Our first Rose Bowl Friday of the new calendar year brings along World War II progress, as the University of Georgia made its Granddaddy of Them All debut, playing against the UCLA Bruins—also making their first appearance in the Pasadena game. What a difference a year made, as the United States was fighting the war on two major fronts and starting to assert its worldwide military might in the process: incredible times.

The No. 2-ranked Bulldogs came into the game with a 10-1 record, having beaten previous No. 2 Georgia Tech in its final regular-season game by a 34-0 margin. Georgia also was ranked No. 2 in the SRS overall, having played the No. 35 schedule and done pretty well against it: the No. 3 scoring offense and the No. 16 scoring defense. The Bulldogs only played two small-college teams during the season, as well. However …

Georgia had been ranked No. 1 in November before a 14-point loss to unranked Auburn, and the Bulldogs were lucky to only have been dropped to No. 5 in the polls. The redeeming victory against the Ramblin’ Wreck, therefore, was quite impressive and secured the invitation to Pasadena. With No. 1-ranked Ohio State unable to play in a bowl game due its conference rules, this was a chance for the Bulldogs to shine.

On the other side of the field, the No. 13-ranked Bruins didn’t present that big of an obstacle, really, at least on paper. UCLA was just 7-3, despite being the champions of the Pacific Coast Conference; despite playing the N0. 28 SOS, the Bruins still had lost three times by the first weekend of November. Yet UCLA recovered to win its final three games against Washington, Idaho, and USC—claiming the league title for its first time.

The Bruins played a full slate of real college teams, too, yet they were ranked just 43rd in both scoring offense and scoring defense. It helped that two of UCLA’s losses were out-of-conference matchups, and it avoided playing second-place Washington State due to scheduling quirks. Either way, due to travel challenges, the Bruins were expected to put up the usual good fight for a West Coast team in the Rose Bowl.

That did happen, in truth, as the two teams played three quarters of scoreless football, despite Georgia’s overall statistical dominance. The dam finally broke when future NFL star Bob Waterfield, playing for Bruins, had his punt blocked out of the end zone for a safety. Georgia then tacked on a touchdown run by future NFL MVP Frank Sinkwich, and even then, the final score (9-0) didn’t really tell the full story here.

The Bulldogs out-gained the Bruins, 379-157, while earning 22 first downs to UCLA’s four. Perhaps the most telling statistic was this one: the Bruins completed just as many passes to their own players as interceptions to Georgia (4). It would be 23 more years before UCLA managed to win a Rose Bowl, after losing its first five Granddaddies overall. As for the Bulldogs, they would not return until the 2017 season … and justifiably so.