The 79th Rose Bowl Game

Tom Branham a historian, that posts quite a bit on social media joins us to chat about this 79th Rose Bowl between Washington and Michigan.

The Washington Huskies of Don James returned to the Rose Bowl for the big New Years’ game on January 1, 1993. They were looking to not only defeat the Michigan Wolverines for the second year in a row in Pasadena but were searching for a third straight Rose Bowl victory in consecutive years. Michigan under Gary Moeller was 8-0-3. The three ties were very odd. The Huskies sported a 9-2 record. They had stumbled in the season's final two games against rivals Arizona and Washington State. This game involved six lead changes in a relatively close and high-scoring affair. Michigan struck first blood with a Peter Elezovic 41-yard field goal. Washington, later in the first, took the lead with a Darius Turner 1-yard run and Travis Hanson PAT kick. The Wolverines responded when Tony McGee hauled in a 49-yard pass from Elvis Grbac for a TD. In the second quarter Tyrone Wheatley, broke loose in the Washington secondary to rumble for a 56-yard touchdown. Jason Shelley showed that the Huskies could score on a big play too, when he caught a 64-yard pass from Mark Brunell and took it to the house. Washington Tight end Mark Bruener then snagged an 18-yard TD pass from Brunell to put Washington up 21–17 at the half. The third quarter had the rushing offense of both sides heat up as Wheatley scored on an 88-yard run followed by Washington's star back, Napoleon Kaufman on a 1-yard dive play for score.
Hanson added to the Husky cause with a 44-yard field goal. Tyrone Wheatley kept on rumbling though when he scored a Michigan TD on a 24-yard run and Elezovic kick to tie it up at 31 all going into the final period. Michigan took the lead on a McGee, 15-yard pass from Elvis Grbac to make the final 38-31.

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  ROSE BOWL FOOTBALL GAME, VIEW NORTHEAST, 1923 - Rose Bowl Stadium, from Positive Image Photographic Services.

The other photo above is also from Wikimedia Commons and is of the Rose Bowl construction in 1921.After crowds out-grew Pasadena's Tournament Park, architect Myron Hunt drew up plans for the construction of the Rose Bowl stadium in 1920. On January 1, 1923, USC beat Penn State, 14-3, in the first Rose Bowl game. The stadium was enlarged several times, with the south end completed in 1928, taken by an unknown.