The 1996 Rose Bowl was the 82nd

Rose Bowl Game The Rose Bowl Game is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2. The Rose ...

. It was the 50th game in the series featuring 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 ...

and the

Pacific-10 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 ...

. The

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 ' ...

defeated the

Northwestern Wildcats The Northwestern Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent Northwestern University, located in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and the only private university in the conference. Northwestern ...

, 41–32, on the strength of two touchdown passes from USC quarterback Brad Otton to wide receiver

Keyshawn Johnson Joseph Keyshawn Johnson (born July 22, 1972) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for eleven seasons. He played college football for the University of Southern Calif ...

. Johnson was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game.

Pre-game activities

The game was presided over by the 1996 Tournament of Roses Royal Court and Rose Parade Grand Marshal

Kermit the Frog Kermit the Frog is a Muppet character created and originally performed by Jim Henson. Introduced in 1955, Kermit serves as the everyman protagonist of numerous Muppet productions, most notably ''Sesame Street'' and ''The Muppet Show'', as well ...

. Members of the court were: Queen Keli Hutchins, San Marino,

San Marino High School San Marino High School (SMHS) is a public high school in San Marino, California, United States, and the only high school in the San Marino Unified School District, Los Angeles County. According to the 2015 California Academic Performance Index S ...

; Princesses Lissa Anderson, Pasadena, Blair High School; Sarah Clinton, Arcadia, Arcadia High School; Nancy Grace, South Pasadena,

Mayfield Senior School Mayfield Senior School is an independent Catholic college preparatory school, founded in 1931 for young women grades 9-12. It is sponsored by the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, a member of the Holy Child Network of Schools and is guided by the ...

; Katherine Kingston, San Marino,

; Jennifer Lai, Pasadena,

Westridge School for Girls Westridge School is an independent day school for girls in grades 4-12. Founded in 1913, Westridge is located in Pasadena, California. Founding Mary Lowther Ranney Westridge founder Mary Lowther Ranney (1871-1939) moved to Pasadena in 1904 wh ...

; and Sara Packer, La Canada,

La Canada High School LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

Teams

Northwestern Wildcats

The Northwestern Wildcats had a string of losing seasons stretching back to 1972, and had not appeared in the Rose Bowl for 47 years, a win in January

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

. The Wildcats opened the 1995 season with a surprise 17–15 win at #9 Notre Dame on September 3, 1995. That Notre Dame finished at number 6 and went to the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in th ...

. However, Notre Dame set the record for largest drop in the rankings

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 the Top-25 era when the next AP poll was released, dropping 16 spots to #25 (this record was beaten by

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 ...

after losing to

Appalachian State Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

during the first week of the 2007 season). The Wildcats, who were then ranked in the AP poll for the first time since 1971, fell out of the spotlight when they lost to

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...

in their next game. They won against

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

and

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

to get back to #25 in the polls. On October 2, the Wildcats had another win that brought them back into national attention, a 19–13 victory over

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...

. The Wildcats won the rest of their games with a perfect 8–0 record in the

. In response to the Wildcats earning a berth in the Rose Bowl, announcer

Keith Jackson Keith Max Jackson (October 18, 1928 – January 12, 2018) was an American sports commentator, journalist, author, and radio personality, known for his career with ABC Sports (1966–2006). While he covered a variety of sports over his career ...

uttered the quote "We've had all the romance; now let's find out if she can dance."

USC Trojans

The USC Trojans opened with six wins until losing at Notre Dame, 38–10, on October 21. On October 28, USC and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

played what would be the deciding game for the conference at

Husky Stadium Husky Stadium (officially Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium for sponsorship purposes) is an outdoor football stadium in the northwest United States, located on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. It h ...

. Down 21–0 in the fourth quarter, the Trojans scored three straight touchdowns, with the final coming with 33 seconds remaining. The game ended in a 21–21 tie. A Washington loss to

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 ...

on November 4 put USC in the lead in the Pac-10 race. Coming into the

UCLA–USC rivalry The UCLA–USC rivalry is the American collegiate athletics rivalry between the UCLA Bruins sports teams of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and USC Trojans teams of the University of Southern California (USC). Both universit ...

game, the Trojans already had the Rose Bowl berth by virtue of more non-conference victories than Washington, even though a loss to the Bruins would leave both teams with a 6–1–1 record. The Trojans lost to the Bruins, 24–20.

Game summary

Scoring

First quarter

*USC: S. Woods 1-yd run (Abrams kick) USC 7–0 *NU: D. Autry 3-yd run (Gowins kick) Tied 7–7

Second quarter

*USC: Barnum 21-yd pass from Otton (Abrams kick) 13:05 USC 14–7 *USC: Abrams 30-yd FG 3:29 USC 17–7 *USC: McCutcheon 53-yd fumble return (Abrams kick) 2:56 USC 24–7 *NU: Gowins 29-yd FG 0:02 USC 24–10

Third quarter

*NU: Gowins 28-yd FG 11:01 USC 24–13 *NU: D.Autry 9-yd run (conversion failed) 8:17 USC 24–19 *USC: K.Johnson 56-yd pass from Otton (Abrams kick) 6:08 USC 31–19 *NU: Schnur 1-yd run (Gowins kick) 2:58 USC 31–26

Fourth quarter

*NU: D. Autry 2-yd run (conversion failed) 13:01 NU 32–31 *USC: Abrams 46-yd FG 9:09 USC 34–32 *USC: Washington 2-yd run (Abrams kick) 3:00 USC 41–32

References

{{USC Trojans bowl game navbox Rose Bowl Rose Bowl Game Northwestern Wildcats football bowl games USC Trojans football bowl games Rose Bowl January 1996 sports events in the United States