We give thanks on this Rose Bowl Friday for the Alabama Crimson Tide’s first loss in the Granddaddy of Them All. The Red Menace from the Confederacy had been 3-0-1 before rolling into Southern California for the first day of the year’s matchup against the California Golden Bears. It had been eight years since Cal had played in the biggest game of the year, and that did not end up well for the Bears, in a legendary situation.

Just about 90,000 fans attended the game, which set a new record (again) as the stadium itself continue to expand to meet demand. Cal came into the contest with a 9-0-1 record to finish with the No. 6 scoring defense and the No. 17 scoring offense. The SOS (53rd) was not super strong, in retrospect, but double-digit victories over ranked teams from USC and Stanford surely looked pretty good on paper. The Bears were it.

As for Alabama, well … the Tide ranked lower than Cal in the AP Poll for some reason, despite a 9-0 record, the No. 9 scoring defense, and the No. 8 scoring offense. The Crimson also had played a better schedule (23rd SOS). But Alabama had won its three games in November by just a combined 25-13 score. That slow finish didn’t help perceptions of the boys in red. Throw in the cross-country train ride, and … yeah. Uh oh.

And that’s exactly what happened, really: California scored single touchdowns in both the second and third quarters, respectively, missing the extra point after the second TD. In the end, not only did the Crimson Tide lose its first Rose Bowl, it also was held scoreless continuing a trend over its last month of play where the team just couldn’t get it going. The defense did well enough, but the Alabama offense was missing it all.

In the end, we picked Cal as our mythical national champion for the season, even though they finished No. 2 in the AP poll at the end of the regular season. The Golden Bears, however, have never won another Rose Bowl—and they wouldn’t make a return trip to Pasadena until the 1958 season. Alabama only came west one more time before the Granddaddy switched to its traditional matchup format in 1946. This was history.