Rose Bowl Friday continues through its historical journey across the decades of the Granddaddy of Them All, arriving at the climax of the 1923 college football season—a little more than 100 years ago! The Naval Academy Midshipmen made their first formal appearance, taking on the Washington Huskies, who were appearing in their first Rose Bowl, as well. What else could happen but a tie game where neither won?!

The Huskies scored a fourth-quarter touchdown to tie it up at 14 points apiece, and that was that. Despite playing a pathetic schedule, Washington still was the better team on paper, somehow, so perhaps this was fitting that it was able to scratch out a draw at the end. Navy entered the game with a 5-1-2 record, but its only wins against major competition came against William & Mary and Colgate. This was not a great team.

On the contrary, though, the Huskies were 10-1 coming into the bowl game, with four of those victories coming against non-major opponents. Washington did go 4-1 against its PCC opponents, losing only to the California Golden Bears who were on a historic undefeated streak at the time. But of the 44 points surrendered by the Huskies defense in those first 11 games, only 7 of them came against the weaker teams.

Thus, again, perhaps travel was expected to play a role: it did not, with Navy having a 14-7 halftime lead. There had been some rain the day before, so the Rose Bowl field was not in the best condition. Ironically, Washington had chosen Navy as its opponent, too, which was a first. To see the Midshipmen ahead at halftime had to sting the Huskies a bit, but they were able to come back and salvage the tie in the end.

In fact, Washington was lucky to get a tie, after getting out-gained, 362-202. The Huskies also punted 9 times to Navy’s 5 kicks. The big difference was the Midshipmen’s passing game, where Navy completed 16 of 20 passes, as a method for overcoming the sloppy field which impacted the rushing conditions early on. Eventually, both teams combined for 324 yards on the ground, but it was not easy going at first.

Two Midshipmen mistakes late cost them the victory and almost the game, in fact: Washington’s tying TD came after a bad snap on a punt attempt deep in Navy territory, and then the Midshipmen tossed an interception, which the Huskies almost converted into the winning field goal—but the attempt was missed, and the tie perhaps was the most fitting result. Navy would never again play in the Pasadena bowl game.