Score by Quarters
Purdue
0
10
7
7
24
Washington
14
0
6
14
34
The 2001 Rose Bowl Game was a battle of some big-name quarterbacks, one doing his damage with his feet, the other through the air. It was land that won this time.
Player of the Game Marques Tuiasosopo led his Washington Huskies to a Rose Bowl Game victory with 75 yards rushing, 138 passing, and a touchdown via each medium, beating All-American quarterback Drew Brees and his Purdue Boilermakers, 34-24.
Washington scored on its first two possessions to open a 14-0 lead. On its first drive, Washington took the ball at its 36 and went all the way on 10 plays for the score, a 1-yard run from Braxton Cleman. On Purdue’s second drive, while trying to punt on 4th and 14, the long snap went over the punter’s head. Although the Boilermakers recovered, Washington took over on downs. Three plays and a Tuiasosopo option later, the Huskies were up 14-0.
Purdue, however, righted the ship. They pulled to 14-10 at the end of the second quarter on a 50-yard scoring pass play from Brees to Vinny Sutherland and a 26-yard field goal.
In the third quarter, Purdue continued to climb out of the hole they’d dug for themselves in the first quarter. A Brees 24-yard touchdown pass to Sutherland evened the score at 17-17.
However, apart from that, it was all Huskies in the second half. Washington gained 331 yards in the second half, including 245 yards on the ground, and controlled the ball for 23:29 of the 30 minutes. Two touchdowns in the fourth quarter again a tired Boilermaker defense put the game away.
“We had three and out two times, and it is hard for the defense to be out all quarter,” Brees said. “Our job was to give the defense a rest, and we didn’t really do that.”
This onslaught was somewhat unlikely, as Tuiasosopo was pulled to the ground in the second half and tweaked the shoulder on his throwing arm. He retired to the locker room, albeit temporarily.
“I was mad,” Tuiasosopo said. “I said, can you believe this in the Rose Bowl Game and ahead at the half? I couldn’t believe it at the time. I just wanted to get the heck back out there and play.”
Despite not seeing much of the field in the second half, Brees still completed 23 of 39 passes for a very respectable 275 yards and two touchdowns in the game.
The Rose Bowl Game win was something of a storybook one for the Huskies. Washington safety Curtis Williams, who had been paralyzed from the neck down earlier in the season, joined his team in the locker room before the game.
“There was no way that we were going to lose, no way,” said a Washington player after the game. “At that point, when we saw him come in there, there was no stopping us. I don’t care who the other team was over there; we were going to get it done today.”
Williams died just more than a year later.
Attendance
94,392
Weather
Clear; 72 degrees
Scoring
First Quarter
Wash – Cleman, 1-yard run (Anderson kick good)
Wash – Tuiasosopo, 5-yard run (Anderson kick good)
Second Quarter
Pur – Sutherland, 50-yard pass from Brees (Dorsch kick good)
Pur – Dorsch, 26-yard field goal
Third Quarter
Wash – Anderson, 47-yard field goal
Pur – Sutherland, 24-yard pass from Brees (Dorsch kick good)
Wash – Anderson, 42-yard field goal
Fourth Quarter
Wash – Elstrom, 8-yard pass from Tuiasosopo (Anderson kick good)
Wash – Hurst, 8-yard run (Anderson kick good)
Pur – Brown, 42-yard run (Dorsch kick good)
Coaches
Purdue: Joe Tiller
Washington: Rick Neuheisel
Fun Fact
Washington coach Rick Neuheisel became the first and only former Rose Bowl Game MVP to coach a Rose Bowl Game-winning team.
Individual Stats
Rushing
Pur: Lowe 20-79; Brown 3-52
Wash: Alexis 10-78; Tuiasosopo 15-75; Hurst 9-53; Conniff 8-45; Tharps 1-12; Cleman 5-11
Passing
Pur: Brees 23-39-275
Wash: Tuiasosopo 16-22-138; Pickett 2-2-11
Receiving
Pur: Sutherland 7-88; Standeford 5-67; Simpson 3-32; Stratton 2-26; Morales 2-24; Winston 2-14; Brown 1-20; James 1-4
Wash: Stevens 5-51; Elstrom 4-24; Reddick 3-30; Collier 2-30; Hurst 2-2; Hooks 1-7; Robbins 1-5
Punting
Pur: Kurz 4-164
Wash: Fleming 3-113