1924: Washington, 14 vs. Naval Academy, 14

Once the 1924 Rose Bowl Game – a 14-14 tie between the Naval Academy and Washington – started it became obvious that the Navy must have been sharing notes with the Air Force.

From the first possession, the Naval Academy established a bewildering air attack that resulted in a perfect 6-of-6 passing in the first quarter. Wrote Rose Bowl historian Maxwell Stiles: “There are short passes behind the line, short passes over the line, passes thrown with one hand, passes thrown overhead with two hands, passes lobbed underhand with the motion of a man tossing a shovelful of sand. Occasionally there is a long one…

“The Washington Husky is driven to a frenzy, like a beast whose tail is all too short to swish away a darting, stinging horsefly.”

Due to this attack, it seemed only a matter of time before the Midshipmen would complete a pass for a touchdown. The Naval Academy had driven to the Washington 22-yard line as the gun sounded to end the first quarter. On the first play of the second quarter, quarterback Ira McKee hit halfback Carl Cullen, who plowed into the end zone for the Middies’ score.

The Huskies answered on the ensuing drive. The Midshipmen, attempting to confuse the Huskies further, tried an onside kick, but it was recovered by guard Jim Bryan near midfield. Two plays later, the Huskies went to the air, getting a 23-yard completion from Fred Abel to Kinsley Dubois on the right wing. The next play, halfback George Wilson took it 23 yards off-tackle to tie the game.

A few drives later, the Navy air attack struck again, this time a 57-yard pass to the Washington 8-yard line. McKee then took a shovel pass from the 2-yard line and plunged home for the 14-7 halftime lead.

Throughout the first half, the Naval Academy completed a perfect 11-of-11 passes. They’d hit 14 straight before an incompletion. All in all, they completed 16 of 20 on the day.
After a scoreless defensive stalemate in the third quarter, the Huskies got the break they needed to get back into the game. Out of punt formation, Navy snapped the ball over its receiver’s head, and Washington gained possession just 10 yards from pay dirt. Three downs and minus-2 yards later, they were faced with a fourth and goal from the 12.
They needed something special, and they got it, completely by design.

The offense lined up unbalanced, so guard Bryan was an eligible receiver.

As Stiles wrote, “Nobody ever bothers to cover a guard on a forward pass, and nobody covers Bryan now.” Abel hit him for the score, tying the game.
The Huskies actually had a chance to win the game, but a 33-yard field goal try from Leonard Ziel missed less than 2 yards left.

The Ironman award of the game went to Elmer Tesreau, Washington’s star fullback. With boils covering one knee, coaches, teammates and medical personnel urged him not to play. However, he wouldn’t relent and told them to wrap his legs as tight as possible. With less than one minute to play, Tesreau was complaining of pain in his originally unaffected leg. When his legs were unwrapped, it revealed that the originally unaffected leg was broken in two places.

Attendance
40,000

Weather
52 degrees

Scoring
Second Quarter
Nav – Cullen, 22-yard pass from McKee (McKee kick good)
Wash – Wilson, 23-yard run (Sherman kick good)
Nav – McKee, 2-yard run (Mckee kick good)
Fourth Quarter
Wash – Bryan, 12-yard pass from Abel (Sherman kick good)

Coaches
Washington: Enoch “Baggy” Bagshaw
Naval Academy: Robert C. “Bob” Folwell

Fun Fact
In 1924, the Rose Bowl Game decided to leave the job of promotions and ticket sales in the hands of the Pacific Coast Conference (Pac-10) and the visiting school. From this date forward, the Tournament of Roses was only allocated a few tickets for each game.

Individual Stats
Rushing
Wash: Wilson 22-87, 1 TD; Dubois 8-30 yards; Abel 5-20
Nav: Cullen 27-102; McKee 12-85
Passing
Wash: Abel 3-8, 65 yards, 2 interceptions
Nav: McKee 16-20, 175 yards, 2 touchdowns, 2 interceptions
Receiving
Wash: Dubois 2-53 yards; Bryan 1-12 yards, 1 TD
Nav: Cullen 10-108 yards, 2 TDs