1967 Rose Bowl The 1967 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on Monday , January 2 , 1967 . It was the 53rd Rose Bowl Game . The Purdue Boilermakers defeated the USC Trojans , 14 – 13 . John Charles , the Purdue defensive back , was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game . Teams . This was widely regarded as a " runner - up " bowl with Purdue appearing only because the Big Ten ' s " no repeat rule " kept Michigan State out , while USC was controversially voted in over UCLA ( see below ) . So instead of a matchup of # 2 Michigan State and # 5 UCLA ( with 1 loss between them ) , the game was a matchup of # 7 Purdue and # 10 USC ( with 5 losses between them ) . This was the first Rose Bowl appearance for Purdue . Being an odd - numbered year for the bowl game , The AAWU represnetative was the home team so USC wore their cardinal red jerseys while Purdue wore their white shirts with gold pants and helmets as the designated visiting team . Purdue Boilermakers . The # 7 - ranked Boilermakers were led by All - American quarterback Bob Griese and earned their first - ever Rose Bowl berth after going 8 – 2 , ( 6 – 1 Big Ten ) and finishing second in the Big Ten Conference . Purdue ' s only losses were to # 1 Notre Dame and # 2 Michigan State ( who famously played to a tie on November 19 ) . League champion Michigan State had gone unbeaten at 7 – 0 in league play , but was barred from returning to Pasadena under the Big Ten ' s " no - repeat " rule . USC Trojans . The Pac - 8 champion Trojans came into the game with a 7 – 3 record ( 4 – 1 Pac - 8 ) , ranked # 10 . They were controversially awarded the Rose Bowl bid over UCLA , despite UCLA ' s # 5 rank , 9 - 1 record , and 14 - 7 victory over USC . Because of a quirk in the schedule , USC played one more conference game than UCLA and had a 4 - 1 record to UCLA ' s 3 - 1 . Prior to the UCLA - USC game , it was widely assumed the winner would go to the Rose Bowl . USC was voted in by the AAWU Athletic Directors , who likely regretted their decision after Notre Dame beat USC 51 - 0 in the season ' s final game . Many people thought awarding USC the Rose Bowl was to make up for 1964 when USC and Oregon Stated tied for the AAWU title . That year , it was assumed that if USC upset # 1 Notre Dame in its final game , they would get the nod over Oregon State . USC upset Notre Dame , but Oregon State was awarded the Rose Bowl berth over USC based on a better overall record ( 8 - 2 vs . 7 - 3 ) . The coach of Oregon State in 1964 was Tommy Prothro , who just happened to be the coach of UCLA in 1966 . Another factor may have been the ankle injury to UCLA star quarterback Gary Beban . USC started the season 6 – 0 before dropping three of their last four going into the matchup with Purdue . Game Summary . The game was a defensive struggle . Each team scored in the second quarter and at halftime it was 7 - 7 . Purdue took a 14 - 7 lead in the 3rd quarter . With under 2 minutes to play , USC scored a touchdown on a Troy Winslow to Rod Sherman pass of 19 yards . Coach John McKay decided to go for the win against the favored Boilermakers , but Purdue ' s George Catavolos intercepted the pass in the end zone to preserve the 14 - 13 victory .