From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2004 Rose Bowl was a college
football bowl game
held on January 1, 2004 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena,
California. It was the 90th Rose Bowl Game. The USC Trojans, champions
of the Pacific-10 Conference, defeated
the Michigan
Wolverines, champions of the Big Ten Conference, 28-14. USC quarterback Matt Leinart was
named the Rose Bowl Player of the Game.[2]
The events leading up to the 2004 Rose Bowl were the subject of
controversy. Although USC was ranked
#1 in both the AP Poll and
the Coaches Poll, the Trojans were not invited
to the BCS National Championship
Game, the 2004 Sugar Bowl. Even though the Oklahoma Sooners lost on December 5, 2003
in the 2003 Big 12 Championship
Game to the Kansas State
Wildcats, by virtue of their dominance earlier in the season,
they remained #1 in the final BCS rankings
issued at the outset of the bowl season. Oklahoma faced the LSU tigers, #2 in both
polls and the BCS rankings, in the Sugar Bowl.
Teams
Michigan
Wolverines
Michigan opened at home in 2003 winning big over Central Michigan
and Houston. A 38-0 shutout of Notre Dame
propelled the Wolverines to a #3 ranking, but they lost the next
week at Oregon, 31-27. Michigan
bounced back to beat Indiana, but then lost
another close road game at Iowa, 30-27. Michigan
played next on a Friday evening, October 10, at the Hubert H. Humphrey
Metrodome in a battle for the Little Brown Jug against Minnesota. Minnesota came into the game
ranked #17 and Michigan was ranked #20 in one of the most highly
anticipated Michigan-Minnesota matchups in years. Down by 21 points
at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Michigan put together its
greatest comeback in school history to win 38-35.[3] The
Wolverines won their next four game over Illinois, #10 Purdue, #9 Michigan
State, and Northwestern and rose to
#5 in the rankings before their annual showdown with the Ohio State
Buckeyes. In front of a record crowd of 112,118 at Michigan
Stadium, the Wolverines beat the #4 ranked Buckeyes 35-21 to
win the Big Ten championship outright.
USC
Trojans
The Trojans opened the season winning at #6 Auburn, 23-0. Their
only loss of the season was a triple overtime loss at Cal, 34-31 on
September 27. Later in the season, USC beat Notre Dame 45-14,
scoring the most points allowed by the Irish in since
1960, and routed Arizona 45-0 in the first
shutout of the Wildcats in 146 games. The UCLA–USC
rivalry game was no contest with USC winning over UCLA,
47-22.
Game
summary
The Trojans wore a "54" sticker to commemorate Drean Rucker, an
incoming freshman linebacker who drowned in July 2003. Former USC
Trojans safety Troy
Polamalu also was in attendance and was on the USC sideline. He
was also shown embracing coach Pete Carroll at the game's end.
Scoring
summary
First
quarter
Second
quarter
- USC - LenDale
White, 6-yard pass from Matt Leinart (Ryan Killeen kick)
Third
quarter
- USC - Keary Colbert, 47-yard pass from Matt Leinart (Ryan
Killeen kick)
- Michigan - Tim
Massaquoi, 5-yard pass from John Navarre (Garrett Rivas kick)
- USC - Matt Leinart, 15-yard pass from Mike
Williams (Ryan Killeen kick)
Fourth
quarter
- Michigan - Chris Perry, 2-yard run
(Garrett Rivas kick)
Aftermath
LSU defeated Oklahoma 21-14 in the Sugar Bowl. As they were
contractually obligated, the Coaches Poll chose the winner of that
game, the LSU Tigers, as the BCS National Champions. The AP Poll,
however, selected the Rose Bowl champion USC Trojans, resulting in
the first split national title since the 1997-98 season,
the year before the creation of the Bowl Championship Series.
References
External
links
| Michigan Wolverines bowl
games |
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| Southern California Trojans bowl
games |
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