1933 Rose Bowl

1933 Rose Bowl
19th Rose Bowl Game National Championship Game [a] [b]
USC Trojans Pittsburgh Panthers (9–0) (8–0–2) PCC Independent 35 0 Head coach:  Howard Jones Head coach:  Jock Sutherland
1 2 3 4 Total USC 7 0 7 21 35 Pittsburgh 0 0 0 0 0
Date	January 2, 1933
Season	1932
Stadium	Rose Bowl Stadium
Location	Pasadena, California
MVP	Homer Griffith (QB) – USC
Referee	Dexter Very
Attendance	85,000
Rose Bowl  ← 1932   1934 →  National championship [ dubious – discuss ] (ad hoc Rissman Trophy) [b]  ← 1932 1963 →

The 1933 Rose Bowl was the 19th Rose Bowl game, an American post-season college football game that was played on January 2, 1933, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. While normally played on New Year's Day, the 1933 game was played on the second as New Year's Day was a Sunday. In the game, the undefeated 9–0 1932 USC Trojans football team defeated the 8–0–2 1932 Pittsburgh Panthers football team by a 35–0 score. The score had been 7–0 at halftime, but USC exploded for three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. ^[2] The 35-point defeat was the most one-sided loss in Pittsburgh football history up to that time.^{[ citation needed ]}

In the final Dickinson System rankings released in early December 1932, USC was ranked No. 2 behind 8–0 Michigan. Jack F. Rissman, a Chicago clothing merchant who had previously donated a trophy presented to the No. 1 team in the Dickinson rankings, had stated publicly that he expected USC to be ranked No. 1 by Dickinson if it defeated Notre Dame in the final game of the regular season. ^[3] When the Dickinson rankings instead crowned Michigan as national champion, giving the Wolverines the Rockne Trophy, ^[4] a "peeved" Rissman created a new national championship trophy (called the Rissman Trophy) and announced that it would be awarded to the victor of the Rose Bowl matchup between No. 2 USC and No. 3 Pittsburgh. ^[5] One critic at the time parodied Rissman's proliferation of personal championship trophies, writing: "All that is needed now to make the football season a complete success is for someone to figure out a system to declare Colgate the undisputed national champion and to give the Red Raiders a trophy indicative of the same. [...] More national champions, more systems of picking them and more trophies to give them have long been the crying need of football. [...] It might even be worked out so Slippery Rock and Knox could have very fine trophies for their Y.M.C.A. trophy rooms. [...] Under the Beale system, I hereby award the national football championship to Bucknell (dear old alma mater)." With USC's decisive victory in the Rose Bowl, Rissman presented his trophy to USC on January 6th. ^{[6] [7]}

Scoring

First Quarter

• USC – Wehunt, 33-yard pass from Homer Griffith (Smith kick good) 8:24 7-0 USC

Third Quarter

• USC – Homer Griffith, 1-yard pass from Bright (Smith kick good) 4:34 14-0 USC

Fourth Quarter

• USC – Cotton Warburton, 1-yard run (Smith kick good) 13:21 21-0 USC
• USC – Warburton, 11-yard run (Smith kick good) 8:14 28-0 USC
• USC – Barber, 2-yard run (Lady kick good) 2:29 35-0 USC

Notes

1. Through luck and fortuitous scheduling, a "national championship game" was occasionally able to settle the matter on the field, as described in some contemporaneous reports. ^[1] Despite the promotional billing, in several instances there were plausible scenarios for a third team to be selected as national champion by the major selectors, depending on outcomes of other games.
2. When the Dickinson rankings crowned Michigan as national champion, a "peeved" Jack Rissman, a merchant of Chicago, created a new national championship trophy and announced that it would be awarded to the victor of the Rose Bowl matchup between No. 2 USC and No. 3 Pittsburgh (as ranked by Dickinson).

References

1. Barbati, Carl; Cannizzaro, Mark (January 3, 1988). "Should there be college Super Bowl?". The Courier–News. Bridgewater, New Jersey. Archived from the original on October 25, 2022. Retrieved October 24, 2022. Only luck ensures one of the many current bowl games gets the No. 1 and No. 2 teams to play each other.
2. Bill Henry (January 3, 1933). "Troy Skins Panther: Pitt Humbled by Trojans, 35-0; Crowd of 83,000 Fans Sees Southern California in Rose Bowl Triumph". Los Angeles Times. pp. 1, 13 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Gridiron Trophy Donor Here To See Big Game". Los Angeles Times . International News Service. December 6, 2024. Retrieved July 3, 2024. Jack Rissman, a Chicago merchant, said that thus far the Trojans are slightly in the lead in the race for the trophy, which is now known as the Knute Rockne Cup, and can clinch the honor only by defeating the Irish Saturday.
4. Written at Champaign, Illinois. "Michigan Gets Rockne Trophy as U.S. Champ — USC Rated Second, Pittsburgh Third". The Daily Argus-Leader. Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Associated Press. December 11, 1932. p. 9. Archived from the original on March 28, 2022. Retrieved July 3, 2024. Although Southern California's Trojans defeated Notre Dame today to finish their regular season undefeated and untied, the University of Michigan tonight was declared winner of the Knute. K. Rockne memorial trophy, symbolic of the national football championship, under the Dickinson rating system.
5. Written at Los Angeles. "Troy, Pitt Play for Cup — Winner Will Get National Title Trophy — Donor of Cup Awarded Michigan 'Peeved,' Offers New One". The Long Beach Sun . Long Beach. United Press. December 15, 1932. Retrieved July 3, 2024. A trophy symbolic of the mythical national football championship will be awarded to the winner of the Southern California–Pittsburgh game at Pasadena by Jack Rissman, wealthy Chicago sportsman who donated the Dickinson rating cup.
6. Beale, George H. (December 17, 1932). Written at Los Angeles. "Sports Parade — Champions, Trophies and Systems — What This Country Needs Is More Sportsmen Willing to Donate Cups to Grid Champions". The Lincoln Journal . Lincoln, Nebraska. United Press . Retrieved July 4, 2024.
7. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/rissman-trophy-given-to-southern-california-football-champs-news-photo/515943188