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, 42–37. This was the first matchup between the AP Poll No. 1 vs. No. 2 in a bowl game, although such matchups had occurred previously in the regular season (typically referred to as a "Game of the Century"). The game was therefore a de facto national championship game as the winner would receive the FWAA’s Grantland Rice Trophy. The quarterbacks, Ron Vander Kelen of Wisconsin and Pete Beathard of USC, were named co-Players of the Game.
| 1963 Rose Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 49th Rose Bowl Game National Championship Game | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | January 1, 1963 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1962 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Rose Bowl | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Pasadena, California | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Pete Beathard (USC QB) Ron Vander Kelen (UW QB) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Wisconsin by 2 points | ||||||||||||||||||
| National anthem | University of Wisconsin Marching Band | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | James Cain (AAWU) (split crew: AAWU, Big Ten) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Halftime show | Spirit of Troy, University of Wisconsin Marching Band | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 98,698 | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | NBC | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Mel Allen, Bill Symes | ||||||||||||||||||
Down 42–14 in the fourth quarter, Vander Kelen put together a number of drives to score 23 unanswered points and put the Badgers in position to win the game. Due to the historic #1 versus #2 bowl match-up, the number of Rose Bowl records set, and the furious fourth quarter rally by Wisconsin, this game frequently appears on lists of "greatest bowl games of all time."
To date, this remains as Wisconsin’s only national championship game appearance.