1965 Rose Bowl The 1965 Rose Bowl , played on January 1 , 1965 was the 51st Rose Bowl Game . The Michigan Wolverines defeated the Oregon State Beavers by a score of 34 – 7 . Michigan fullback Mel Anthony was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game . Teams . Michigan Wolverines . The Wolverines had finished seventh in the Big Ten Conference the previous year , and had placed no higher than a tie for fifth under coach Bump Elliott . Michigan had not been to the Rose Bowl since 1951 , but in 1964 , they ran up an 8 – 1 conference record and clinched a Rose Bowl berth , taking a # 4 ranking and an undefeated 3 – 0 postseason record into the game . Coach Elliott had been a receiver for the Wolverines in one of those games , the 1948 Rose Bowl , and had been an assistant coach at Oregon State under head coach Kip Taylor . Oregon State Beavers . The Beavers made their third Rose Bowl appearance with a bit of controversy . Following the disbanding of the Pacific Coast Conference in 1959 due to a pay - for - play scandal , the reformed Athletic Association of Western Universities did not initially include Oregon State and Oregon . The two Oregon schools rejoined in time for the 1964 season , but the conference did not have time to reschedule a full head - to - head conference schedule . As a result , Oregon State and USC did not play each other , and when they finished with identical 3 – 1 conference records , the decision of which team to send to Pasadena was left to a vote among the conference ' s schools . At first , the most people assumed Oregon State would get the nod based on their better overall record ( 8 – 2 vs . 7 – 3 ) . However , when it was announced that the vote would be delayed until after USC ' s season ending game with top ranked and undefeated Notre Dame , many people inferred that if USC upset the Irish , they would get the nod . Indeed , USC shocked Notre Dame 20 – 17 so now many people assumed USC would get the Rose Bowl invitation . When the vote was taken just hours after the USC - Notre Dame game , the conferences ' eight members split , four votes for both Oregon State and USC . The tiebreaker in such an instance was to eliminate the team that had more recently gone to the Rose Bowl , and Southern California had gone two years prior . This would lead to another controversy just two years later in which an 8 – 2 USC team that had lost to UCLA would get voted in ahead of the 9 – 1 Bruins . Many felt this 1966 vote was to " make up for " the 1964 vote , especially since the coach of Oregon State in 1964 was Tommy Prothro and he was then the coach of UCLA in 1966 . Game summary . Michigan was an 11 - point favorite , but after a scoreless first quarter , it was the Beavers who struck first , with Paul Brothers completing a five - yard pass to Doug McDougal early in the second quarter , with Steve Clark kicking the extra point . The Beavers held the Wolverines for a while , but on their third possession following the Beavers ' score , tailback Mel Anthony ran 84 yards , a Rose Bowl record at the time , for a touchdown . Richard Sygar ' s kick was no good . The Beavers ' 7 – 6 advantage was short - lived , however , as on the very next possession , Carl Ward ran for 43 yards and a touchdown . While the conversion pass from Bob Timberlake to Ben Farabee was broken up , the Wolverines led 12 – 7 at the half . The second half was all Michigan . Anthony blocked a punt and rushed for two more touchdowns in the third quarter , and quarterback Timberlake ran 24 yards for the final touchdown , making the final score 34 – 7 . For his efforts , Anthony was named the game ' s Most Outstanding Player . Scoring . First quarter . None . Aftermath . With the game , Michigan ended its 14 - year postseason drought , to date their longest string of seasons without a bowl game . However , it was the last bowl game Elliott would coach ; he resigned following the 1968 season after a 50 – 14 loss to archrival Ohio State . This was the Beavers ' last bowl game appearance for 34 years , and to date , remains their last appearance in the Rose Bowl . Soon after the game , Beaver coach Tommy Prothro left Oregon State to coach UCLA , and took them to the following year ' s Rose Bowl , in which the Bruins defeated Michigan State .