The 16th to 19th Rose Bowls

Every Rose Bowl game wasn't as close as we have seen in many cases. To give as complete historical coverage as possible, we provide a medley of four early 1930s Rose Bowls where the winner dominated in a lopsided score.

After a series of competitive and exciting Rose  Bowl contests in the 1920s, the new decade that included the Great Depression had some real stinkers. We will not have individual stories on each but cover the 1930 through 1933 Rose Bowl game highlights here. 

16th Rose Rose Bowl

Played on January 1, 1930, this Rose Bowl featured Southern Cal and the University of Pittsburgh. Jock Sutherland's 1929 Panthers edition averaged 29.1 points per game as they accumulated a 9-0 record to earn the invite. USC did even better under Coach Howard Jones as they led the nation with an average total of 41.0 points in every game. USC came out of the gate, garnering a 4 TD lead by the half. Pitt slowed them down a tad in the second half and even managed to move the ball and score too, but it was too late as the Trojans pounded the Panthers 47-14. Russ Saunders passed and ran all over Pitt in the win and was given the MVP honors later in 1953 for these feats.

17th Rose Bowl

One would have considered a match made for a title as the 17th Rose Bowl played on New Year's Day, 1931, in Pasadena, California. Featuring two undefeated teams, Alabama and Washington State, would have been a classic. Well, that is what most, including the Rose Bowl selection committee, did when they handed out the invites sometimes though things don't go to plan. The Crimson Tide dominated the game over the Huskies. The Tide cruise to a 24-0 win. Tide QB John Campbell was the retroactive MVP and attendance was 60,000.

18th Rose Bowl

New Year's Day 1932 in Pasadena, California, featured the 11-0 Tulane Green Wave coached by Bernie Bierman against the USC Trojans, with Coach Howard Jones sitting with a 9-1 record on the season. The Trojans jumped out to an early lead on  Ray Sparling and two Erny Pinckert, 2-plus yard TD runs along with three Johnny Baker PATs, and survived two second-half Tulane touchdowns to win it 21-12. In 1953 expert chose Pinckert as the game's MVP.

19th Rose Bowl

The Tournament of Roses Committee invited Pitt to play USC for the 1933 edition of the annual New Year's Game. The coaching minds of Jock Sutherland and Howard Jones met back in 1930 with similar results. It was all Trojans 35-0 for their second Rose Bowl win in two seasons. Cotton Warburton rushed for two scores while teammates Werhunt, Homer Griffith,  and Barber each crossed the goal stripe. USC was retroactively recognized as the 1932 national champion by most, including Berryman, Billingsley, Boand, Dunkel, College Football Researchers Association, Helms, Houlgate, National Championship Foundation, Poling, and Williamson. In 1953 expert chose Homer Griffith as the MVP.

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites: On This Day Sports, the Sports Reference's family of website databases & Stathead.com.

Banner photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of USC - Pittsburgh Rose Bowl Football Game Program, January 1, 1930. It was created by an unknown author.