1928: Pittsburgh, 6 vs. Stanford, 7

Sports fans are fickle. Even back in the 1920s, the “What-have-you-done-for-me-lately?” mentality was ripe, and it materialized in the 1928 Rose Bowl Game in which Stanford beat Pittsburgh, 7-6, like few other places in sports lore.

In the statline of the 1928 Rose Bowl Game, the name Frankie Wilton is, at best, a footnote. However, he made two plays that transformed him from football “goat” to football god in front of the 70,000 at a newly expanded Rose Bowl within a matter of a few minutes.

Rewind one year, to the 1927 Rose Bowl Game, in which Stanford was up 7-0 after a first-quarter touchdown against Alabama. The game playing, as many did at that time, as a defensive struggle, Stanford was counting down the clock until what looked to be its first Rose Bowl Game win in three tries, having lost decisively to the Four Horsemen and Notre Dame, 27-10, in 1925, and even more decisively in the first ever game, 49-0, to Michigan. In fact, the 1902 game was such a rout, it wasn’t even a full game; Stanford conceded.

In the 1927 game, Wilton replaced “Tricky Dick” Hyland at left half and had dropped back to punt. Blocked! The ball bounded backward until Wilton jumped on it on his own 14-yard line; and the ball was turned over on downs. Energized, the Crimson Tide tied the game.

“No one will deny that Wilton, whether the blocked punt is or is not his fault, is the ‘goat’ of the 1927 Rose Bowl Game,” wrote Rose Bowl historian Maxwell Stiles in his book, The Rose Bowl. “I don’t know enough about goats to be able to say whether one kind is goatier than another. But you can pick out the goatiest kind of goat there is, and you have Frankie Wilton in the third quarter of the Stanford-Pitt game of 1928.”

Yes, fast forward a year. It’s yet another defensive struggle, and the score is tied through much of three quarters. Wilton has fumbled this time, and Jimmy Hagan of Pittsburgh scooped it up and went 17 yards to pay dirt and a 6-0 lead. Although the extra point is blocked, Wilton’s horns grow like Pinocchio’s nose.

However, on the ensuing drive, “Lashed into fury by the sudden reverse, and after they had outplayed their rivals for two periods, the Cards threw everything into one great offensive,” wrote the Associated Press.

They put down a 31-yard pass to the 29-yard line, then pushed forward with the ferocity ignited by their misfortune. Then it looked like misfortune had struck again when “Big Biff Hoffman,” the Stanford fullback who powered through the Pitt line all day for a total of 82 yards, fumbled near the goal line.

“A fumbled ball brought groans, then cheers from the Cardinal rooting section,” wrote the AP.

Wilton picked up the fumble and raced 5 yards for the touchdown, with Hoffman adding the extra point for Stanford’s first victory. Wilton had shed his horns.

And as famed Pasadena Star-News columnist Rube Samuelson put it in his book The Rose Bowl Game, “There was justice.”

Attendance
70,000

Weather
70 degrees

Scoring
Third Quarter
Pitt – Hagan, 17-yard run (off Stanford fumble) (Booth kick failed)
Stan – Wilton, 5-yard run (off Stanford fumble) (Hoffman kick good)

Coaches
Pitt: John “Jock” Sutherland
Stan: Glenn Scobey “Pop” Warner

Fun Fact
In 1928, the Pasadena Rose Bowl Stadium was enlarged by 19,000 seats, increasing seating capacity to 76,000.

Individual Stats
Rushing
Stan: Hoffman 25-82; Hyland 5-19; Post 3-10
Pitt: Welch 10-53; Booth 8-32