The 1977 Rose Bowl was a college football

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...

played on January 1, 1977. It was the 63rd Rose Bowl Game. The

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ''Trojans'', the women's athletic teams are referred ...

, champions of the

Pacific-8 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...

, defeated the Michigan Wolverines, champions of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

, USC

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Vince Evans Vince is a given name, it is the anglicisation and shortened form of the name Vincent, as well as a surname. It may refer to: Given name People * Vince Agnew (born 1987), American football player * Vince Cable (born 1943), British politici ...

was named the Rose Bowl Player of the Game, and Trojan freshman tailback Charles White, subbing for Heisman Trophy runner-up Ricky Bell, who was injured in the first quarter, rushed for 114 yards and It was the third consecutive win for the Pac-8 in the Rose Bowl, and the seventh of the

Teams

Michigan

Michigan won their first eight games and spent most of the season ranked first in the polls, until a upset loss to Purdue on November 6. They capped off their Big Ten championship with a shutout of arch rival

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

; they were ranked second in both major polls at the end of the regular season.

USC

Under first-year head coach John Robinson, USC was upset in the season opener at home by

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, It was the Trojans' fifth-straight regular season loss, dating back to the prior season when John McKay had announced his end-of-season resignation (leaving for the expansion

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

of the NFL). USC won the rest of their games in 1976, climaxed by a win over #2

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

to clinch the conference and a subsequent 17–13 victory over

Scoring

First quarter

* No scoring

Second quarter

* Michigan - Rob Lytle, 1-yard run (Bob Wood kick blocked) * USC -

, 1-yard run (Walker kick)

Third quarter

* No scoring

Fourth quarter

* USC - Charles White, 7-yard run (Walker kick)

Aftermath

Undefeated

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

, led by Heisman Trophy winner

Tony Dorsett Anthony Drew Dorsett Sr. (born April 7, 1954) is a former American football running back who played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos. From Western Pennsylvania, Dorsett attended the ...

, was the consensus #1 team entering the bowls and played #4

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

in the Sugar Bowl in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

. USC and Michigan hoped Georgia would upset Pitt to set up the Rose Bowl as a

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

showdown, but Pitt had a dominant win earlier in the day to keep its top ranking in the USC finished second and Michigan dropped only

References

External links

Summary at Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan Athletics History
Rose Bowl Rose Bowl Game Michigan Wolverines football bowl games USC Trojans football bowl games Rose Bowl January 1977 sports events in the United States {{Collegefootball-bowl-stub