The 1953 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1953, at the end of the 1952 college football season. It was the 39th Rose Bowl Game. It was Wisconsin's first bowl game and the first Rose Bowl appearance for the Trojans since 1948. It is also the first meeting of the two football programs. USC defeated Wisconsin, 7–0.

Wisconsin entered the game as a co-champion of the Big Ten Conference (with Purdue) and a 6–2–1 record (4–1–1 in conference). Wisconsin and Purdue did not meet. The out of conference loss was to UCLA, while the conference loss was to Ohio State. Wisconsin tied Minnesota in their season-ending rivalry game. This was the first bowl game appearance by the Badgers.

The USC Trojans entered the game as the Pacific Coast Conference champions, with a 6–0 record in conference play. Their sole loss was against Notre Dame in their season ending rivalry game.

This was the first win by a Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) team over a Big Ten team since the Rose Bowl began its exclusive contract to pair the champions of these two conferences in 1946 (beginning with the 1947 Rose Bowl). This was only the second time in Rose Bowl history that the PCC representative defeated a team from the Big Ten, the only previous win being California's defeat of Ohio State in the 1921 Rose Bowl.

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