1954 Rose Bowl

The 1954 Rose Bowl game, played on January 1, 1954, was the 40th Rose Bowl game. The Michigan State Spartans defeated the UCLA Bruins, 28–20. Michigan State halfback Billy Wells was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game.^[1] This was the first year that Michigan State University was counted in the Big Ten Conference football standings, having been a member since 1950. The 1954 Rose Bowl had the first color television "colorcast", viewable on 200 sets across the United States.^[2]

Teams

Michigan State College Spartans

The Michigan State Spartans had joined the Big Ten in 1950, but did not play a full schedule until the 1953 season. They only lost one game, 0-6 at Purdue. The Purdue loss broke a 28-game winning streak, which included two National Championships. The Spartans were co-champions with Illinois. The Illini and Spartans did not play each other. However, Illinois had last appeared in the 1952 Rose Bowl. Clarence "Biggie" Munn announced his retirement before the 1954 Rose Bowl game.

UCLA Bruins

In the 1952 season, the Bruins lost only one game, to USC 12–14. USC took the 1953 Rose Bowl berth. Both teams had been undefeated. In the 1953 season, the Bruins again lost only one regular season game, 20–21 at Stanford on October 17. Stanford would later be defeated by USC on November 7. With the Rose Bowl on the line for both teams, UCLA defeated USC 13–0 to win the Pacific Coast Conference outright and gain the Rose Bowl berth.

Game summary

This was the first meeting between the two schools. It was the first Rose Bowl appearance for the Spartans. They had previously only played in the 1938 Orange Bowl. It was the third bowl appearance for the Bruins. The weather was sunny. The Spartans wore their green home jerseys and the Bruins wore their white road jerseys.

The Spartans fumbled twice in the first half, which allowed the Bruins the first two scores. Michigan State had only one completed pass and 56 yards in the first half. The Spartans scored a touchdown with 4:45 remaining in the first half.

Victor Postula knocked down four Bruin passes. Coach Biggie Munn instituted a "split line offense" against the Bruins.^[3]

The Spartans assembled two long drives in the third quarter to pull ahead 21–14. The Bruins recovered another Spartan fumble and scored to make the score 21–20. But the extra point kick failed. Billy Wells of Michigan State returned a punt 62 yards for a touchdown with 4:51 left in the game.

Scoring

First quarter

UCLA — Bill Stits 13-yard pass from Paul Cameron. John Hermann converts.

Second quarter

UCLA — Cameron, two-yard run. Hermann converts.
MSU — Ellis Duckett, six-yard blocked punt return. Evan Slonac converts.

Third quarter

MSU — LeRoy Bolden, one-yard run. Slonac converts.
MSU — Billy Wells, two-yard run. Slonac converts.

Fourth quarter

UCLA — Rommie Loudd, 28-yard pass from Cameron passes 28 yards to Rommie Loudd. Kick failed.
MSU — Wells, 62-yard punt return. Slonac converts.

Statistics

Team Stats	Michigan St.	UCLA
First Downs	14	16
Net Yards Rushing	195	90
Net Yards Passing	11	152
Total Yards	206	242
PC–PA–Int.	2–10–1	9–24–2
Punts–Avg.	5–35.4	6–38.6
Fumbles–Lost	4–4	4–3
Penalties–Yards	2–15	4–30

Aftermath

UCLA went on to win a shared National Championship for the 1954 season. It was the first "split" championship in college football, when the writers selected Ohio State and the coaches chose UCLA. The Bruins didn't play in the 1955 Rose Bowl game because of the no-repeat rule in effect then.
Billy Wells died in December 2001.^[4]

Game facts

In their first official season in the Big Ten, the Spartans led the league in the number of black players. Michigan State's eight black athletes represented nearly a quarter of all African Americans in the entire conference.^[5]

UCLA roster

Players

Bruce Ballard
Warner Benjamin
Bob Bergdahl
Sam Boghosian
Doug Bradley
Richard Braunbeck
Jim Brown
Sam Brown
Hardiman Cureton
Bob Davenport

Terry Debay
Jim Decker
Preston Dills
Chuck Doud (co-captain)
Jack Ellena
John Farhood
Rudy Feldman (co-captain)
Russ Hampton
Johnny Hermann
Bob Heydenfeldt
Bob Long
Rommie Loudd

Gerry McDougall
Jack McKay
Gil Moreno
Clarence Norris
Gerry Okuneff
Steve Palmer
Doug Peters
Dave Peterson
Joe Ray
Mike Riskas

Jim Salisbury
Don Schinnick
Tom Thaxter
Primo Villanueva
Roger White

Coaches

References

↑ 2008 Rose Bowl Program, 2008 Rose Bowl. Accessed January 26, 2008.
↑ Gould, Jack - Television in Review: NBC Color Tournament of Roses Parade is Sent Over 22-City Network. New York Times, Monday, January 4, 1954
↑ Richmond, Jim - Postula family traveled long road to America. Battle Creek Enquirer, September 5, 2005
↑ Wells remembered for 1954 Rose Bowl. Associated Press. Tuesday, January 1, 2002
↑ Robinson, Will - "Nine of the Big Ten Schools Are Using Negro Football Players," Pittsburgh Courier, October 3, 1953. The Big Ten as a whole carried thirty-three black players in 1953. The team breakdown was: Michigan State-eight, Illinois-seven, Iowa-six, Michigan-four, Indiana-three, Ohio State-two, Minnesota-one, Wisconsin-one, Northwestern-one, and Purdue-zero.

Rose Bowl Game
History & conference tie-ins	History Rose Bowl Stadium College Football Playoff Broadcasters Big Ten Conference Pac-12 Conference
Games	1902 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Notes	No games were held from 1903 to 1915. The 1942 game was played at Duke Stadium in Durham, NC, due to the attack on Pearl Harbor. The game was also the national title game for the Bowl Championship Series in 2002 and 2006. The game was a College Football Playoff semifinal in its 2015 edition.

Michigan State Spartans bowl games

UCLA Bruins bowl games

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