| 1951 Rose Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| 37th Rose Bowl Game | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | January 1, 1951 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1950 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Rose Bowl | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Pasadena, California | ||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Don Dufek (Michigan FB) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | California by 1 to 3 points[1][2][3] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Charles Brown (Pacific Coast; split crew: Pacific Coast,Big Ten) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 98,939 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The1951 Rose Bowl was the 37thedition of thecollege footballbowl game, played at theRose Bowl inPasadena, California on Monday, January 1. Theninth-rankedMichigan Wolverines, champions of theBig Ten Conference, defeated theCalifornia Golden Bears, champions of thePacific Coast Conference, 14–6.[4][5][6][7]
MichiganfullbackDon Dufek scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter and was named the Player of the Game. With a record of 9–0–1, the Golden Bears were ranked fourth in the nation.[8]
It was the Big Ten's fifth consecutive win in the Rose Bowl, and California's third straight loss.
Michigan upsetrivalOhio State 9–3 in the notoriousSnow Bowl game, played in 21 inches (53 cm) of snow inColumbus.[9][10]
This was California's third consecutive trip to the Rose Bowl and were slightly favored.[1][2][3]Pete Schabarum broke a 77-yard run on the second play of the game, but a backfield-in-motion penalty nullified the score to stop the Cal momentum.
After this third consecutive loss by California, the Pacific Coast Conference enacted a "no-repeat" rule, similar to the Big Ten's. Future teams affected wereUCLA in1955 andOregon State in1958, and both resulted in wins for the Big Ten. With the PCC's dissolution in the spring of 1959, the succeedingAAWU (Big Five) abolished that rule, andWashington won the next two Rose Bowls in1960 and 1961.
AlthoughMinnesota appeared in consecutive Rose Bowls in 1961 and1962, (both as "at-large" invitations, the latter after championOhio State declined),[11] the Big Ten kept its rule until the early 1970s; the last team affected wasMichigan State in 1967, when runner-upPurdue edged unrankedUSC by a point. The first Big Ten team to make a repeat appearance in the 1970s wasOhio State in1974, the conference'sonly win in Pasadena that decade.