Long considered college football's premier post-season game, the Rose Bowl was first played on New Year's Day in 1902, when 8,500 fans watched Fielding H. Yost's Michigan "point-a-minute" Wolverines blank Stanford 49-0. The Tournament of Roses committee in Pasadena, California, was the driving force behind the first contest. Disappointed by Stanford's performance, however, the committee arranged chariot races and other events over the next several years. Consequently, 14 years passed before a second Rose Bowl was held, with Washington State shutting out Brown, which was led by the black All-American halfback Fritz Pollard, 14-0. Held continuously since 1916, the East-West classic was played in the Rose Bowl stadium from 1923 onward; ultimately, the capacity crowd surpassed 100,000. Starting in 1947, when Illinois defeated UCLA 45-14, the champions of the Western Conference—later called the Big 10 and eventually joined by Penn State—and the Pacific Coast Conference—superseded first by the Athletic Association of...