We reach a landmark (or two?) today on Rose Bowl Friday: the first Granddaddy of Them All loss for the USC Trojans ever—and the last Pasadena matchup for a long time that wasn’t the now-known “traditional” pairing of the conferences colloquially know as the B1G and the Pac-12. World War II was over, and change came to the Rose Bowl in the form of these two interesting developments. We will tackle them both today.

This was a weak USC team, for starters: the Trojans came into the game with three losses, including one to the remnants of a San Diego Naval base team. Yet USC also lost to conference rival Washington on the road and to a ranked St. Mary’s College team. The latter loss was a 26-0 embarrassment at home, but the Trojans recovered to win their final three games at that point, all in conference, and win the PCC championship.

Ranked 11th, somehow, USC actually held a No. 59 SRS ranking (out of 101 major-college teams in 1945), so it’s clear the Trojans were a mediocre squad, even if the best one the West Coast could produce at this point in time. Meanwhile, the Alabama Crimson Tide were a perfect 9-0, champions of the SEC, and ranked No. 2 in the country with their collective eye on the mythical national championship. This was a big mismatch.

The 34-14 Alabama victory ended the USC dominance of the Rose Bowl, albeit only temporarily. The Crimson Tide led 20-0 at halftime, and the Trojans offense had minus-24 yards at that point, not earning a first down until the score was 27-0 in the third quarter. In the end, ‘Bama rolled up 351 yards to USC’s 41 yards, and the Trojans only scored after it was 34-0, including the final touchdown on a blocked punt.

After the game, the agreement between the aforementioned conferences was announced for the subsequent five years, which was extended repeatedly into the twenty-first century with rare exceptions for BCS and CFP rotational needs. Thus, Alabama has never again played in Pasadena, although the Crimson Tide won a faux “Rose Bowl” played in Texas on its way to the Covid MNC of 2020. Not a bad way to go out in style …

So, the first era of the Granddaddy ended just as World War II came to a close. The next era would be the traditional era, as we know it, and most of those years have been covered already in a prior miniseries. We will continue this look at the Rose Bowl through the 1955 season, as the B1G would dominate the national scene for the next few decades before giving some ground to both the Pacific and Southeast conferences.

With its 7-4 final record, these Trojans may have been one of the worst Rose Bowl teams ever, particularly with that No. 59 ranking in the SRS. In fact, we can say without a doubt this was the worst participating team in the Granddaddy’s history. It’s ironic since USC holds the record for most wins in Pasadena (25): the best can sometimes be the worst, too. It’s the cycle of things as we know in all sports. So be it.