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1944 Rose Bowl

American college football game

Field	Value
year_game_played	1944
game_name	Rose Bowl
subheader	30th edition
football_season	1943
visitor_name_short	Washington
visitor_nickname	Huskies
visitor_school	University of Washington
home_name_short	USC
home_nickname	Trojans
home_school	University of Southern California
visitor_record	4–0
visitor_conference	PCC
home_record	7–2
home_conference	PCC
visitor_coach	Ralph Welch
home_coach	Jeff Cravath
visitor_rank_AP	12
visitor_1q	0
visitor_2q	0
visitor_3q	0
visitor_4q	0
home_1q	0
home_2q	7
home_3q	13
home_4q	9
date_game_played	January 1
stadium	Rose Bowl
city	Pasadena, California
MVP_label	Player of the Game
MVP	Norman Verry (G) – USC
odds	Washington: 5 to 2 odds
referee	T.M. Fitzpatrick (PCC)
attendance	68,000

The 1944 Rose Bowl was the thirtieth edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Saturday, January 1. This was the first Rose Bowl game featuring teams from the same conference (Pacific Coast), with the only other occurrence taking place during the 2025 game. This was due to the travel restrictions imposed by the war effort. It determined the champion of the PCC for the 1943 season, and the USC Trojans shut out the Washington Huskies 29–0 in a one-sided game.

USC backup quarterback Jim Hardy threw three touchdown passes to lead the Trojans to their seventh Rose Bowl victory and eighth PCC championship.

For the first time, the Rose Bowl was broadcast on the radio abroad to all American servicemen, with General Eisenhower in Western Europe allowing all troops who were not on the front lines to tune in and listen.

Teams

Main article: 1943 college football season

Washington Huskies

Main article: 1943 Washington Huskies football team

Favored Washington won all four of its games in an abbreviated season without any PCC matchups, as the other five programs in the Northern Division were on hiatus in 1943 (and 1944). They played Whitman College, Spokane Air Command (twice), and the March Field Flyers. The Rose Bowl was the Huskies' sole conference game of the season; the three teams of the Southern Division (USC, UCLA and California) played each other twice; Stanford was on hiatus until the 1946 season.

Washington's most recent game was two months earlier on October 30, and they had lost a dozen players to active military duty since, including two of their best backs, Jay Stoves (a transfer from idle Washington State) and Pete Susick. Head coach Ralph Welch filled roster holes with Navy V-12 trainees and draft rejects who recently arrived at campus, leaving only 28 players available for the game. Oddsmakers made the Huskies two-touchdown favorites to beat USC, but the fielded team differed greatly from that of the regular season.

USC Trojans

Main article: 1943 USC Trojans football team

Scoring

First quarter

:No scoring

Second quarter

USC – George Callanan, 11-yard pass from Jim Hardy (Dick Jamison kick good); USC leads 7–0

Third quarter

USC – Callanan, 10-yard pass from Hardy (Jamison kick good); USC leads 14–0
USC – Gordon Gray, 21-yard pass from Hardy (Jamison kick blocked); USC leads 20–0

Fourth quarter

USC – Gray, 36-yard pass from Ainslie Bell (Jamison kick good); USC leads 27–0
USC – Gerry Austin’s punt blocked and rolled into the end zone for a safety; USC leads 29–0

References

(January 1, 1944). "Washington, Trojans meet". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Shoemaker, Lisle. (January 2, 1944). "Southern California upsets Washington". Sunday Morning Star.
2003 UW media guide, p. 323
(December 31, 1943). "Bowl attendance likely be reduced". Spokane Daily Chronicle.
Frawley, Frank. (January 2, 1944). "Southern California laces Washington, 29-0, in Rose Bowl". Youngstown Vindicator.
"Rose Bowl 1944". Rose Bowl History.
Eskenazi, David. (November 1, 2011). "Wayback Machine: Pest Welch's Crazy War Years". Sportspress Northwest.
(April 11, 2008). "Huskies (University of Washington) Football, 1889–2008". historylink.org.
(September 24, 1943). "Idaho, Washington State, and O.S.C. withdraw from Northern Division football loop". Lewiston Morning Tribune.
Ashlock, Herb. (September 24, 1943). "Hollingbery to stay "at present salary," but Schmidt's status not revealed". Spokane Daily Chronicle.
Hutcheson, Jim. (October 31, 1943). "Huskies thump Spokane 41-7 in last bowl bid". Lewiston Morning Tribune.
Claasen, Harold. (December 31, 1943). "Grid season ends tomorrow in variety of bowl games". Calgary Herald.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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