Wisconsin entered the game as the sole champions of the Big Ten Conference, their first untied conference championship season since 1962 when they played in the 1963 Rose Bowl, although they had been conference co-champions in 1993 and 1998, appearing in the 1994 and 1999 Rose Bowls. The Wisconsin offense featured a powerful running game with 1999 Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne at running back.
Stanford entered the game as the champions of the Pacific-10 Conference. It was their first conference championship season since 1971 and their first Rose Bowl since 1972.
Game summary[]
Scoring[]
First quarter[]
No Score
Second quarter[]
Stanford – Mike Biselli 28-yard field goal 2 13:26 3-0
Wisconsin – Pisetsky 31-yard field goal 2 9:19 3-3
Stanford – K. Carter 1-yard run (run failed) 2 2:03 9-3
Third quarter[]
Wisconsin – Ron Dayne 4-yard run (Pisetsky kick) 3 12:57 9-10
Fourth quarter[]
Wisconsin – Bollinger 1-yard run (Pisetsky kick) 4 7:22 9-17
The two teams would go on to face off again exactly thirteen years later in the 2013 Rose Bowl, with Barry Alvarez returning to serve as interim head coach for Wisconsin, but this time, Stanford would win 20-14.
Cultural references[]
In the Futurama episode, Jurassic Bark, The (incorrectly inversed) 2nd quarter score is briefly shown on Fry's parents' television, while Fry's mother wears a cheese head.
In the Futurama episode "The Luck of the Fryrish", Fry's mother mentions the day Wisconsin won the Rose Bowl 17-9 in reference to the day Fry disappeared.