rose Bowl matchups between the head coaches;
Woody Hayes
Wayne Woodrow Hayes (February 14, 1913 – March 12, 1987) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Denison University (1946–1948), Miami University in Oxford, Ohio (1949–1950), and Ohio State University (1951 ...
of Ohio State and USC's
John McKay. It was the first of three with the national championship on the line for both schools.
Teams
This was only the second time in the Rose Bowl where the #1 and #2 teams in the
AP Poll
The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...
played and only the third time in a bowl game: the
1963 Rose Bowl
The 1963 Rose Bowl was the 49th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on Tuesday, January 1, at the end of the 1962 season. The top-ranked USC Trojans defeated the Wisconsin Badgers, 42–3 ...
was the first and the
1964 Cotton Bowl Classic
The 1964 Cotton Bowl Classic was the 28th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday, January 1. Part of the 1963–64 bowl game season, the game was a de facto national championship g ...
was the second. It was the 12th time overall that the #1 and #2 team faced each other since the inception of the
AP Poll
The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...
in
1936
Events
January–February
* January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...
.
Games Where #1 Faced #2
(kiko13.com) The Bowl Championship Series
The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, including ...
was created later to make at least one matchup of the top two teams in the nation.
Ohio State Buckeyes
The Buckeyes featured a group called "The Super Sophomores" playing in their first varsity season: John Brockington
John Stanley Brockington (born September 7, 1948) is a former American football player, a running back
in the National Football League (NFL) with the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs. He was a first round draft choice out of Ohio State Un ...
, Leo Hayden, Rex Kern
Rex William Kern (born May 28, 1949) is a former American football player. He played professional football in the National Football League at defensive back for the Baltimore Colts and Buffalo Bills. In college, Kern was the quarterback for ...
, Jim Otis
James Lloyd Otis (born April 29, 1948) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons during the 1970s. Otis played college football for Ohio St ...
, Jim Stillwagon
James R. Stillwagon (February 11, 1949 – February 4, 2018) was an American football player who played five years in the Canadian Football League and was a two-time All-American during his college career.
Stillwagon was a three-year starter ...
, and Jack Tatum
John David Tatum (November 18, 1948 – July 27, 2010) was an American football safety. He played 10 seasons, from 1971 through 1980, with the Oakland Raiders and Houston Oilers in the National Football League (NFL). He was popularly known as " ...
.
The Buckeyes throttled #4 Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
50–14 to complete the regular season, and were favored in the Rose Bowl by 3½ points.[
]
USC Trojans
The defending national champion Trojans finished undefeated with one tie, which occurred at the end of the regular season against ninth-ranked Notre Dame. They had been ranked first since October 14, but dropped to second after Ohio State routed #4 Michigan;[ USC stayed in that runner-up position even after the 21–21 tie on November 30.] They were captained by Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...
winner O. J. Simpson; it was the third of four consecutive Rose Bowl appearances for USC.
Game summary
This Rose Bowl was also the beginning of a celebration of a century of college football. Later during the 1969
This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon.
Events January
* January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco.
* January 5
**Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...
season, many teams wore uniform patches or helmet stickers with "100" to signify the centennial
{{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation)
A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years.
Notable events
Notable centennial events at a ...
.
A number of celebrities were present, including President-elect
An ''officer-elect'' is a person who has been elected to a position but has not yet been installed. Notably, a president who has been elected but not yet installed would be referred to as a ''president-elect'' (e.g. president-elect of the Unit ...
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
, Bob Hope
Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...
, California Governor and future United States President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
and his wife Nancy Reagan
Nancy Davis Reagan (; born Anne Frances Robbins; July 6, 1921 – March 6, 2016) was an American film actress and First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989. She was the second wife of president Ronald Reagan.
Reagan was born in N ...
, and former Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
head coach and then-ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
analyst Bud Wilkinson.[Welcome Home. Time Magazine, January 10, 1969] First Lady Pat Nixon
Thelma Catherine "Pat" Nixon (''née'' Ryan; March 16, 1912 – June 22, 1993) was First Lady of the United States from 1969 to 1974 as the wife of President Richard Nixon. She also served as Second Lady of the United States from 1953 to 1961 wh ...
was a graduate of USC, but President Nixon spent time on both sidelines. Richard Nixon called the Rose Bowl Game, "the prize game of all bowl games."
After O. J. Simpson scored on an 80-yard run to give USC a 10–0 lead, a Trojans fumble at their 21-yard line set up a Rex Kern pass to Leo Hayden for the final four yards. A fumbled reception cost Southern Cal the ball again at its own 16. USC had five turnovers, including two by Simpson. Simpson, besides having a fumble and interception, also underestimated the speed of Jack Tatum, the Ohio State cornerback. This happened on a swing pass that should have been a touchdown, and then on the same series when Simpson overthrew a touchdown pass to Ted DeKraai. Ohio State had one fumble, but managed to keep possession.[
]
Scoring
First quarter
*''No scoring''
Second quarter
*USC - Ron Ayala 21 field goal, 9:40
*USC - O. J. Simpson 80 run (Ayala kick), 6:38
*OSU - Jim Otis
James Lloyd Otis (born April 29, 1948) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons during the 1970s. Otis played college football for Ohio St ...
1 run (Jim Roman kick), 1:45
*OSU - Roman 26 field goal, 0:03
Third quarter
*OSU - Roman 25 field goal, 1:40
Fourth quarter
*OSU - Leo Hayden 4 pass from Rex Kern
Rex William Kern (born May 28, 1949) is a former American football player. He played professional football in the National Football League at defensive back for the Baltimore Colts and Buffalo Bills. In college, Kern was the quarterback for ...
(Roman kick), 13:52
*OSU - Ray Gillian 16 pass from Kern (Roman kick),10:05
*USC - Sam Dickerson 19 pass from Steve Sogge (Sogge pass failed), 0:45
Aftermath
The following season, Ohio State
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...
was stunned in defense of their national title against Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
, led by first-year head coach Bo Schembechler
Glenn Edward "Bo" Schembechler Jr. ( ; April 1, 1929 – November 17, 2006) was an American football player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Miami University from 1963 to 1968 and at the University of ...
, in one of the most notable games in the rivalry
A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...
. When the Super Sophomores were seniors in 1970
Events
January
* January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC.
* January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...
, OSU went undefeated in the regular season and returned to Pasadena in January 1971 *
The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6).
The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history.
Events
Ja ...
, but was upset by Stanford
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...
, led by Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...
winner Jim Plunkett
James William Plunkett (born December 5, 1947) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for sixteen seasons. He achieved his greatest professional success during his final eight seasons with the ...
, the first pick of the 1971 NFL Draft
The 1971 National Football League draft was held January 28–29, 1971, at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City, New York. The Boston Patriots, who did not officially change their name to New England Patriots until after the draft, used th ...
.
After losing this Rose Bowl, the Pac-8/10 dominated the series for the next two decades, winning the next four Rose Bowls, ten of the next eleven, and sixteen of the next eighteen.
The next Rose Bowl that matched the #1 and #2 teams was thirty-three years later in January 2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
, with Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
(Big East) and Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...
(Big 12), in the BCS National Championship Game
The BCS National Championship Game, or BCS National Championship, was a postseason college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), first played in the 1998 college fo ...
.
References
Bibliography
*University of Southern California football media guide. (PDF copy available a
www.usctrojans.com
*Ohio State University football media guide. (PDF copy available a
www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com
*''College Football's Twenty-Five Greatest Teams'': The Sporting News
The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...
.
*
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