1963 Rose Bowl
| 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 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nielsen ratings | 32.8 | ||||||||||||||||||
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. The Associated Press and United Press International both awarding the national championship to USC in early December 1962, a month before the game was played (the UPI's national championship trophy was presented to USC on the day before the game was played). Nevertheless, the game was a de facto national championship game as both teams were competing for the Football Writers Association of America's (FWAA) Grantland Rice Trophy, and remained historic as the first matchup between the AP or UPI No. 1 vs. No. 2 in a bowl game, although such matchups had occurred previously in the regular season (sometimes referred to as a "Game of the Century"). The FWAA awarded USC with the ninth annual Grantland Rice Trophy after their victory.
The quarterbacks, Ron Vander Kelen of Wisconsin and Pete Beathard of USC, were named co-Players of the Game.
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."