1923 Rose Bowl The 1923 Rose Bowl , played on January 1 , 1923 , was an American Football bowl game . It was the 9th Rose Bowl Game . The USC Trojans defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions 14 - 3 . Leo Calland , a USC guard , was named the Rose Bowl Player of the Game when the award was created in 1953 and selections were made retroactively . It was the first bowl game appearance for both the University of Southern California and Pennsylvania State University football teams . It was also the first Tournament of Roses football game held in the newly constructed Rose Bowl Stadium , although games had been played in it prior to this game . Stadium . The game now known as the Rose Bowl Game was played at Tournament Park until 1922 when it was known as the " Tournament East - West football game " . Organizers of the Tournament of Roses realized that the temporary stands were inadequate for a crowd of 40 , 000 + , and sought to build a better , permanent stadium . The Rose Bowl was designed by architect Myron Hunt in 1921 . His design , as well as the name for the stadium , was influenced by the Yale Bowl . The Arroyo Seco ( translation " dry stream " ) was selected as the location for the stadium . The Rose Bowl was under construction from 1921 to 1922 . A number of regular season games were played there before the actual Tournament of Roses football game to try out the new stadium . USC had actually already played three games in the new stadium : USC lost to in the very first game in the stadium on October 28 , 1922 and defeated and in the new stadium to close out their season . The Olympic Club also played a football game there . The stadium was dedicated officially on January 1 , 1923 . Teams . Penn State Nittany Lions . In the 1921 season , Penn State was 8 – 0 – 2 with wins over Navy , Georgia Tech , and Washington . In the 1922 season the Lions opened with wins over St . Bonaventure , William and Mary , Gettysburg , Lebanon Valley . By mid October they were viewed as a likely candidate to be invited to play in the Rose Bowl . On October 21 , the Nittany Lions got their fifth straight season win against Middlebury for their homecoming game . Penn State was officially extended an invitation by the Tournament committee , and they accepted . The Lions tied Syracuse 0 – 0 at the Polo Grounds in New York city in front of their largest seasonal crowd to date , 25 , 000 . Then the Nittany Lions lost to Navy 0 – 14 in Washington D . C . , breaking a 30 - game undefeated streak on November 3 . Despite the loss , the Tournament selection committee re - affirmed its choice . They beat Carnegie Tech , but the Tournament committee still faced controversy . They re - affirmed their decision again . The Nittany Lions then lost to in - state rivals Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh . USC Trojans . The Trojans opened 5 - 0 to start the season . This was the first season of competition in the Pacific Coast Conference for the USC Trojans . The first PCC conference game was against California . The very first game in the Rose Bowl stadium was the regular season contest on October 28 , 1922 when Cal defeated USC 12 - 0 . This was the only loss for USC , and California finished the season undefeated . Cal declined the invitation to the 1923 Rose Bowl game by vote of the associated students . This made the deciding games to be whether Cal would defeat Washington by more than 12 , and whether USC would defeat Stanford on November 11 . USC went on to beat Occidental and Stanford . The Trojans then played Idaho , and Washington State in the new Rose Bowl stadium and defeated both . The Trojans actually finished fourth in the PCC behind Cal , Oregon , and Washington . The PCC committee held a mail vote . The Trojans were given the berth on the basis of the defeat of Washington State and the tie between Washington and Oregon on Thanksgiving Day . The Trojans received six of eight conference votes . Game summary . The 29 - member Penn State traveling party left State College , Pennsylvania by train on December 19 . They stopped in Chicago and the Grand Canyon . They arrived in Pasadena , California on December 24 . The Nittany Lions worked out in the Rose Bowl stadium , alternating with the Trojans . Lions coach Bezdek was noted for changing their play style frequently . The morning of the game on January 1 , the team watched the Tournament of Roses Parade . The Lions left in several taxi cabs at 11 a . m . for the drive to the Rose Bowl , but as the 2 : 15 p . m . kickoff approached , the team was delayed by post - parade traffic . Only after the cab drivers drove over the lawns of local residents , did the Penn State team finally reach the Rose Bowl stadium . When the team arrived , they found kickoff already had been delayed by 10 minutes . Penn State coach Hugo Bezdek and USC coach Gus Henderson almost came to blows as Bezdek successfully lobbied game officials for additional warmup time . The game finally started an hour late and ended in moonlight , with sportswriters lighting matches in order to finish their stories . Penn State scored first on a 20 - yard drop - kick field goal by Mike Palm . Roy " Bullet " Baker rushed for 123 yards and one touchdown for the Trojans . The Lions were held to five first downs and 104 yards . Scoring . Fourth Quarter . no score Aftermath . The nearby Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum also was under construction during this time and would be completed in May 1923 . It would become the home stadium for both USC and UCLA for decades until UCLA moved to the Rose Bowl for its home games in 1982 . Penn State ' s share of the proceeds , $ 21 , 349 . 64 , was directed toward the $ 2 million Emergency Building Fund and in particular the construction of Varsity Hall ( now Irvin Hall ) on campus . The game was the first USC game attended by Giles Pellerin , at the time a high school student ; Pellerin , who became known as the " Super Fan " , would go on to attend 797 consecutive USC football games over a period of 73 years until his death at age 91 just outside the same stadium in 1998 .