1962 Rose Bowl

1962 Rose Bowl
48th Rose Bowl Game
1234 Total
Minnesota 7707 21
UCLA 3000 3
Date January 1, 1962
Season 1961
Stadium Rose Bowl
Location Pasadena, California
MVP Sandy Stephens (Minnesota quarterback)
National anthem UCLA Band
Halftime show UCLA Band, University of Minnesota Marching Band
Attendance 98,214
United States TV coverage
Network NBC (first color broadcast)
Announcers Mel Allen, Braven Dyer

The 1962 Rose Bowl, played on January 1, 1962, was the 48th Rose Bowl Game. The Minnesota Golden Gophers defeated the UCLA Bruins, 213.

Big Ten Conference champion Ohio State declined the invitation to play in the Rose Bowl. They were under no contractual obligation to accept the invitation following the demise of the Pacific Coast Conference after the 1958 college football season. Minnesota, the second-place team in the Big Ten, was then offered the "at-large" invitation, and accepted.

Minnesota quarterback Sandy Stephens was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game.[1] It was broadcast on the NBC television network and was the first national color television broadcast of a college football game.[2]

Teams

University of Minnesota Golden Gophers

The Gophers had gone to the Rose Bowl the previous year as the #1 team in the nation and lost to the Washington Huskies. In 1961, the Gophers actually finished in second place in Big Ten Conference play. Minnesota had a loss to Missouri, and a Big Ten loss to Wisconsin in their rivalry game. Ohio State was the Big Ten Champion. However, because of a faculty council decision to emphasize academics over athletics, Ohio State turned down the Rose Bowl Berth.[3] Ironically, Minnesota would not have received the Rose Bowl invitation if they had, in fact, been the 1961 Big Ten champion and the conference had a formal agreement with the Rose Bowl for the 1961 and 1962 games, since the Big Ten had a "no-repeat" rule in effect until 1972. The Gophers were led by Sandy Stephens, the first African American All-American quarterback. However, he was not the first African-American starting quarterback in a Rose Bowl (this distinction goes to Charles Fremont West playing in the 1922 Rose Bowl).

UCLA Bruins

UCLA had lost at both Michigan and Ohio State earlier in the season. They also lost to Washington. They managed to beat USC during one of the few rainy UCLA-USC rivalry games.

Game summary

The weather was sunny. Minnesota wore their home maroon jerseys, with white helmets and white pants. UCLA also wore their home powderkeg blue uniforms with gold pants. Using the single wing offense, UCLA struggled against the Gophers, netting only one field goal. Minnesota would get 21 first downs to UCLA's 8. The Gophers would hold the Bruins to 107 total yards, while going 297 yards on 66 plays. Stephens would rush for 46 yards on 12 carries, including two rushing touchdowns. Stephens also went 7 for 11 in passing for 75 yards.

Scoring

First quarter

Second quarter

Third quarter

Fourth quarter

Statistics

Team Stats Minnesota UCLA
First Downs 21 8
Net Yards Rushing 222 55
Net Yards Passing 75 52
Total Yards 297 107
PC–PA–Int. 7–11–0 5–8–0
Punts–Avg. 3–40.7 5–37.2
Fumbles–Lost 3–2 2–2
Penalties–Yards 6–70 1–5

Aftermath

This is Minnesota's only Rose Bowl win. It was also the last appearance for Minnesota in the Rose Bowl game. As of the 2015 season, Minnesota has gone the longest in the Big Ten conference without playing in the Rose Bowl game. Sandy Stephens was named the Most Valuable player, and became the first African American to get the award.

Both head coaches in the game were University of Tennessee graduates who had played under legendary coach Robert Neyland.

Game facts

All-American defensive tackle Bobby Bell played in both the 1961 and 1962 Rose Bowl games for the Gophers. He later played in the 1967 and 1970 Super Bowls with the Kansas City Chiefs, winning in 1970.

References

  1. 2008 Rose Bowl Program, 2008 Rose Bowl. Accessed January 26, 2008.
  2. Historic Facts about the Rose Bowl Stadium Archived March 26, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  3. Tim Brady - The Road to the Rose Bowl. Minnesota Magazine, University of Minnesota Alumni Association. September 8, 2003
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.