1971 Rose Bowl
The 1971 Rose Bowl was It was the 57th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Friday, January 1. The Stanford Indians football team|Stanford Indians] of the Pacific-8 Conference defeated the second-ranked 1970 [Ohio State Buckeyes football team|Ohio State Buckeyes] of the Big Ten Conference, The Player of the Game was Stanford quarterback the Heisman Trophy winner.
Teams
Ohio State
Ohio State started the season ranked first in the nation and proceeded to roll off five easy wins by a combined score of 195–60. In their fifth game, the Buckeyes won 48–29 at 1970 [Illinois Fighting Illini football team|Illinois]. But for some reason, Texas Longhorns football team|Texas] leapfrogged Ohio State to #1 after beating unranked Rice Owls football team|Rice] 45–21. The next week the Buckeyes defeated #20 Northwestern Wildcats football team|Northwestern] 24–10, but dropped to third in the rankings as 1970 [Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team|Notre Dame] moved up to second after a rout of Navy Midshipmen football team|Navy].After a 10–7 win with a late field goal at Purdue Boilermakers football team|Purdue] on November 14, they fell to fifth despite still being undefeated, as Nebraska Cornhuskers football team|Nebraska] and Michigan Wolverines football team|Michigan] passed them. They earned the Rose Bowl berth on the strength of their 20–9 victory over #4 Michigan in their rivalry game that decided the Big Ten title and rose back to second, behind Texas. After Texas lost in the Cotton Bowl Classic|Cotton Bowl] to #6 Notre Dame earlier on New Year's Day, Ohio State went into the Rose Bowl with the inside track to claim the national championship.
Stanford
Stanford started the season ranked tenth, and in the season opener they upset #4 Arkansas Razorbacks football team|Arkansas] at Little Rock. After an easy win over 1970 [San Jose State Spartans football team|San Jose State], they traveled north to Eugene for a game that featured a quarterback battle between Plunkett and Oregon Ducks football team|Oregon] sophomore Dan Fouts. Stanford won but then were caught looking ahead to their showdown with USC Trojans football team|USC] and lost at home to Purdue. They then beat four-time defending Pac-8 champion USC at Stanford, . An easy over conference doormat Washington State Cougars football team|Washington State] boosted the Indians to #8.Next up was a showdown with #16 UCLA Bruins football team|UCLA] in Los Angeles for the conference lead. In what was expected to be another quarterback showdown between Plunkett and the Bruins' Dennis Dummit, the defenses dominated in Stanford's key After an easy win over 1970 [Oregon State Beavers football team|Oregon State], they rose to sixth before clinching the conference title in the Rose Bowl decider over sophomore QB Sonny Sixkiller and Washington Huskies football team|Washington], Stanford then suffered a pair of letdowns, losing to #13 1970 [Air Force Falcons football team|Air Force] and to arch rival 1970 [California Golden Bears football team|California], The Pac-8 standings were so tightly bunched, that a win by either Oregon, UCLA, or Washington over Stanford would have sent that team to the Rose Bowl.
Scoring
First quarter
- Stanford – Jackie Brown 4-yard run, 10:20
- Stanford – Horowitz 37-yard field goal, 6:50
- Ohio State – John Brockington 1-yard run, 3:45
Second quarter
- Ohio State – Brockington 1-yard run, 14:24
Third quarter
- Stanford – Horowitz 48-yard field goal, 12:29
- Ohio State – Schram 32-yard field goal, 8:33
Fourth quarter
- Stanford – Brown 1-yard run, 10:03
- Stanford – Randy Vataha 10-yard pass from Jim Plunkett, 8:18