1942 Rose Bowl
| 1942 Rose Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28th Rose Bowl Game | |||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
| Date | January 1, 1942 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1941 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Duke Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Durham, North Carolina | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Donald Durdan, Oregon State | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Duke by 14 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 56,000 (estimated) | ||||||||||||||||||
The 1942 Rose Bowl was the 28th Rose Bowl game. Originally scheduled to be played in the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California, it was moved to Durham, North Carolina, due to fears about an attack by the Japanese on the West Coast of the United States following the attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States government prohibited large public gatherings on the West Coast of the United States for the duration of the war; the first significant canceled event was the Rose Bowl Game scheduled for New Year's Day, 1942.
The Oregon State Beavers defeated the host Duke Blue Devils 20-16 in Wallace Wade Stadium (known as Duke Stadium, at the time) on the Duke University campus. Donald Durdan of Oregon State was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game when the award was created in 1953 and selections were made retroactively.
In 1941, the Beavers football team won the Pacific Coast Conference and a berth in their first Rose Bowl. In 1940, Oregon State had finished 5-3-1 and third in the Pacific Coast Conference, the Beavers' third consecutive third place finish in the Pacific Coast Conference. They opened with a 13-7 loss at USC. A 9-6 win over Washington set the Beavers on the path to the conference championship. The Beavers next played the defending national champion and #2 Stanford Indians in California. The Indians were nicknamed the Wow Boys, because they implemented the seldom-used T-formation, forerunner to the modern football offense. Oregon State shut out Stanford, 10-0, snapping the Indians 13-game winning streak. Oregon State was shut out against eventual second place Washington State 7-0. But the Beavers shut out Idaho, UCLA, Cal and Montana in consecutive weekends, outscoring the four a combined 85-0. The final game in the Civil War series with Oregon had the Rose Bowl on the line for the Beavers, and a possible 5 way tie for first place if the Oregon Ducks won. All five teams would have 3 losses. Oregon State would have the most conference wins and also the best overall record. The argument was moot as Oregon State defeated Oregon and Stanford lost at Cal, leaving the Beavers with 2 conference losses. The rest of the PCC had four teams with three losses and five teams with four conference losses. Oregon State compiled the 7-2 record despite only scoring 20 points twice, against Idaho and Montana. The Beavers' defense only gave up 33 points all year, less than four points per game. Oregon State's coach was Lon Stiner, only 38 years old. He became the youngest coach ever in Rose Bowl history.
...
Wikipedia