1961 Rose Bowl

The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC), from which the "West" representative was historically selected, dissolved in early 1959 following a pay-for-play scandal. A new conference, the AAWU, commonly referred to as the "Big Five", formed in 1959 with the four California schools (Cal, Stanford, USC, and UCLA) and Washington. For scheduling, former PCC members Oregon, Oregon State, and Washington State dropped UCLA and USC, with the exception of Oregon State at USC. Idaho, who was not part of the scandal but had become uncompetitive, was dropped from the schedules of all the AAWU members. The PCC agreement with the Rose bowl was dissolved for the 1959 season, but former member Washington was invited to the game and demolished Wisconsin.

For the 1960 season, the AAWU contracted a new agreement which went into effect with this game.[3] The Big Ten agreement also was dissolved, but the Big Ten had authorized its members to accept Rose Bowl invitations at their discretion.[5] A new agreement with the Big Ten would not be reached until 1962, which became effective with the 1963 Rose Bowl.

The weather in Pasadena on January 2 was clear and sunny. Washington wore their dark home jerseys (actually deep blue), gold pants, and gold helmets. Minnesota wore white away jerseys with maroon with gold shoulder stripes, gold pants, and white helmets. The ceremonial pregame coin toss to determine first possession employed a souvenir gold dollar minted for Alaska's statehood in 1959.[12]

The Huskies dominated the first half, scoring all 17 points. Minnesota led in all the final statistics, but the most telling one was its passing game: Gopher quarterback Sandy Stephens completed only two of ten passes for 21 yards and was intercepted three times. MVP Bob Schloredt completed only two of four passes for 16 yards (no interceptions), but was the game's leading rusher with 68 yards on five carries. The most enduring story of the game was the Caltech card stunt at halftime.

Washington quarterback Bob Schloredt was named Player of the Game for a second consecutive year, the first to repeat; he was the a co-Player of the Game the previous year. Three other players have subsequently repeated as Rose Bowl Players of the Game: Charles White (USC), Ron Dayne (Wisconsin), and Vince Young (Texas).

Minnesota was still the AP and UPI national champion, as those final polls were released in late November and did not consider the bowl results.[13] Iowa, Missouri, Ole Miss, and Washington have all been recognized as national champions for the 1960 season by various organizations.[14][15][16][17]

Final polls in January (after the bowls) did not occur until much later. The AP had a January poll after the 1965 season, but not the next two; it went permanently post-bowl for the 1968 season. The final UPI coaches poll did not move until the 1974 season (January 1975), following the bowl defeats of UPI champions Texas (1970) and Alabama (1973). In five of the next six seasons (1974–1979), the top-ranked team in the UPI poll at the end of the regular season lost its bowl game; the exception was Pittsburgh (1976).

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