Rose Bowl

Participants and result

Format and selection

Conference bowl agreements

One postseason game.

1. The Rose Bowl agreement paired the Big Ten conference lineage with the Pacific Coast conference lineage.
2. Conference eligibility and repeat-appearance restrictions varied. The sources linked here do not document every season’s exception or explain the choice of a particular participant.

These are documented selection procedures. They do not explain why a particular participant was chosen unless the source expressly records that decision.

History

The Tournament of Roses staged its first postseason football game on January 1, 1902, after the 1901 football season. Football returned in 1916 and became an annual part of the celebration.

The Rose Bowl stadium opened for the January 1923 game. The 1942 edition moved to Durham, North Carolina, during wartime; the January 2021 semifinal moved to Arlington, Texas, during the pandemic.

The game became closely associated with the Big Ten and the Pacific Coast conference lineage. It later hosted BCS title games and CFP rounds, whose selection systems superseded the usual conference matchup.

Related competitions: College Football Playoff · BCS National Championship

Sources and coverage

• NCAA bowl and all-star records ↗
• Rose Bowl history ↗

Previous editions