The 2020 Rose Bowl Game was a

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 on January 1, 2020, with kickoff at 5:00 p.m. EST (2:00 p.m. local PST) on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. It was the 106th edition of the

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 ...

, and one of the 2019–20 bowl games concluding the 2019 FBS football season. Sponsored by the

Northwestern Mutual Northwestern Mutual is an American financial services mutual organization based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The financial security company provides consultation on wealth and asset income protection, education planning, retirement planning, investme ...

financial services organization, the game was officially known as the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual, and was a rematch of the

2012 Rose Bowl The 2012 Rose Bowl, the 98th edition of the annual game, was a college football bowl game played on Monday, January 2, 2012 at the same-named stadium in Pasadena, California. The Oregon Ducks of the Pac-12 Conference beat the Wisconsin Badgers ...

, which Oregon also won. Wisconsin made it to their first Rose Bowl since 2013; the game marked the Badgers' fourth consecutive Rose Bowl loss, having lost three straight times from 2011 to 2013.

Teams

The game matched

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 ...

runner-up

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

and

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

champion

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 ...

. The

featured the same teams, won by Oregon, who scored 10 unanswered fourth-quarter points in a 45–38 victory.

Oregon Ducks

Oregon entered the game with an 11–2 record (8–1 in conference). They finished atop the Pac-12's North Division, then defeated

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

in the

Pac-12 Championship Game The Pac-12 Football Championship Game is an annual college football game held by the Pac-12 Conference to determine the season's conference champion. The game from the 2011–2021 seasons had the champion of the North Division against the champi ...

to secure their spot in the Rose Bowl. Oregon was 2–1 against ranked FBS opponents, defeating

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 ...

and Utah while losing to

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

. The Ducks' only other loss was to

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

. This was Oregon's eighth Rose Bowl; they had a 3–4 record in prior appearances, last playing in the 2015 edition, which they won over

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

Wisconsin Badgers

Wisconsin entered the game with a 10–3 record (7–2 in conference). They finished tied with

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

atop the Big Ten's West Division, and advanced to the

Big Ten Championship Game The Big Ten Football Championship Game is a college football game held by the Big Ten Conference each year to determine the conference's season champion. The game, held after the regular season has been completed, matches the division champions f ...

due to their regular season win over Minnesota. In the Big Ten title game, the Badgers fell to

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 ...

, 34–21. As Ohio State was selected for the

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...

, Wisconsin received an invitation to the Rose Bowl. The Badgers were 3–2 against ranked opponents, defeating

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 ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

, and Minnesota while losing to Ohio State twice. Their only other loss was to

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. This was Wisconsin's tenth Rose Bowl; they had a 3–6 record in prior appearances, last playing in the 2013 edition, which they lost to

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 ...

Game summary

Statistics

Some controversy arose from an offensive

pass interference In American and Canadian gridiron football, pass interference (PI) is a foul that occurs when a player interferes with an eligible receiver's ability to make a fair attempt to catch a forward pass. Pass interference may include tripping, pushing, ...

call that went against Wisconsin near the end of the game, which nullified a Wisconsin first down and eventually gave the ball back to Oregon, who was able to run the clock down and win the game. The call and its impact on the game led former NFL referee

Terry McAulay Terry McAulay (born December 24, 1959) is a former American football official who worked in the National Football League (NFL) for the 1998 through 2017 seasons. He was the referee for seven conference championship games and three Super Bowls ( ...

to publicly disagree with the call.

References

External links

Game statistics
at statbroadcast.com {{Wisconsin Badgers bowl game navbox Rose Bowl Rose Bowl Game Oregon Ducks football bowl games Wisconsin Badgers football bowl games Rose Bowl Rose Bowl 21st century in Pasadena, California