1921: California, 28 vs. Ohio State, 0

In the 1916 and 1917 Rose Bowl Games, Washington State and Oregon made statements that the Pacific Coast was a football hotbed not only relative to the Pacific Coast, but to the nation as well.

In 1921, a University of California team dubbed the “Wonder Team” moved that distinction southward and provided a prophetic look toward the future when teams like USC would oft-grip the Rose Bowl prize, as Cal drubbed Ohio State, 28-0.

“There wasn’t a moment after the contending mighty men got into action in the first period that the game wasn’t carefully stowed away in California’s suitcase, ready for the trip back home,” stated the Pasadena Star-News.

Added Rose Bowl Game historian Maxwell Stiles in his book, The Rose Bowl: “Overnight, there was born in California a football hysteria the like of which had never been seen anywhere. There was a bright new name in the sunset skies, and its name was Harold “Brick” Muller. The sorcerer’s apprentice had become a journeyman named Andy Smith, stirring a brew of gridiron magic so potent that to meet it, Stanford, the arch foe across the Bay, began to think in terms of Glenn “Pop” Warner, and within a few years the University of Southern California, also feeling its oats and unable up to then to scale the heights, was importing Howard Harding Jones.

“The Stanford Bowl and the Los Angeles Coliseum had to be built to hold the crowds. Tournament Park was grossly inadequate, and so down in the Arroyo there was built, in time for the Southern California-Penn State game of New Year’s Day, 1923, the present Rose Bowl, since enlarged.”

The aforementioned Muller remains legendary among the Rose Bowl walls. By all accounts, he was prodigious in his all-around play and physical abilities.
USC Head Coach Elmer Henderson was quoted by the Los Angeles Examiner: “Muller is the best man I ever saw in a football suit…. He is head and shoulders over any passer in the United States and is one of the best tacklers I have ever seen, and has no peer as a receiver of the forward pass. What more could be said of an end?”
Muller, who was described by Stiles to have hands big enough to palm a football like a baseball, caught a 13-yard pass to help set up Cal’s first score, a 1-yard run by “Pesky” Sprott, to go up 7-0.

In the second quarter, Muller tossed perhaps the most legendary throw in Rose Bowl Game history. On the Ohio State 37-yard line, Muller dropped back to pass and threw the ball to Sprott, who flipped it back to Muller. Muller then heaved the ball that, by most accounts, was said to have traveled 50 yards on a frozen rope to “Brodie” Stephens on the goal line – touchdown, 14-0.

Cal managed two more touchdowns, and the closest Ohio State came to a score was an unfortunate fumble in the end zone that resulted in a touchback and Cal’s ball.

Attendance
42,000

Weather
74 degrees

Scoring
First Quarter
Cal – Sprott, 1-yard run (Toomey kick good)
Second Quarter
Cal – Stephens, 37-yard pass from Muller (Toomey kick good)
Cal – Sprott, 5-yard run (Erb kick good)
Fourth Quarter
Cal – Deeds, 1-yard run (Toomey kick good)

Coaches
Cal: Andy Smith
Ohio State: J. W. “Doc” Wilce

Fun Fact
California’s decided victory over Ohio State brought the prestige back to the West Coast teams. It would be another 26 years before the Western Conference (Big Ten) would play in another Rose Bowl Game.

Individual Stats
Rushing
Cal: Sprott 20-94; Nisbet 9-17; Deeds 8-36; Toomey 7-61
OSU: Stinchcomb 11-82; Blair 6-11; Workman 4-10