1961 Rose Bowl

The 1961 Rose Bowl game, played on Monday, January 2, 1961, was the 47th Rose Bowl game. The #6 Washington Huskies defeated the top-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers, 17–7. Washington quarterback Bob Schloredt was named the Player Of The Game. The game was played on Monday, January 2 since New Year's Day 1961 fell on a Sunday.

This was the first season of the new agreement with the AAWU to send their champion; its predecessor, the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC), had dissolved after the 1958 season. The Big Ten was no longer in a formal agreement with the Rose Bowl following the demise of the PCC: Big Ten champion Minnesota received and accepted an "at-large" invitation.

The Great Rose Bowl Hoax occurred during halftime. As seen by an estimated 30 million television viewers, students from nearby Caltech altered the plans for the Washington card stunts, which spelled "CALTECH" instead of "HUSKIES" and showed the Caltech Beaver mascot instead of the Washington Husky.

Teams
The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC), from which the west coast Rose Bowl representative was historically taken, had dissolved in early 1959 following a pay-for-play scandal. A new conference, the AAWU, known as the Big Five, formed in 1959 with the four California schools (Cal, Stanford, USC, and UCLA) and Washington in Seattle. For scheduling, Oregon, Oregon State, and Washington State dropped UCLA and USC, with the exception being Oregon State at USC. The other AAWU teams kept their former PCC members on the schedule, except for Idaho. The PCC agreement with the Rose bowl had been dissolved for the 1959 season, but the winner among all former members of the PCC was invited, so Washington played in the 1960 Rose Bowl, and upset favored Wisconsin, 44–8. For the 1960 season, the AAWU contracted a new agreement with the Rose Bowl. The Big Ten agreement also was dissolved, but the Big Ten had authorized its members to accept Rose Bowl invitations at their discretion.

1960 Washington Huskies
The 1960 Huskies defeated the College of the Pacific 55–6 and former PCC member Idaho 23–0 to open the season. UW lost 15–14 to Navy at Husky Stadium, ending a seven game winning streak. The Midshipmen finished the regular season at 8–1, but lost to Missouri in the 1961 Orange Bowl. The Huskies won at Stanford and beat UCLA 10–8. The Huskies continued on with a PCC schedule, playing Oregon State in Portland and Oregon at home, winning both games by a single point. An early November game at the L.A. Coliseum with USC was the deciding factor in the Rose Bowl race, with the Huskies blanking the Trojans 34–0. The Huskies beat the Cal Bears 27–7 in Seattle to win the first AAWU championship outright. The final game of the regular season was the Apple Cup, where the Huskies narrowly escaped with an 8–7 win in Spokane over cross-state rival Washington State to finish the regular season at 9–1 and undefeated in conference play. Ranked #6 by the AP writers poll, the defending Rose Bowl champions were unranked by the UPI coaches poll.

1960 Minnesota Golden Gophers
The 1960 Gophers came to the Rose Bowl as the #1 team in the nation. The Gophers were led by Sandy Stephens, the first African-American All-American starting quarterback at the school (but not in the history of the Rose Bowl, which would have been the 1922 Rose Bowl). The Gophers had an early 26–14 win at #12 Nebraska. They shut out both Indiana and Northwestern, then also blanked Michigan 10–0 at Ann Arbor to win the Little Brown Jug. A win over non-conference Kansas State put Minnesota at #3. The next game at #1 Iowa was one of the most notable games in the Floyd of Rosedale rivalry. Minnesota won 27–10 (and the pig) and were ranked #1, but then lost to Purdue the next week. A 26–14 win over Wisconsin on NCAA television put them back at #1 to finish the season. The Gophers were tied with Iowa in the Big Ten standings, each with a loss. The final AP poll of November 29 was one of the closest ever: Minnesota with 17.5 first-place votes, Mississippi 16, and Iowa 12.5.

Game summary
The weather in Pasadena on January 2 was clear and sunny. Washington wore their home purple jerseys (actually deep blue), gold pants and gold helmets. Minnesota wore white away jerseys with maroon and gold shoulder stripes and white helmets. The ceremonial pregame coin toss to determine first possession employed a souvenir gold dollar minted for Alaska's statehood in 1959.

The Huskies dominated the first half, scoring all 17 points. Minnesota lead in all the final statistics, but the most telling one was its passing game: Gopher quarterback Sandy Stephens completed only 2 of 10 passes for 21 yards and was intercepted three times. MVP Bob Schloredt completed only 2 of 4 passes for 16 yards (no interceptions), but was the game's leading rusher with 68 yards on five carries. The most enduring story of the game was the Caltech card stunt at halftime.

Halftime
The Minnesota marching band performed first, followed by UW band, when the card stunts began. The Washington card section was on the east side of the Rose Bowl stadium, facing the press box and television cameras. The NBC national television broadcast was trained on the band and card stunts. The 14th card stunt design displayed "CALTECH" instead of "HUSKIES" in big block letters on a white background. The announcers and the stadium fell silent for several moments before breaking into laughter.

First quarter

 * Wash. — Fleming, 34-yard field goal, 9:10, Wash. 3–0

Second quarter

 * Wash. — Wooten, 4-yard pass from Schloredt (Fleming kick), 13:35, Wash. 10–0
 * Wash. — Schloredt, 1-yard run (Fleming kick), 4:14, Wash. 17–0

Third quarter

 * Minn. — Munsey, 18-yard run (Rogers kick), 9:15, Wash. 17–7

Fourth quarter

 * no scoring

Aftermath
Minnesota was still the AP and UPI national champion, as those final polls were released in late November and did not consider the bowl results. Iowa, Ole Miss, and Washington all have been recognized as national champions for the 1960 season by various organizations.

Bob Schloret was named Player of the Game for the second time, becoming the first player in Rose Bowl history to repeat as Player of the Game. He was previously named a co-Player of the Game in the 1960 Rose Bowl. Three other players have subsequently repeated as Rose Bowl Players of the Game: Charles White (USC), Ron Dayne (Wisconsin), and Vince Young (Texas).