The 1995 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 Monday January 2, 1995, because New Year's Day was on a Sunday. It was the 81st Rose Bowl Game. The

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interc ...

defeated the

Oregon Ducks The Oregon Ducks are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Oregon, located in Eugene. The Ducks compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac-12 Conference. ...

38–20.

Ki-Jana Carter Kenneth Leonard "Ki-Jana" Carter (; born September 12, 1973) is a former American football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons. He played college football at Penn State, where he earned consensus All ...

of Penn State and Danny O'Neil of Oregon both were named the Rose Bowl Players of the Game. Many observers point to this game as the one that made Ki-Jana Carter a number one selection in the 1995 NFL Draft.

Teams

Both teams were appearing in the Rose Bowl after being away for many years. The Oregon Ducks last appeared in the

1958 Rose Bowl The 1958 Rose Bowl was the 44th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Wednesday, January 1. The heavily-favored Ohio State Buckeyes of the Big Ten Conference defeated the Oregon Webfoots o ...

, 37 years prior. The Penn State Nittany Lions appeared only one other time, the

1923 Rose Bowl The 1923 Rose Bowl, played on January 1, 1923, was an American Football bowl game. It was the 9th Rose Bowl Game. The USC Trojans defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions 14-3. Leo Calland, a USC guard, was named the Rose Bowl Player of the Game whe ...

, when the Rose Bowl stadium was used for the game for the first time.

Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State was playing their second season as the 11th member in 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 ...

. They went undefeated through the Big Ten season and were ranked #2 going into the contest.

Oregon Ducks

Oregon opened with a win over Portland State, but then lost to non-conference opponents Utah and Hawaii. However, on October 1, 1994, the Ducks pulled off a surprise trouncing of #19 USC, a team that the Ducks had defeated only one other time since 1972. Two weeks after defeating #19 USC the Ducks upset #9 Washington in a game that sparked a period of unprecedented success in the Oregon-Washington rivalry. They would go on to win the rest of their conference games, excepting a week 6 loss to Washington State, including a 10–9 victory over Arizona. The season ended with a 17–13 win over Oregon State with the Rose Bowl on the line. Oregon finished in sole possession of first place, with Arizona and USC tied for second.

Game summary

Penn State running back

provided the highlight of the game when he scored an 83-yard touchdown on Penn State's first offensive play, prompting announcer Keith Jackson to utter the quote "They had him, they thought and then he was gone." After Carter's touchdown, Oregon came right back to tie the game. Penn State scored again and led 14–7 at halftime. But Oregon rode the short passing game of QB Danny O'Neil and kept the ball away from the potent Penn State offense. Oregon tied the game midway through the 3rd quarter. Penn State scored to take a 21–14 and got the ball back. Then came the key play of the game. Penn State S Chuck Penzenik intercepted O'Neil with just over two minutes left in the third quarter, returning the ball to the Oregon 13-yard line. Carter then scored his third touchdown, a short 3-yard run that put the Nittany Lions ahead 28–14. Penn State went on to win in comfortable fashion, 38–20.

Scoring

First quarter

*Penn State – Ki-Jana Carter 83 run (

Brett Conway Brett Alan Conway (born March 8, 1975) is a former professional American football player. He was a placekicker for seven seasons with various teams in the National Football League. He was drafted in the third round (#90 overall) by the Green Ba ...

kick), 10:50 *Oregon – Josh Wilcox 1 pass from Danny O’Neil (Matt Belden kick), 10:05

Second quarter

*Penn State – Brian Milne 1 run (Conway kick), 1:26

Third quarter

*Oregon – Cristin McLemore 17 pass from O’Neil (Belden kick), 4:54 *Penn State – Carter 17 run (Conway kick), 3:53 *Penn State – Carter 3 run (Conway kick), 2:01

Fourth quarter

*Penn State – Conway 43 FG, 5:43 *Penn State – Jon Witman 9 run (Michael Barninger kick), 4:24 *Oregon – Ricky Whittle 3 run (pass failed), 2:44

Statistics

Game records

Aftermath

Danny O'Neil contributed to 13 Rose Bowl records including individual records for passes attempted, passes completed, and passing yardage. As of 2008, his records still stood for most offensive plays (74), most passes attempted (61), most passes completed (41) and most yards passing (456). Ki-Jana Carter was inducted into the

Rose Bowl Hall of Fame The Rose Bowl Game is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2. The Rose ...

as a member of the Class of 2014.Knute Rockne, Dick Vermeil and Ki-Jana Carter to be Inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame
Tournament of Roses Association, August 26, 2014

References

Bibliography

*Oregon Ducks football media guide (PDF copy available a
www.goducks.com
*Kevin Gorman
Nittany Lions prove worth at 1995 Rose Bowl
Penn State Daily Collegian, October 29, 2001
Penn State Bowl history
{{Penn State Nittany Lions bowl game navbox Rose Bowl Rose Bowl Game Oregon Ducks football bowl games Penn State Nittany Lions football bowl games January 1995 sports events in the United States

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