Plot Synopsis

The Rose Bowl is an annual post-season college football bowl game that is typically held on New Year's Day in Pasadena, CA. But, because of its "Never on Sunday" rule, the Rose Bowl is held some years on Monday, January 2 instead. Originally known as the Tournament East-West Football Game, the inaugural game, with Michigan beating Stanford, was held on New Year's Day in 1902 at Tournament Park as an event to complement the annual Tournament of Roses Parade held by Pasadena's Valley Hunt Club. This game was the first post-season football game in the nation. After the first game was a 49-0 blowout, the Hunt Club hosted chariot races and ostrich races instead of a football game in subsequent years -- until 1916. Washington State beat Brown 14-0 in that second game, which was held on New Year's Day 1916 at Tournament Park, where the games continued through 1922. The event was then moved to the newly built Rose Bowl stadium and the game was renamed as the Rose Bowl. "The Granddaddy of Them All" has traditionally featured champions from the Big Ten and Pac-8/Pac-10/Pac-12 conferences since New Year's Day 1947. On April 24, 2012, the Rose Bowl was selected as one of six bowl games to comprise the College Football Playoff. During this 12-year agreement, the game is part of a rotation for the national semifinals once every three years (following the 2014, 2017 and 2020 seasons). In years the Rose Bowl does not host a national semifinal game, the game reverts to its traditional conference matchup, unless conference champions play in the College Football Playoff.