Originally titled the "Tournament East-West football game," the second of what is now known as the Rose Bowl Game was played on January 1, 1916. The Rose Bowl game has been played annually since this game.

The first game, the 1902 Tournament East-West football game, was so lopsided that for the next 13 years, the Tournament of Roses officials ran chariot races, ostrich races, and other various events instead of football. But, on New Year's Day 1916, football returned to stay as Washington State University defeated Brown University in this first annual Tournament of Roses football game.

Before the Rose Bowl stadium was built for the 1923 Rose Bowl Game, games were played in Pasadena's Tournament Park, approximately three miles southeast of the current stadium. It is best known for being the site of the first Rose Bowl Game in 1902, and the second to eighth Rose Bowl Games from 1916 to 1922 before the Rose Bowl opened in 1923. Its capacity at the time was 43,000 people.

The Washington State Cougars had an undefeated season. They won 28–3 over Oregon, 29–0 over Oregon State, 41–0 over Idaho, 27–7 over Montana, 17–0 over Whitman and 48–0 over Gonzaga.

The 1915 Brown University Bruins lost 7–0 to Amherst, 6–0 to Syracuse, and 16–7 to Harvard. They had a scoreless tie with Trinity. Brown outscored its opponents 167–32 that year, beating Rhode Island 38–0, Williams 33–0, Vermont 46–0, Yale 3-0 and Carlisle 39–3. Brown was chosen as the Eastern representative with a 5–3–1 record.

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