Rose Bowl Game - Frequent Participants

Frequent Participants

USC has played the most times in the Rose Bowl, with 33 appearances, followed by Michigan (20), Washington (14), and Ohio State (14). Alabama, 4-1-1 in Rose Bowls, has made the most appearances of any team outside the Pac-12 and Big Ten conferences.

USC has won the most Rose Bowls (24), followed by Michigan (8), Washington (7), and Ohio State (7). Michigan has lost the most (12), followed by USC (9), and UCLA and Ohio State (7 each).

The most frequent Rose Bowl matchup is USC-Michigan, occurring for the eighth time in 2007, with USC holding a 6–2 advantage. (Including rare meetings outside the Rose Bowl, USC leads this series 6–4.) The next most frequent matchup is USC-Ohio State, occurring for the seventh time in 1985, with USC holding a 4–3 advantage.

From the 1946 season (1947 Rose Bowl), when the Big Ten-Rose Bowl agreement began, through the 1971 season (1972 Rose Bowl), the Big Ten did not permit the same team to represent that Conference in the Rose Bowl in consecutive years. There was one exception: Minnesota played in the 1961 Rose Bowl and 1962 Rose Bowl games, as previously explained in the section on the conference agreements after the collapse of the Pacific Coast Conference.

Also of note, during this era Big Ten and Pac-8 teams could play only in the Rose Bowl; this restriction was not lifted until the 1975 season.

Archie Griffin of Ohio State and Brian Cushing of USC are the only players to ever start in four Rose Bowl games. Legendary coach Woody Hayes led Ohio State to the Rose Bowl from 1973–1976, while USC head coach Pete Carroll led the Trojans to the Rose Bowl from 2006–2009.

Current members of the Pac-12 or the Big Ten never to have appeared in the Rose Bowl are Arizona, Colorado, and Utah, with Oregon State and California having appeared in the Rose Bowl as members of predecessors leagues to the Pac-8. Idaho and Montana, who were members of the Pacific Coast Conference from 1922 until 1958 and 1950 respectively, never finished near the top in the PCC football standings. Former Big Ten member Chicago withdrew from the league prior to the bowl arrangement being set. New Big Ten member Nebraska has played in two Rose Bowls, although not as a representative of the Big Ten. New Pac-12 members Colorado and Utah have yet to appear in one (Nebraska, Colorado, and Utah joined their new conferences on July 1, 2011).

USC has played every current Big Ten school in the Rose Bowl except for Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota. Michigan has played every school in the old Pac-10 except Oregon and Arizona.

The Rose Bowl was exclusively a Big Ten-Pac-10 affair for 52 years, from 1946 (1947 Rose Bowl) through 1997 (1998 Rose Bowl). While the Big Ten dominated the game in the late 1940s and 1950s, and the Pac-10 dominated during the 1970s and early 1980s, over the entire 52-year span, each conference won 26 games.

The BCS era now covers the past thirteen games, starting with the 1999 (85th) Rose Bowl. Since then, of the nine games featuring a Big Ten-Pac-12 matchup, the Pac-12 leads in wins, 6-3. However, the 2007 (93rd) Rose Bowl and 2008 (94th) Rose Bowl, each Big Ten losses to the Pac-12, actually featured the Big Ten runner-up, as conference champion Ohio State was selected to play each of those years in the BCS National Championship Game.

The 2011 Rose Bowl Game marked the first time during the BCS era that a school from a non-BCS conference played in the game (as Oregon, the Pacific-10 champion, was selected to play in the BCS National Championship Game). TCU beat Wisconsin 21-19.

In 1918 and 1919 the Rose Bowl hosted football games with military personnel and are not actually college football games. Big Ten and Pacific-12 conference records are based on all Rose Bowl games.