1999 Rose Bowl

The 1999 Rose Bowl was the 85th Rose Bowl game and was played on Friday January 1, 1999 at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California. It was a college football bowl game at the end of the 1998 college football season. Wisconsin defeated UCLA by a score of 38-31. Ron Dayne of Wisconsin was named the Rose Bowl Player of the Game. He tied a modern Rose Bowl record with four touchdowns. This was the first year that the Rose Bowl became part of the Bowl Championship Series, ending a  a long-standing agreement between the Big Ten and the "West Representative" (PCC/AAWU) and the first year that the game was branded with corporate sponsorship. Unlike the other bowl games, the sponsor was not added to the title of the game, but instead as a presenter, so it became known as The Rose Bowl Game presented by AT&T.

Bowl Championship Series
The Bowl Coalition was restructured into the Bowl Alliance for the 1995 season, involving five conferences (reduced to four for the 1996 season) and three bowls. The championship game rotated among the three bowls. However, it still didn't include the Pac-10 or Big Ten champs.

Michigan and Nebraska split the National Championship during the 1997 season after never having met on the field. After a protracted round of negotiations, the Bowl Alliance was reconfigured into the Bowl Championship Series for the 1998 season. The Pasadena Tournament of Roses, which operates the Rose Bowl Game, agreed to release the Big Ten or Pac-10 champions if necessary to facilitate a national championship game. In return, the Rose Bowl was added to the yearly national championship game rotation.

UCLA Bruins
Beginning in November, the Bruins were ranked number 2 behind Tennessee. It appeared that they would face the Volunteers in the BCS championship. The UCLA Bruins went undefeated through the 1998 football season until their final game. In late September, was forced to postpone their game with UCLA due to Hurricane Georges. The game was rescheduled for December 5 and for the #2-ranked Bruins, a trip to the National Championship game was at stake. The Hurricanes put up over 600 yards of total offense and the result was a stunning 49-45 victory. Instead of advancing to the first Bowl Championship series game (the 1999 Fiesta Bowl) as a contender for the national championship, the Bruins "settled" for the Rose Bowl, something that previously had been the ultimate goal of the Pacific Ten conference champion.

Wisconsin Badgers
Wisconsin ended up in a three way tie for first place in the Big Ten with Michigan and Ohio State. All three teams had 7-1 conference records and were conference co-champions. Michigan had defeated Wisconsin 27-10 in "The Big House". Wisconsin and Ohio State did not meet. The Rose Bowl tiebreaker formula gave Wisconsin the Rose Bowl berth, since Michigan's overall record was the worst of the three (having lost to and Notre Dame to start the season), and Ohio State had been in the 1997 Rose Bowl previously, whereas Wisconsin had been in the 1994 Rose Bowl previously (in the event of a tie for first place, the Big Ten final tiebreaker awards the Rose Bowl berth to the team which has gone longest period of time without an invitation). The circumstances of this selection and the fact that UCLA had so recently fallen from the lofty #2 in the nation status led many to deride and seriously underestimate the Badgers; most notably, ESPN analyst Craig James with his infamous declaration that Wisconsin was "the worst team to ever play in the Rose Bowl, though quarterback Mike Samuel is the most underrated QB in college football".

Game summary
The weather was sunny and 74 degrees. Several Rose Bowl records were equaled or broken. The UCLA Bruins set the single team Rose Bowl record for total yards. In his final college game, Cade McNown, the UCLA quarterback, passed for 340 yards, the fourth-highest total in bowl history, and UCLA finished with 538 yards, 418 in the air.

Wisconsin running back Ron Dayne tied the modern Rose Bowl record of four touchdowns along with Eric Ball from the 1986 Rose Bowl and Sam Cunningham from the 1973 Rose Bowl. The teams would break an older record of 931 combined yards of offense, combining for 1,035 total yards.

In the second quarter, UCLA took its only lead of the game (21-14) with back-to-back touchdowns.

First quarter

 * Wisconsin - Ron Dayne, 54-yard run. Matt Davenport converts.
 * UCLA - Jermaine Lewis, 38-yard pass from Cade McNown. Chris Sailer converts.

Second quarter

 * Wisconsin - Dayne, seven-yard run. Davenport converts.
 * UCLA - Durell Price, 61-yard pass from Freddie Mitchell. Sailer converts.
 * UCLA - Danny Farmer, 41-yard pass from McNown. Sailer converts.
 * Wisconsin - Dayne, 10-yard run. Davenport converts.
 * Wisconsin - Davenport, 40-yard field goal.

Third quarter

 * Wisconsin - Dayne, 22-yard run. Davenport converts.
 * UCLA - Lewis, 10-yard run. Sailer converts.

Fourth quarter

 * Wisconsin - Jamar Fletcher, 46-yard interception return. Davenport converts.
 * UCLA - Sailer, 30-yard field goal

Rose Bowl records
Eight Rose Bowl records were set or tied in the game.

With his four touchdowns, Ron Dayne tied three modern Rose Bowl touchdown records: most touchdowns, most rushing touchdowns and most career rushing touchdowns. With 24 points, he also tied most points in game and career. These records are shared along with Eric Ball from the 1986 Rose Bowl and Sam Cunningham from the 1973 Rose Bowl. Vince Young would also join this group following the 2006 Rose Bowl, and the records still stand as of the 2008 Rose Bowl. Dayne was named the Rose Bowl MVP for 1999 and would repeat this feat in the 2000 Rose Bowl, becoming one of only three (now, four) players to ever repeat as a Rose Bowl MVP (and the only player from the Big Ten Conference).

For the teams, the following records were broken, but no longer stand.
 * Total offense: UCLA, 538 yards (old record: 519 by Southern California vs. Ohio State in the 1980 Rose Bowl, surpassed by 574 yards for USC in the 2006 Rose Bowl).
 * Total offense, two teams: UCLA and Wisconsin, 1,035 yards (old record: 931 yards by Oregon and Penn State in the 1995 Rose Bowl and Southern California and Ohio State in the 1980 Rose Bowl, surpassed by USC and Texas with 1,130 yards in the 2006 Rose Bowl).
 * Most yards per play: 7.6, Wisconsin (old record: 7.5 by Iowa vs. California in the 1959 Rose Bowl, surpassed by Miami at 7.74 in the 2002 Rose Bowl).
 * Most points in one half, two teams (tie): 45; Wisconsin 24, UCLA 21 (ties Southern California 35, Ohio State 10 in the 1973 Rose Bowl, surpassed by USC and Texas with 53 points in the second half of the 2006 Rose Bowl).

Wisconsin travel budget audit
The University paid for a traveling party of 832 people. This included the football team, marching band, university officials, their spouses, cheerleaders, and three Bucky mascots. A large number stayed at the Beverly Hills Hotel. In a review by the Wisconsin State Joint Legislative Audit Committee in 1999, the committee found that the University of Wisconsin spent $2,093,500 on the trip, versus a post season revenue share of $1,806,800. Subsequent reviews found a number of areas where expenses could have been reduced substantially.