History: Rose Bowl

The Rose Bowl, the "granddaddy of them all," was first played on Jan. 1, 1902, at Tournament Park. It was not exactly a thriller, as top-ranked Michigan trounced Stanford 49-0. It was started as the centerpiece to the "Tournament of Roses," a yearly festival put on by the Valley Hunt Club that began in 1890. Before the advent of the football game, the parade staged events like tugs-of-war, polo matches and even greased-pig catching.

The inaugural game was such a blowout that the Rose Bowl did not return for 14 years. In its place, parade organizers staged chariot races and even ostrich races. However, in 1916, it returned as Washington State beat Brown 14-0. Seven years later, due to the popularity of the yearly game, the Rose Bowl Stadium was built in Pasadena.

The rest is history. This year, on Jan. 1, 2020, Oregon beat Wisconsin 28-27 in the 106th Rose Bowl.

Memorable moments

• In 1925, Notre Dame made what is to date its only Rose Bowl appearance. Boy, was it memorable. Elmer Layden, one of the Irish's famed "Four Horsemen" (a defensive unit), scored three touchdowns. Two of those TDs came on interception returns of more than 70 yards.

• In 1929, Cal's Roy "Wrong Way" Riegels earned his nickname at the Rose Bowl, picking up a Georgia Tech fumble and running it 65 yards the wrong way, narroowly avoiding a safety.

• It's likely that even to this day if you mention the name "Joe Germaine" to an Arizona State fan, they probably will twitch. In the final 1:40 of the 1997 game, Germaine, Ohio State's quarterback, drove the Buckeyes down the field, finally connecting on a 5-yard TD pass to David Boston with 19 seconds left to give Arizona State its only loss of the season 20-17.

• In 2005 and 2006, Vince Young made the Rose Bowl his personal playground. In 2005, then a sophomore for Texas, lit up Michigan, scoring all five Longhorn touchdowns and accounting for 372 yards of total offense, including 192 yards rushing in Texas' 38-37 victory against Michigan. In 2006, he went even further, piling up 467 yards of total offense, including 200 yards rushing as Texas beat USC 41-38.