1934 Rose Bowl The 1934 Rose Bowl , played on January 1 , 1934 , was an American Football bowl game . It was the 20th Rose Bowl Game . The Columbia Lions defeated the Stanford Indians ( now Cardinal ) 7 - 0 . Cliff Montgomery , the Columbia quarterback , was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game when the award was created in 1953 and selections were made retroactively . At 35 , 000 , it has the lowest attendance in the Rose Bowl game since the Rose Bowl Stadium was built in 1922 . This was one of the few rainy New Year ' s Day celebrations in Pasadena , California . Rain three days before had turned the Rose Bowl stadium into a small lake . Teams . On New Year ' s Day , 1934 , the Lions traveled to Pasadena , California to play the heavily - favored Stanford Indians . Stanford had only been scored on four times the entire season , but the Light Blue had performed well , going 7 - 1 for the season . Columbia University Lions . Columbia had lost only one game , to Princeton . Stanford University Indians . In the previous 1932 season , the " Thundering Herd " of the USC Trojans , led by Howard Jones , defeated Stanford 13 - 0 on the way to a second consecutive national championship and victory in the 1933 Rose Bowl . Stanford player Frank Alustiza proclaimed “ They Will never do that to our team . We will never lose to the Trojans . ” A few minutes later , another member of the team proclaimed , “ Let ’ s make that a vow . ” The press reported on the vow , but it was forgotten until the next fall when facing USC , they were suddenly called upon to make good upon it . On November 11 , in Los Angeles , USC ( 6 - 0 - 1 ) hosted Stanford ( 5 - 1 - 1 ) . The Trojans suffered their first defeat in 27 games , losing 13 - 7 , in a game that ultimately decided the Pacific Coast Conference championship . Thus , the Stanford class of 1936 became the " Vow Boys " . Game summary . For the three days before the game , torrential rains soaked the field . “ When we arrived the day before the game [ after traveling from New York by train ] , the Rose Bowl looked like a lake , ” Montgomery , the team captain , recalled in a 1981 article in The New York Times . The Pasadena fire department pumped out the stadium . Game day itself , though , was also uncharacteristically rainy for Southern California , and the muddy field rendered the game scoreless going into the second quarter . At that time , and with the ball on the Stanford 17 - yard line , Columbia quarterback Cliff Montgomery ' 34 executed a trick play called KF - 79 . During the play , he spun and slipped the ball to Al Barabas ' 36 , then faked a hand - off to Ed Brominski ' 35 , who ran in the opposite direction . While the Indians went for Montgomery and Brominski , Barabas successfully ran around the defense to score for the Lions . Stanford " Vow Boys " Bobby Grayson ( 152 yards on 28 carries ) , end Monk Moscript , lineman Bob Reynolds and other stars could not overcome the margin as mishaps ruined Stanford ' s chances . Columbia ended up winning the game , 7 - 0 , capping one of the biggest upsets in Rose Bowl history . The win also cemented Lou Little ' s reputation at Columbia as the Lions ' greatest coach thus far . Aftermath . Winning the 1934 Rose Bowl has , to date , been " the " greatest accomplishment in Columbia football history . The Columbia Lions would have a notable losing streak from 1983 through 1988 . Columbia lost 44 games in a row during these years , the second - longest in major college football history . Cliff Montgomery died on April 21 , 2005 . The " Vow Boys " , the Stanford class of 1936 , never did lose to USC , defeating them again in 1934 16 - 0 , and in 1935 3 - 0 . The 1933 Michigan Wolverines team , who tied for first in the Big Ten conference with Minnesota on a 0 - 0 tie between the two teams , was voted the 1933 national champion . USC , who had won the previous two years , and who finished the season 10 - 1 - 1 was denied a third consecutive national championship .