Tag: Rose Bowl

Rose Bowl posts highest attendance in past 25 years

An epic game at an epic venue! #GoBlue

It’s already the most dramatic scene in all of college football and it was made that much more dramatic by the way the game ended.

We’re of course talking about the 2024 Rose Bowl, the granddaddy of them all, which took place on January 1 between the Michigan Wolverines and the Alabama Crimson Tide.

If you’re living under a rock, then let’s explain what made the game so hype: Michigan football, which hadn’t won a bowl game since 2015, was facing off against a Nick Saban-coached juggernaut in Alabama. A 1-seed, the Wolverines weren’t as highly thought of as their predecessors who were also national champions. Yet, despite nearly turning the ball over on the second play of the game, Michigan dominated the first half, only to let Alabama come back and take a late lead. Quarterback J.J. McCarthy orchestrated a late drive to tie the game, and in overtime, it was a vintage Blake Corum scamper for a touchdown and a defensive stand which rewarded the maize and blue with a win and a trip to the national championship game.

It was also the first time since 2007 that Michigan made a trip to Pasadena, making it extra special.

As it turns out, it was a bigger-than-usual Rose Bowl in many ways. The official Rose Bowl X (formerly Twitter) account reported this week that the 2024 game was the largest to watch it in-person since 1999.

What’s more, it was the most-watched bowl game, with 27.76 million tuning in to see the Wolverines beat the Crimson Tide in epic fashion.

With 19 million watching Michigan beat Ohio State, 10 million watching the Big Ten Championship Game against Iowa, and 9 million tuning into the runfest over Penn State, only Alabama rivaled the Wolverines’ overall viewership in 2023. Thus, it makes sense that when the two teams played against each other, the fan bases both packed the house.

A look at the hectic upcoming 2024-25 College Football Playoff schedule

The college football schedule in December could look a bit hectic this upcoming season with the playoff expansion.

It was a foregone conclusion that once college football went into a playoff format it would be expanded for more teams than just four.

That expansion begins this coming year as the College Football Playoff will include a total of 12 teams with the top four receiving a first-round bye. Those first-round games will be played on campus sites.

Expansion doesn’t just mean more teams, however.

The football calendar will also be pushed to the limit and will resemble the NFL playoffs and will last nearly that long. The days of college football ending on New Year’s are long over.

For those two teams that make the National Championship, they would have played 15 or 16 total games. There was a reason the regular season ended in late November and most bowl games were played in the southern part of the country.

The weather.

A December game played at Wisconsin or Michigan won’t be fun for players or fans, but these extra playoff games will rack in the dough for schools to spread around.

On top of just the new playoff games, coaches and programs will also have to deal with the transfer portal and the early signing period, both of which will come in early December as well. Here’s a look at the upcoming schedule for the 2024-25 season, wich dates set for games this postseason.

Archie Griffin to receive huge honor at the Rose Bowl

This is a pretty cool honor among all the other honors Griffin has received. #GoBucks

You know you’ve reached an elite status in life when there’s a statue built in your honor. In the case of former Ohio State running back, Archie Griffin, he’s also won a couple of statues.

Still, winning a statue and having one built in your likeness is totally different, and now it appears, the only two-time Heisman Trophy winner will be getting a statue built in his honor at what many consider the grandest college football stadium in the world.

The Rose Bowl announced on Friday that it will be building a statue of Griffin will be located near the Stadium’s Court of Champions. There will also be a Legend’s Walk created to celebrate the 19 Heisman Trophy winners that have played in the Rose Bowl Game. In addition to Ohio State and Griffin, student-athletes from schools such as Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, UCLA, USC, Wisconsin, and more will be honored.

Griffin is one of just two players to have started in four Rose Bowl games. He is a member of the Rose Bowl and College Football Hall of Fame.

So when is the unveiling and dedication of the statue and Legends Walk occur? There is not a finalized date as of yet, but according to the release it will be sometime in August 2024. As more information becomes available, we’ll be sure to provide details.

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on X.

Former Alabama WR Shazz Preston commits to Tulane

Tulane Green Wave lands former Alabama four-star wide receiver Shazz Preston

The new reality of college football is that no roster will ever look the same from year to year. Especially at programs such as Alabama and Ohio State where you have 20+ kids transferring out any given year and that many roster spots to replace it just turns into a revolving door.

