1947 Rose Bowl The 1947 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game . It was the 33rd Rose Bowl Game . The Illinois Fighting Illini defeated the UCLA Bruins , 45 – 14 . Illinois halfbacks Claude " Buddy " Young and Julius Rykovich shared the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game award . They were named the Rose Bowl Players Of The Game when the award was created in 1953 and selections were made retroactively . It was the first Rose Bowl game that featured teams from the Pacific Coast Conference and the Big Nine Conference by the terms of an exclusive five - year agreement . It is known as the first " modern " Rose Bowl , and the modern Rose Bowl records date back to this game . This exclusive agreement remained in place until the 1999 Rose Bowl when the Rose Bowl became part of the Bowl Championship Series , with the exception of the games from 1960 onward following the collapse of the PCC and prior to the renegotiation with the newly formed Athletic Association of Western Universities ( AAWU ) , highlighted by the 1962 Rose Bowl where the Big Nine champion Ohio State declined the invitation . Big Nine - PCC agreement . At the beginning , the Rose Bowl game was intended to match a West Coast team against the best of the nation . The first team to appear was Michigan in the 1902 Rose Bowl when they defeated Stanford 49 - 0 . The Rose Bowl began to be hosted by the Pacific Coast Conference when it was revived in the 1916 Rose Bowl , and permanently with the 1920 Rose Bowl . Ohio State was the next Big Ten team to participate what they lost to California 28 - 0 in the 1921 Rose Bowl . The Big Ten did not participate in bowl games following that game . The University of Chicago discontinued its football program in 1939 and withdrew from the conference in 1946 , leaving the Big Nine Conference . During World War II , many college football schools had dropped some conference opponents and instead played football against local military base teams . Many colleges could not even field teams due to the draft and manpower requirements . After the war was over , demobilization and the G . I . Bill enabled returning servicemen to attend college . The 1946 season was the first true post - war college football season with travel restrictions lifted and civilian college opponents returning to schedules . The Big Nine agreed , after much negotiating over payments , rules , and ticket allocations to a five - year exclusive deal with the Rose Bowl to send the conference champion to meet the PCC conference champion . UCLA , USC , Minnesota and Illinois all voted against it . UCLA , the PCC conference champion , expressed interest in playing either Army or Notre Dame , who had played to a scoreless tie in the 1946 Army vs . Notre Dame football game . The Big Nine and PCC were of the same accord when it came to treating players as amateurs , as compared to the semi - professional status that the Southern Universities proposed . Also , the Big Nine and PCC both had the same attitudes towards desegregation and allowing African - Americans to play football . Many other universities were still segregated . None of the Southeastern Conference schools had an African American athlete until 1966 . The Cotton Bowl , Orange Bowl , and Sugar Bowl would not be integrated until 1948 , 1955 , and 1956 respectively . Teams . UCLA Bruins . The UCLA Bruins had last appeared in the 1943 Rose Bowl where they were held scoreless against Georgia . The Bruins fielded the strongest team in their history to date . It was the second undefeated team since the 1939 6 – 0 – 4 team , and the first undefeated and untied team in school history . After convincing wins over Oregon State and at Washington , UCLA entered the AP Poll at # 5 . The Bruins would go to number four after defeating # 17 Stanford , 26 – 6 . Coming into the November 23 , 1946 UCLA - USC rivalry football game , the Rose Bowl was on the line for both USC and UCLA . UCLA prevailed , 13 – 6 , to win the PCC . In the Bruins final game of the regular season , the Bruins blanked the Nebraska Cornhuskers , 18 – 0 . Illinois Fighting Illini . This was the first appearance for the Fighting Illini in any post - season football game . The Illini opened the season winning at Pittsburgh , 33 – 7 . They lost to Notre Dame in the first game for the 1946 Fighting Irish , a team that would eventually play in the 1946 Game of the Century against Army . The Illini beat Purdue , but then lost to Indiana . The Illini would go on to win the rest of their games including 13 – 9 at Michigan and a 16 – 7 win over Ohio State . In the final regular season game , they blanked in - state rival Northwestern 20 – 0 . The win over Michigan proved to be the pivotal game as Michigan finished 5 – 1 – 1 in conference to Illinois 6 – 1 record . Game summary . The UCLA Bruins scored their first ever post - season points when Ernie Case scored on a quarterback sneak to give the Bruins a 7 – 6 first - quarter lead . However , it was the fourth - ranked Illini who took control after that , outscoring UCLA 39 – 7 . Illinois dominated the Bruins on the ground , compiling 320 yards to the Bruins 62 . A number of records were set in the game . Illinois set two new Rose bowl records : Most first downs at 28 ( the previous first down record was 22 , set against UCLA by Georgia in the 1943 Rose Bowl ) , and Most yards gained by rushing at 320 ( the previous record for yards rushing was Oregon ' s 298 against Harvard in the 1920 Rose Bowl . Six different Illinois players scored touchdowns . These were broken in later years . UCLA ' s Al Hoisch returned Illinois kicker Don Maechtle ’ s kickoff 103 yards , establishing a Rose Bowl and UCLA team record which still stands as of the 2008 Rose Bowl . Hoisch also still holds the modern Rose Bowl record for Highest average Gain Per Return at 44 . 5 yards . The eight kickoff returns made by the Bruins also are a Rose Bowl record . Illinois ' Russell Steger set modern Rose Bowl records for both most yards on interception returns and the longest interception return for a touchdown with a 68 - yard return that scored in the fourth quarter . Elmer Layden holds the records , set in the 1925 Rose Bowl . Aftermath . Six modern Rose Bowl records still stand as of the 2008 Rose Bowl . Buddy Young and Julius Rykovich were named co - Most valuable players when the Rose Bowl introduced the award in 1953 and then retroactively applied the award to previous games . They were inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall Of Fame in 1993 . Al Hoisch was inducted in 1999 . The Big Ten dominated early in the Rose Bowl Series , winning 12 of the first 13 . The tide would begin turn to the West coast teams with the 1960 Rose Bowl . UCLA and Illinois would have a re - match in the 1984 Rose Bowl with UCLA winning 45 – 9 in a reverse of the 1947 game , where Illinois was favored and wanted a better opponent . The exclusive agreement remained in place until the 1999 Rose Bowl when the Rose Bowl became part of the Bowl Championship Series . The Pacific Ten Conference inherited the PCC representative position for the game . Even after 1998 , the Rose Bowl would still attempt to pair a Big Ten and Pac - 10 team . The 2008 Rose Bowl would feature USC vs . Illinois .