1951: Michigan, 14 vs. California, 6

This should have been California’s year. The Golden Bears entered their third consecutive Rose Bowl Game 9-0-1 and ranked fourth in the nation. Michigan, meanwhile, needed to beat eternal rival Ohio State in the notorious “Snow Bowl” game – a game played in 21 inches of snow – just to move to 5-3-1 and earn its trip to Pasadena.

So this wasn’t the typical Michigan monolith that entered its last two Rose Bowl Games and left demolitions of its opponents in return. And it wasn’t the typical Cal team that came to Pasadena as big-time underdogs, leaving validation of that status in return.

This Cal team brought speed, momentum and confidence into the Rose Bowl Game. The speed remained, with Pete Schabarum breaking a 77-yard run on the second play of the game. But with a backfield-in-motion penalty nullifying the score, the momentum stopped.

The confidence stopped at halftime, after Cal dominated the first half but led only 6-0 on Jim Marinos’ 39-yard touchdown pass to Bob Cummings. And any hopes Cal had of ending the Big Ten’s dominance ceased in the second half, as Michigan parlayed two touchdowns by fullback Don Dufek and a stellar second-half rally by quarterback Chuck Ortmann into a 14-6 victory.

Outside of what had become a predictable outcome, this wasn’t a predictable game. That the Golden Bears were favored was a tribute to their coach, Lynn “Pappy” Waldorf, who rebuilt a Cal program that had suffered eight losing seasons before he arrived in Strawberry Canyon in 1947. Waldorf led Cal to three unbeaten regular seasons from 1948-50.

Much of the success came via a fleet backfield led by Schabarum, later a Los Angeles County Supervisor and California assemblyman, Johnny Olszewski, who ran for 1,008 yards in 1950, and Jim Monachino.

The Golden Bears were waiting for a Michigan team that was a shell of the Wolverines team that bludgeoned USC 49-0 two years earlier.

“This Wolverine football team was not one such as Fritz Crisler brought out here to commit what appeared to be mayhem on a dopey Trojan club,” wrote the Los Angeles Times’ Dick Hyland. “This was simply an ordinary, good football team, well coached, high-spirited, above the average, perhaps, but physically nothing to rank it beside great teams of the past.”

Except the arm and brains of Ortmann, who set a Rose Bowl Game record by completing 15 of his 19 passes for 146 yards. Included in that total was a 6-of-8 string in the second half that marched Michigan down the field in the fourth quarter.

As the Michigan defense stiffened, Ortmann drove the Wolverines down the field, turning Dufek loose four times from the Cal 4-yard line. On the fourth try, he slammed into and over the pile for the touchdown.

Michigan’s final touchdown came with 5:37 left in the game, after the Wolverines stopped Cal on fourth down from its own 13. Three plays later, Dufek slashed 7 yards for the final score.

Attendance
98,939

Weather
60 degrees

Scoring
Second Quarter
Cal – Cummings, 39-yard pass from Marinos (Richter kick missed)

Fourth Quarter
Mich – Dufek, 1-yard run (Allis kick good)
Mich – Dufek, 4-yard run (Allis kick good)

Coaches
Michigan: Bennie Oosterbaan
California: Lynn “Pappy” Waldorf

Fun Fact
With the upset over undefeated Cal, Michigan won its third straight bowl game.

Individual Stats
Rushing
Mich: Dafek 23-113; Koceski 7-19; Ortmann 5-6
Cal: Olszewski 16-58; Schabarum 15-57; Monachino 12-47; Pappa 2-13

Passing
Mich: Ortmann 15-19-146
Cal: Marinos 4-7-69

Receiving
Mich: Dufek 5-61; Perry 3-29; Pickard 2-24; Koceski 3-18
Cal: Cummings 1-39; Schabarum 1-13; Fitzgerald 1-9

Punting
Mich: Ortmann 2-65
Cal: Robison 4-143