1942 Rose Bowl The 1942 Rose Bowl was the 28th Rose Bowl game . Originally scheduled to be played in the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena , California , it was moved to Durham , North Carolina , due to fears about an attack by the Japanese on the West Coast of the United States following the attack on Pearl Harbor . The United States government had ordered that large public gatherings on the West Coast of the United States were to be prohibited for the duration of the war , and the first significant canceled event was the Rose Bowl Game scheduled for New Year ' s Day , 1942 . The Oregon State Beavers defeated the host Duke Blue Devils 20 - 16 in Duke Stadium on the Duke University campus . Donald Durdan of Oregon State was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game when the award was created in 1953 and selections were made retroactively . Teams . Oregon State College Beavers . In 1941 , the Beavers football team won the Pacific Coast Conference and a berth in their first Rose Bowl . They opened with a 13 - 7 loss at USC . A 9 - 6 win over Washington set the Beavers on the path to the conference championship . The Beavers recorded the first of five shutouts against # 2 Stanford in California , 10 - 0 , snapping the Indians 13 - game winning streak . They were shut out against eventual second place Washington State 7 - 0 . But the Beavers shut out Idaho , UCLA , Cal and Montana , outscoring the four 85 - 0 . The final game in the Civil War series with Oregon had the Rose Bowl on the line for the Beavers , and a possible 5 way tie for first place if the Oregon Ducks won . All five teams would have 3 losses . Oregon State would have the most conference wins and also the best overall record . The argument was moot as Oregon State defeated Oregon and Stanford lost at Cal , leaving the Beavers with 2 conference losses . The rest of the PCC had four teams with three losses and five teams with four conference losses . Oregon State compiled the 7 - 2 record despite only scoring 20 points twice , against Idaho and Montana . Duke University Blue Devils . Pacific Coast Champion Oregon State was responsible for selecting and inviting the opposing team . Number one ranked Minnesota was the first choice , but the Western Conference , forerunner of the Big Ten Conference , did not permit their teams to play in bowl games until the 1946 agreement between the Big Ten and Pacific Coast Conference . Duke would have been a logical second choice , but Coach Wallace Wade had rubbed a lot of Californians the wrong way due to his antics following his 7 - 3 loss in the 1939 Rose Bowl . The Southern California media championed Missouri or Fordham . Oregon State responded by inviting Fordham , who they had beaten in their 1933 Ironmen year , but Fordham turned down the invite to play against Missouri in the Sugar Bowl . Unable to invite their three first choices , the Beavers settled on number two ranked and undefeated Duke Blue Devils , much to the chagrin of Southern California . The selection was announced on December 1 , 1941 . Duke ' s defense had not allowed more than 14 points all year . The Blue Devils were averaging a 30 - point victory every time they took the field . In each game , the Blue Devils won by at least 13 points . Venue change to Durham , North Carolina . With the United States ' entry into World War II , on December 7 , 1941 , there was concern about a Japan ese attack on the West Coast . Much discussion focused on the possibility of an attack where any crowds might gather . The Rose parade with a million watchers , and the Rose Bowl with 90 , 000 spectators were presumed to be ideal targets for the Japanese . Lieutenant General John L . DeWitt recommended that the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl festivities be canceled . The Rose Bowl committee originally planned to cancel the game . On December 16 , 1941 , Duke University invited the game and Oregon State to Duke ' s home stadium in Durham , North Carolina . At the time , Duke ’ s stadium could only hold 35 , 000 people . In order to accommodate the larger crowd expected for the Rose Bowl , bleachers were brought in from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University to seat an additional 20 , 000 people . Game summary . Duke was expected to win by more than two touchdowns and went off as a 3 - 1 favorite . Some wondered why Oregon State would even make the trip . The weather , however , seemed to favor the visitors . One Duke player claimed that there was more rain than he had ever seen . The Beavers , looking up at the same sky , described the weather as misty . Whatever the case , Duke gave up whatever psychological advantage they had by fumbling the opening kickoff . The Duke defense would hold , but Oregon State would score first on a 15 - yard run by Don Durdan later in the first quarter . In the second quarter , Duke would tie the score at seven with a three - yard run by Steve Lach , which concluded the scoring in the half . The defenses , which would play brilliantly for most of the game let down for a three - drive stretch of the third quarter . Oregon State retook the lead when George Zellick scored on a 31 - yard pass from Bob Dethman . Duke would respond by scoring on a one - yard run by Winston Siegfried on the following drive . In the following drive , Bob Dethman would find streaking reserve halfback , Gene Gray , on a 40 - yard pass . Gray would outrace two Duke defenders the final 28 - yards into the end zone . The extra point would be no good , leaving the door open for a Duke comeback . The 16 - points that Duke scored were the most that the Oregon State ' s defense had given up all year . The Beaver defense seemed resolved to make sure the 20 - points the offense had put up would stand up . Duke ' s offense would cross into Beaver territory three times in the fourth - quarter , but the Beavers would not break , intercepting two passes and shutting out the Duke offense the rest of the way . Duke ' s defense would tack on two when Mike Karmazin caught Don Durden in his own end zone , but neither team would muster any more points . Aftermath . Donald Durdan , who showed his all - around skill by rushing for 54 yards and a touchdown , passing , and punting , was named the game ' s most valuable player . This remains the only Beavers ' Rose Bowl victory . It also remains the only time the two programs have played each other . Although many others argue that Columbia ' s 1934 victory over Stanford was bigger , Sid Feder of the Associated Press labeled it the biggest upset in the Rose Bowl ' s early history . After the 1942 Allied victory in the Battle of Midway and the end of the Japanese offensives in the Pacific Theater during 1942 , it was deemed that the West Coast was no longer vulnerable to attack , and the Rose Bowl game continued on in the Rose Bowl Stadium . Most of the players would don military uniforms during World War II . Wallace Wade enlisted after the game ended and encouraged his players to follow suit . Both teams lost halfbacks in the Pacific Theater in 1942 , Walter Griffith of Duke and Everett Smith of Oregon State . After war was declared , Oregon State ' s star freshman end , Chiaki Yoshihara , was not allowed to travel more than 35 miles from his home in Oregon , precluding him from playing in the Rose Bowl . He would spend most of 1942 in an internment camp in Idaho . Tommy Prothro , who would go on to coach both Oregon State and UCLA in the Rose Bowl , played quarterback for the Blue Devils . Tommy Prothro ' s backup , Charlie Haynes , and Oregon State tackle , Frank Parker , were rifle platoon leaders in different companies , sailing from Africa to Italy in 1944 , when the two recognized each other . Later the same year , Frank Parker found Charlie Haynes with a fist - sized wound in his chest during the Arno Valley Campaign . Parker saved Haynes ' life by carrying him to an abandoned farmhouse for medical attention . In 1945 , during the Battle of the Bulge , Oregon State tackle , Sam Czech , shared some coffee and food with a fellow soldier who had not eaten in two days . Czech soon recognized the soldier as Duke coach , Wallace Wade . Duke Stadium , the site of the game , would later be named Wallace Wade Stadium in honor of the Duke coach . Oregon State ' s Gene Gray flew more than 30 bombing missions over Germany and continued to serve after the war . In 1948 , his plane crashed after a flameout on takeoff in the jungles of Panama . He later likened his body to burnt steak . He had severe burns over most of his body and both his arms had to be amputated . Gene Gray , whose arms hauled in the touchdown catch which proved the deciding margin , wound up with no arms at all .