So, for Alabama fans not only was losing the Rose Bowl a heartbreaker in itself, but then you have to worry about the purge of the roster. One of the first Alabama players to announce his intent to transfer was [autotag]Shazz Preston[/autotag] back on Jan. 2, before Saban had even decided to retire. In two years with the Tide, Preston appeared in 10 games – mainly on special teams.

Coming out of high school, Preston was a Top-100 recruit in the country and was ranked as the No. 8 WR in the ’22 cycle. Today, Preston announced his decision to continue his collegiate career at Tulane. Preston is originally a Louisiana native, so the move will definitely bring him closer to home.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.

Michigan hopes to run the ball the way it did in 1993 Rose Bowl vs Washington

The 1993 Rose Bowl was a blueprint for how Michigan still wants to play today under Jim Harbaugh.

The Michigan Wolverines, in 2023, loved to run the ball. They hope to run the ball well in 2024 in Monday night’s title game against Washington.

If UM can run the ball with success, it would be a lot like the last Rose Bowl meeting between the two schools.

In back-to-back years in the early 1990s, Michigan and Washington faced each other in the Rose Bowl. The schools alternated wins and losses. In the 1992 Rose Bowl, Washington won. In 1993, Michigan defeated Washington 38-31 in a rematch, ruining the Huskies’ attempt at a third straight Rose Bowl victory.

This was a back-and-forth game, and Michigan took the lead with a Tony McGee touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.

Washington quarterback Mark Brunell, who went on to have a long NFL career, led the way for the Huskies. However, Michigan running back Tyrone Wheatley exploded in this game, rushing for 235 on just 15 carries (15+ yards per carry) and three touchdowns. Wheatley was named the unquestioned Rose Bowl Player of the Game.

As it turns out, this would be the final game for Washington coach Don James, who later resigned following this Rose Bowl contest.

Now, three decades later, these two programs meet in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, the last ever Pac-12 football game before Washington moves to the Big Ten Conference.

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Michigan-Washington national title game recalls 1992 Rose Bowl showdown

The biggest Michigan-UW football game is Monday night. The second-biggest game was the 1992 Rose Bowl.

The Washington Huskies play the Michigan Wolverines for the national championship on Monday. No Washington-Michigan game from the past was bigger than the 1992 Rose Bowl.

The Washington-Michigan Rose Bowl results went back and forth. The Huskies won the first one in 1978, then Michigan won in 1981 as Bo Schembechler finally got a bowl game victory.

Eleven years after the 1981 game, the two programs faced off in the Rose Bowl again. This time it was all Washington. The Huskies dominated in a 34-14 rout of Michigan in 1992.

The Huskies finished No. 1 in the Coaches Poll, splitting the national title with Miami. The Hurricanes hammered Nebraska later on New Year’s Day of 1992 and finished first in the Associated Press Poll. Washington, like Miami, finished the season undefeated.

UW entered the 1992 Rose Bowl ranked No. 2, Michigan at No. 4. No. 3 Florida lost in the 1992 Sugar Bowl to Notre Dame, which meant that if Michigan had beaten Washington, the Wolverines would have finished No. 2 in the country.

The Huskies scored 21 points in the second half to run away with the 1992 Rose Bowl. They made great halftime adjustments to stake their claim to a split national title. UW’s Billy Joe Hobert (quarterback) and Steve Emtman (defensive tackle) were named the players of the game.

Don James’ Husky program had been very good for 15 years. Washington finished No. 2 in the country in the 1984 season, narrowly missing a national title. Several years later, the Huskies finally reached the summit.

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Bo Schembechler, defeated by USC, finally won his first Rose Bowl vs Washington

Bo Schembechler was 0-3 vs USC and 0-5 overall in the Rose Bowl before breaking through in 1981 vs Washington.

Washington plays Michigan for the national title on Monday night. In another significant episode of past Michigan-Washington matchups, let us examine the Rose Bowl game in 1981.

USC fans know that the Trojans hounded and haunted Michigan and Bo Schembechler in the Rose Bowl. John McKay beat Bo in the Michigan coach’s first Rose Bowl game in January of 1970. John Robinson then beat Bo and Michigan in the 1977 and 1979 Rose Bowls. Schembechler also lost the 1978 Rose Bowl to Washington. When was Bo ever going to break through and win the Granddaddy?

