Today’s Rose Bowl Friday is a unique one (again) in that wartime challenges limited cross-country travel, so two Best Coast teams faced off against each other in the Granddaddy of Them All: the USC Trojans and the Washington Huskies. It’s even more intriguing, as the Huskies’ 1943 season is not considered an “official” one by the NCAA due to travel restrictions, which prevented Washington from playing a “legit” schedule.

So, we have to remember this in context for this Rose Bowl game. The Trojans started out the season with six consecutive victories before losing to a military-base squad (San Diego Navy). Then, USC lost again to another military-base team (March Field) that was ranked 15th in the nation. But the Trojans closed with a win over UCLA to “claim” the PCC title with a perfect conference record, despite not being ranked at all.

USC was just 34th in the SRS, actually, but the team did not have to travel far to Pasadena, and that was the key for this bowl situation at the time. As for the Huskies, well … they had played just four regular-season games, and while some sources claim Washington was ranked in the AP poll, it really doesn’t mean they deserved it. Their alternative “SRS”-type ranking was No. 42, which shows generally the team was average.

The Huskies were 4-0 coming into the Rose Bowl, but all four wins came against regional teams in the state of Washington: one small school (Whitman College) and three military-base teams, including the Spokane Air Service twice. The one result that stood out was the Huskies’ victory over March Field, a team that USC had lost to during the season. Using translational correlation, Washington was 55 points better in that deal.

Well, this is why that theoretical method of evaluating teams never works: the Trojans beat the Huskies, 29-0, in the Granddaddy. Washington was actually the prohibitive favorite, so to repeat a stale refrain, maybe the train ride down from Seattle took a lot out of the Huskies players. There was no scoring in the first quarter, and USC led just 7-0 at halftime. However, it all went downhill for Washington after the break.

The Trojans tossed three second-half touchdown passes and added a safety on a blocked punt for good measure to close out the scoring. USC finished with an 8-2 record, while the Huskies ended up with a 4-1 mark. Washington hadn’t even played a game since October 30, so it’s most likely probable that the team just was rusty and not conditioned well enough for a 60-minute battle of physical force. It can happen.