2015 Rose Bowl
The 2015 Rose Bowl (officially known as the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual) was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 2015, at the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California. This 101st Rose Bowl Game, as a semifinal for the College Football Playoff (CFP), matched the Oregon Ducks against the Florida State Seminoles as selected by the system's selection committee to compete for a spot at the National Championship game to be played on January 12, 2015, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It was one of the 2014–15 bowl games that concluded the 2014 FBS football season.
| 2015 Rose Bowl presented by Northwestern Mutual | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| CFP Semifinal 101st Rose Bowl Game | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | January 1, 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Rose Bowl | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Pasadena, California | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Offense: Oregon QB Marcus Mariota Defense: Oregon LB Tony Washington | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Oregon by 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Matt Austin (SEC) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Halftime show | Bands from participants | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 91,322 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Payout | US$23.9 million per team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN, ESPN Deportes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Heather Cox and Tom Rinaldi (ESPN) Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman and Todd McShay (ESPN Radio) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nielsen ratings | 14.8 (28.2 million viewers) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The game was televised on ESPN and ESPN Deportes, and broadcast on ESPN Radio and XM Satellite Radio, with the kickoff time set for 5 p.m. ET (2 p.m. local time). The Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association organized the game. The Northwestern Mutual financial services organization sponsored the game.
On the match day, the 126th edition of the annual Rose Parade took place at 8 am Pacific Time with a theme of Inspiring Stories.
Oregon won the game, beating Florida State, the last undefeated team of the season, by the score of 59–20 and advanced to the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship Game, assuring that no team would finish the season with a perfect record.