This is where we return to 1981. This was a memorable Rose Bowl for the Wolverines. Schembechler finally got the monkey off his back with a 23-6 win over Washington in the 67th edition of the legendary game.

The only points Washington scored came in the second quarter, and it was all Michigan from that point on.

John Wangler was the quarterback for the Wolverines this season. Butch Woolfolk, a future pro who had a solid NFL career, earned Rose Bowl Player of the Game honors with 26 carries for 182 yards in a massive performance.

The Michigan defense flexed its muscles in this game, limiting Washington to just 105 yards in the second half.

The Wolverines scored 16 unanswered points to finish the game. The infamous Schembechler Rose Bowl drought was snapped. Beyond that, Schembechler won his first bowl of any kind after seven consecutive losses heading into this game. Schembechler lost three Rose Bowls to USC in the 1970s. He also lost the 1972 Rose Bowl to Stanford, the 1976 Orange Bowl to Oklahoma, the 1978 Rose Bowl to Washington, and the 1979 Gator Bowl to North Carolina. The 1981 Rose Bowl lifted a weight off Bo’s shoulders, and his players carried him on their shoulders after the final seconds ticked off the clock in Pasadena.

Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, and Ducks Wire.

1978 Rose Bowl: Washington stuns No. 4 Michigan as heavy underdog

The rise of Washington under Don James began with the 1978 Rose Bowl upset of Michigan.

The College Football Playoff National Championship Game is a matchup between Washington and Michigan. The two future Big Ten opponents have faced each other quite a few times in the Rose Bowl.

One by one let’s examine the past matchups, beginning with the 1978 game.

The Huskies defeated the Wolverines that year, 27-20. A quarterback you might have heard of, Warren Moon, was named as the Rose Bowl Player of the Game. He went on to have a stellar CFL and then NFL career.

Notably, Washington outgained Michigan by just 10 yards, 398-388.

Washington went into halftime with a 17-0 lead and led 24-0 before the Wolverines made a comeback and came just short of winning the game.

Rick Leach was the quarterback for Michigan. He had a pair of touchdowns in the game as the fourth-ranked Wolverines made their desperate rally.

Michigan was favored by 14 points in the game, so the Huskies getting the win, led by head coach Don James, was a massive boost for the program, which began to take off after that point and establish itself as a West Coast power.

Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, and Ducks Wire.

Watch: One Shining Moment but for Bowl Season

The ball is tipped…or kicked

If you’re any kind of college sports fan you’re familiar with the song “One Shining Moment” that is played each year as college basketball’s national championship game concludes.  It’s cheesy but enjoyable as it recaps all the highs and lows of the NCAA Tournament in roughly three minutes.

What if college football had a similar type thing for bowl season?

Well ask and you shall receive.

Thanks to college football fan Nathan Grella we now have exactly that.

Grella put together highlights from the last few weeks of bowl games and set it to “One Shining Moment”.  Sure, the lyrics don’t fit quite right when the song is about basketball and we’re watching football bowl games but Nathan hit it out of the park regardless.

Check out the video below:

Awesome job.

Give Nathan a follow on social media if you’d like @NathanGrella.

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MUST SEE recap video of Michigan football beating Alabama in the Rose Bowl

This is beautiful beyond words. #GoBlue

It’s one thing to see a hype video from state-run media, it’s another to see one delicately crafted that highlights the honor and pageantry of a game like the Rose Bowl.

This isn’t a knock on the highlight videos that Michigan football puts out — those serve their purpose of making you want to run through a brick wall. But the Rose Bowl is hallowed ground, the most sacred game in college football, made even more sacred when it hosts a College Football Playoff semifinal or national championship game.

On Monday, it hosted the former, and despite all kinds of mistakes, momentum shifts, and drama, Michigan football managed to pull out an all-time win over Alabama in the granddaddy of them all.

Let It Fly Media put together a video that showcased all the pageantry, big plays, and beautiful aftermath of the Wolverines’ 27-20 win over the Crimson Tide. It’s a must-see, not only for Michigan football fans but also for college football fans, in general. Watch it below.