The 87th through 90th Rose Bowl Games

The Rose Bowl games form 2001 through 2004 are remebered in our collection of games with this podcast episode.

The 87th Rose Bowl Game, and matched the champions of the Big Ten, Purdue Boilermakers and Pac-10 champion Washington Huskies. The game was played on Jauary 1, 2001.

2001 Rose Bowl 02 Jan 2001, Tue The Bellingham Herald (Bellingham, Washington) Newspapers.com

Purdue Boiler Makers (8-3)  Head Coach: Joe Tiller Score: 24 

Washington Huskies (10-1) Head Coach: Rick Neuheisel Score: 34

Senior Marques Tuiasosopo the quarterback of Washington, was named the Player Of The Game.

2001 Rose Bowl Historic Facts: 

• Coach Neuheisel became the only former Rose Bowl MVP to win a Rose Bowl as head coach.
• Purdue's starting Rose Bowl QB Drew Brees had a bad performance in this Rose Bowl. However he and Bob Griese, the only two Boilermaker signal caller to ever start a Rose Bowl at that point in time, had each won a Super Bowl game.

The 88th Rose Bowl Game, and matched the Number 2 in the Nation Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Number 1 ranked Miami Hurricanes as the BCS National Championship Game. The game was played on Jauary 3, 2002.

04 Jan 2002, Fri The Miami Herald (Miami, Florida) Newspapers.com

Miami Hurricanes​​​​​​​ (11-0)  Head Coach: Larry Coker Score: 37  

Nebraska Cornhuskers (11-1) Head Coach: Frank Solich Score: 14

Ken Dorsey the quarterback of Miami, and his Hurricane teammate wide receiver Andre Johnson were named the Players Of The Game.

2002 Rose Bowl Historic Facts: 

• Miami was the unanimous No. 1 team, Oregon was #2
• This was the first Rose Bowl game not played on January 1 or January 2

The 89th Rose Bowl game was played January 1, 2003 and featured a match-up between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Washington State Cougars. 

Oklahoma Sooners (11-2)  Head Coach: Bob Stoops Score: 34 

Washington State Cougars​​​​​​​ (10-2) Head Coach: Mike Price Score: 14

Oklahoma quarterback Nate Hybl was selected as the Player Of The Game.

2003 Rose Bowl Historic Facts: 

• With paid attendance at only 86,848 it was one of the smallest Rose Bowl crowds in modern history.
• The Sooners dominated the time of possession with a 37:14 to 22:46 advantage

The 90th Rose Bowl game was played January 1, 2004 and featured a match-up between the BCS #4 ranked Michigan Wolverines and the #3 USC Trojans. 

Michigan Wolverines (10-2)  Head Coach: Lloyd Carr Score: 14 

USC Trojans (12-1) Head Coach: Pete Carroll Score: 28

Southern Cal quarterback Matt Leinart was selected as the Player Of The Game.

2004 Rose Bowl Historic Facts: 

• The Trojans wore a "54" sticker to commemorate Drean Rucker, an incoming freshman linebacker who drowned in July 2003.
• USC and LSU shared the National Champion title, for the only spilt title int he BCS era.

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.