1940 Rose Bowl The 1940 Rose Bowl , played on January 1 , 1940 , was an American Football bowl game . It was the 26th Rose Bowl Game . The USC Trojans defeated the Tennessee Volunteers 14 - 0 . Ambrose Schindler , the USC quarterback , was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game when the award was created in 1953 and selections were made retroactively . USC ended a 23 game Tennessee winning streak and the Trojans scored the first points against the Volunteers all season . Teams . The Rose Bowl committee had both USC and Tennessee on their list and it was likely that USC and Tennessee would play each other . The Volunteers were offered a berth in the Sugar Bowl on November 25 . The Volunteers also were in the mix for the 1940 Cotton Bowl , which would have pitted them against the # 1 Texas A & M Aggies . But the Rose Bowl committee did not extend official invitations until December 10 , 1939 . University of Tennessee Volunteers . Tennessee came into the game after shutting out all of their opponents . They were led by two All - American guards , Ed Molinski and Bob Suffridge , however , were forced to play without their star tailback George Cafego , who fell victim to a knee injury against The Citadel earlier in the year . With a 7 - 0 win in the Auburn game , Tennessee officially was extended an invitation . USC Trojans . The Trojans opened the season against Oregon , tying the Ducks 7 - 7 with 7 : 00 minutes remaining in the game . They scored 3 straight shutouts , becoming ranked # 8 following the second , a 26 - 0 win over Illinois . A November 4 game featured # 7 USC defeating # 11 Oregon State 19 - 7 . On November 25 , at Notre Dame , # 4 USC defeated the # 7 Irish 20 - 12 . A win over Washington by scoring in the last 1 : 15 set up the very first epic UCLA - USC rivalry matchup . Kenny Washington , Woody Strode , Jackie Robinson and Ray Bartlett starred on the 1939 UCLA Bruins football team , in which African Americans made up three of the four backfield players . This was a rarity to have so many African Americans when only a few dozen at all played on college football teams . The Bruins also were undefeated , and ranked # 9 . The was the first UCLA - USC rivalry football game with national implications . It was the first game in the rivalry with the Rose Bowl on the line for both teams . The attendance of 103 , 303 was the second largest college football crowd ever in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum . UCLA attempted a pass on fourth down , instead of kicking a field goal . Bobby Robertson of USC knocked down Ned Matthews ’ 4 - yard pass in the end zone with less than 5 minutes to play to preserve the tie for USC . The Pacific Coast Conference voted to have USC , with a 7 - 0 - 2 record play in the Rose Bowl instead of UCLA with a 6 - 0 - 4 record . Art Cohn , sports editor of the Oakland Tribune ] ] implied that race may have been a factor in the decision , since teams from the south refused to play against African Americans . After the regular season , the Trojans were named National Champions . Game summary . Trojan backs Granny Lansdell and Ambrose Schindler rushed for 51 and 81 yards respectively , for a team total of 229 yards rushing . Schindler scored one touchdown and passed to Al Krueger — the hero from the 1939 Rose Bowl — for the other . Coach Howard Jones earned his fifth Rose Bowl victory , his second straight conquest . Scoring . First Quarter . no score Third Quarter . no score Aftermath . USC coach Howard Jones died in the summer of 1941 . He had a 5 - 0 record in the Rose Bowl . Joe Schell , the captain of the USC Trojans who became an oil company owner and a California State Assemblyman , died on April 8 , 2008 . USC bases its 1939 National Championship claim on winning the Dickinson System , a formula devised by a University of Illinois professor which awarded the only championship trophy between 1926 and 1940 . In 1939 , Dickinson was the only poll or system to rank the Trojans number one . USC ' s stance , however , is in keeping with that of most other schools which won the Dickinson title ; only Notre Dame , which won the Dickinson crown in 1938 , does not claim a major national title for that year . Since at least 1969 , USC had not listed 1939 as a national championship year ; but in 2004 , USC once again began recognizing the 1939 team as national champions after it determined that it qualified . Ambrose " Amblin ' Amby " Schindler went on to be the MVP in the 1940 College All - Star Game . He was inducted into the San Diego Hall of Champions Breitbard Hall of Fame in 1973 . He was inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997 . He was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 2002 . Tennessee player William " Bill " Barnes would eventually coach the UCLA Bruins football team to the 1962 Rose Bowl .