1989 Rose Bowl
Encyclopedia
The 1989 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on Monday January 2, 1989 because New Year's Day was on a Sunday. It was the 75th Rose Bowl Game, and also the 100th anniversary of the Tournament of Roses parade. The Michigan Wolverines
1988 Michigan Wolverines football team
The 1988 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1988 college football season. The team's head coach was Bo Schembechler. The Wolverines played their home games at Michigan Stadium...

 defeated the USC Trojans 22-14. Michigan FB Leroy Hoard
Leroy Hoard
Leroy Hoard is a retired American football running back who played for the Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, Carolina Panthers, and Minnesota Vikings of the NFL...

 was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game. This was the first of 22 Rose Bowls broadcast by ABC Sports. It had been broadcast on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 since the first television broadcast in the 1952 Rose Bowl
1952 Rose Bowl
The 1952 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1952 at the end of the 1951 college football season. It was the 38th Rose Bowl Game. It holds the distinction of being the first nationally televised college football game...

.

Michigan Wolverines

Michigan opened the season with consecutive narrow losses to Notre Dame
1988 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team
The 1988 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1988 college football season. The Irish, coached by Lou Holtz, ended the season with 12 wins and no losses, winning the national championship...

 and Miami (FL)
1988 Miami Hurricanes football team
The 1988 Miami Hurricanes represented the University of Miami in the 1988 NCAA College Football season. It would be Jimmy Johnson’s final season as the Hurricanes head coach.-Schedule & Results:-Team Players drafted into in the NFL:-External links:*...

 who were ranked #2 and #1 respectively at the time. But they recovered to go unbeaten the rest of the way, their only blemish being a 17-17 tie at Iowa
1988 Iowa Hawkeyes football team
The 1988 Iowa Hawkeyes football team represented the University of Iowa in the 1988 college football season.-Schedule:...

. A 17-3 win over defending Big 10 champ Michigan State
1988 Michigan State Spartans football team
The 1988 Michigan State Spartans football team represented Michigan State University in the 1988 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Spartans played their home games at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan and were coached by George Perles. The team finished second in the Big Ten...

 proved to be the difference as Michigan won the Big 10 by one game over Michigan State.

USC Trojans

USC opened the season with 9 straight wins and rose to #2 in the rankings. They faced sixth ranked rival UCLA
1988 UCLA Bruins football team
The 1988 UCLA Bruins football team represented UCLA in the 1988 NCAA Division I-A football season.-Schedule:-1988 Team Players in the NFL:The following players were claimed in the 1989 NFL Draft.-External links:...

, who was 9-1 and had been ranked #1 for a couple of weeks earlier. Eric Ball, the 1986 Rose Bowl
1986 Rose Bowl
The 1986 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1986. It was the 72nd Rose Bowl Game. The UCLA Bruins defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes 45-28. UCLA tailback Eric Ball was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game. He ran for a Rose Bowl record four touchdowns.-Iowa Hawkeyes:Iowa...

 MVP had a crucial fumble in the UCLA vs game, when the #1 ranked Bruins were upset at home by the Cougars 34-30. The game was one of the notable ones in the UCLA-USC rivalry
UCLA-USC rivalry
The UCLA–USC rivalry is the American college rivalry between the UCLA Bruins sports teams of the University of California, Los Angeles and the USC Trojans sports teams of the University of Southern California ....

 in that it was for the PAC-10 championship, a possible Heisman Trophy for either Troy Aikman
Troy Aikman
Troy Kenneth Aikman is a former American football quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League. The number one overall draft pick in 1989, Aikman played twelve consecutive seasons as quarterback with the Cowboys...

 of UCLA or Rodney Peete
Rodney Peete
Rodney Peete is a former American football quarterback from the University of Southern California who played in the National Football League for 16 years. He retired in 2004 and is now in broadcasting.-Early life:...

 of USC. It was also for the Rose Bowl berth. Rodney Peete was found to have measles in the days before the game. USC used a strong ground game and "bend but don't break" defense, in front of the largest Rose Bowl Stadium regular season crowd in history, to beat the Bruins 31-22. The win over the Bruins set up a rare #2 USC vs. #1 Notre Dame for the next week. The Trojans lost to the eventual national champions Fighting Irish 27-10.

Game summary

USC, behind the passing of Heisman Trophy runner-up Rodney Peete and running of Aaron Emmanuel, took a 14-3 lead at halftime. Despite their lack of early success, Michigan stuck with its pounding running attack led by a huge offensive line and running back (and game MVP) Leroy Hoard. They began to wear down the Trojans and USC's offense began to sputter. By the 4th quarter, Michigan's offensive line took over and the Wolverines took a 22-14 lead into the last 2 minutes. Peete tried to lead the Trojans to a touchdown and game tying 2-point conversion but Michigan's defense made sure they were never seriously threatened.

Aftermath

The Irish undefeated season, with victories over Michigan, Miami, USC, and then finally West Virginia
1988 West Virginia Mountaineers football team
The 1988 West Virginia Mountaineers football team completed the regular season with a 11–0 and traveled to the Fiesta Bowl to decide the National Championship, where they lost to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 34–21.-1988 Schedule:-1988 season:...

 in the 1989 Fiesta Bowl
1989 Fiesta Bowl
The 1989 Sunkist Fiesta Bowl, played on January 2, 1989, was the 18th edition of the Fiesta Bowl. The game featured the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and the West Virginia Mountaineers....

, cemented their claim on the National championship that year.

Further reading

  • Wood, Bob (Robert) (1989). Big Ten Country: A Journey Through One Football Season. Morrow. ISBN 0-688-08922-4.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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