The 1986 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1986. It was the 72nd Rose Bowl Game. The UCLA Bruins defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes 45-28. UCLA tailback Eric Ball was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game. He ran for a Rose Bowl record four touchdowns.

On Tuesday, October 22, 1985, the Rose Queen selection ceremony took place at Tournament House in Pasadena when 17-year-old Aimee Lynn Richelieu, a senior at San Marino High School and a resident of San Marino, California, was named the 68th Rose Queen to reign over the 97th Rose Parade and the 72nd Rose Bowl Game. On Thursday, October 24, the Coronation takes at the Wrigley Mansion when the 1985–86 Tournament of Roses President Frederick D. Johnson, Jr., places the Queen's Crown on Miss Richelieu's head and a dozen of roses lays around her arms to officially start her year-long reign.

The game was presiding over by the 1986 Tournament of Roses Royal Court and Rose Parade Grand Marshal Erma Bombeck. Members of the court are: Princesses Shannon Guernsey, Altadena; Christine Huff, Altadena; April Lake, Arcadia; Tracey Langford, Pasadena; Julene Penner, Pasadena; and Loreen Weeks, Sierra Madre.

The 1986 Rose Bowl matched the winners of the Big Ten Conference and the Pacific-10 Conference. Each conference had tie-breaker rules in place should there be conference co-champions.

Iowa spent a number of weeks ranked number one. On October 19, 1985, they defeated the #2 Michigan Wolverines 12–10 in the thirteenth regular season matchup between a #1 and #2 team.Mike Haight, Chuck Long, and Ronnie Harmon were the stars for the Hawkeyes. They eventually lost one game on November 2, 1985, to Ohio State 13–22. Iowa came into the game with a record of 10–1.

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