Our Rose Bowl Friday gets some fresh items this week, as one participating team in the Granddaddy of Them All was making its first-ever bowl game appearance … against one of the established programs of the day playing in its 11th Pasadena game. So, this certainly was one of those matchups of the Old Guard vs. the New Blood. However, it turned out to be quite a boring game, in the sense that only seven points were scored.

New Blood came in the form of the Wisconsin Badgers: with a 6-2-1 record, they were ranked 11th in the Associated Press poll and co-champions of the Western Conference (the B1G’s official name at the time). Purdue also had finished with a 4-1-1 league mark, but the Rose Bowl invited the Badgers to the game. Wisconsin was ranked 11th in the SRS, having played the No. 13 overall SOS. Their season was up and down.

In their second game, the Badgers had upset the then-No. 2 Illinois Fighting Illini and vaulted to No. 1 in the AP poll as a result. However, Wisconsin immediately lost its next game to Ohio State, and after a second loss—this time to UCLA—the Badgers dropped to 18th in the media poll. But they went 3-0-1 in their final games to claw their way back to relevancy and the conference co-championship. So here they were, after all.

Old Guard stalwart USC was on the other sideline, which helped put the Rose Bowl attendance back into six figures after a few seasons of lower attendance. The Trojans had started out 9-0 and risen to No. 2 in the AP poll before losing to Notre Dame and dropping down to fifth. They also owned the No. 3 SRS spot, having played the 20th-ranked SOS in the country. But the offense had been shutout against the Irish, which hurt.

Regardless, USC was a seven-point favorite. The defense was ranked No. 1 in the country, having allowed just 47 points in its ten games, while the offense had averaged 26.7 points per game up until the Notre Dame debacle. Throw in a general home-field advantage, and it was clear the Trojans should probably steamroll the Badgers, since the loss to the Irish was clearly some kind of freak anomaly. The stage was set, for sure.

Yet the game was a snoozefest … USC won, 7-0, with a third-quarter touchdown, sealing the first-ever win for the Pacific Coast Conference in the Rose Bowl era of matchups between the future B1G and Pac-X leagues. The seven points remain the second-lowest combined score ever in Rose Bowl history, and ironically, when these two teams played against after the 1962 season, they set a different scoring record.

Of note, Wisconsin running back Alan Ameche ran for 133 yards on 28 carries in a losing effort. He would go on to NFL fame for another interesting feat, of course, after winning the 1954 Heisman Trophy, too.