1949 Rose Bowl
The 1949 Rose Bowl was the 35th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Saturday, January 1. The seventh-ranked Northwestern Wildcats of the Big Nine Conference defeated the #4 California Golden Bears, champions of the Pacific Coast Conference, 20–14.
| 1949 Rose Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35th Rose Bowl Game | |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| Date | January 1, 1949 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1948 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Rose Bowl | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Pasadena, California | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Frank Aschenbrenner (Northwestern HB) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Northwestern by 6½ points | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | James M. Cain (Pacific Coast; split crew: Pacific Coast, Big Nine) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 93,000 | ||||||||||||||||||
Northwestern halfback Frank Aschenbrenner 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 1996. Until the 2013 Gator Bowl, this was the program's only bowl game win.