1966 Rose Bowl The 1966 Rose Bowl , played on January 1 , 1966 was the 52nd Rose Bowl Game . The UCLA Bruins defeated the # 1 ranked Michigan State Spartans by a score of 14 – 12 . UCLA defensive back Bob Stiles was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game . Teams . The game was a rematch of the season opener in East Lansing , Michigan that Michigan State won , 13 – 3 . Unknown Gary Beban had a long touchdown pass play nullified by a penalty in that game . As it turned out , UCLA gave MSU one of its toughest games of the season in its home opener , a fact that was forgotten when the 14 - point odds came out favoring MSU for the Rose Bowl re - match . The two previous meetings also were won by Michigan State , the 1954 Rose Bowl and 1956 Rose Bowl . Michigan State Spartans . Michigan State was undefeated and ranked # 1 in the nation . Their key victory was a 32 – 7 win over Ohio State that ultimately decided the Big Ten Conference title as the Spartans finished one game ahead of the Buckeyes . The Spartans featured Bubba Smith and George Webster . UCLA Bruins . UCLA lost the season opener at Michigan State 13 – 3 , upset highly regarded Syracuse and Penn State , tied at Missouri 14 – 14 , then won four straight . Going into the 1965 UCLA – USC rivalry football game ranked # 7 , the conference championship and 1966 Rose Bowl were on the line . # 6 - ranked USC , led by Heisman trophy winner Mike Garrett led 16 – 6 until UCLA got a touchdown on a pass from Gary Beban to Dick Witcher with four minutes to play . After the 2 - point conversion made it 16 – 14 , UCLA recovered an onside kick . Beban then hit Kurt Altenberg on a 50 - yard bomb and UCLA won , 20 – 16 . " Los Angeles Times " columnist Jim Murray did not like the Bruins chances . UCLA then faced Tennessee in the newly built Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis , Tennessee , Prothro ' s native city . On the last play of a wild game , Tennessee defensive back Bob Petrella intercepted a UCLA pass to save a Volunteer win by a score of 37 – 34 . Coach Prothro , was uncharacteristically upset . He criticized a pass interference call , a phantom holding call on end Byron Nelson that nullified a key UCLA play , claimed that the clock had been wrongly stopped twice on Tennessee ' s winning drive , and said that a dropped pass was a lateral and a fumble . He stated , " For the first time in my life , I am ashamed to be a Southerner . " The 1965 team was nicknamed the " Gutty little Bruins " as the defensive line was small with John Richardson at 225 pounds , Steve Butler at 220 , and 200 - pound defensive tackles Al Claman and Terry Donahue . Game summary . The weather was sunny and 65 degrees . Michigan State was a two touchdown favorite and the consensus # 1 ranked team , but the undersized Bruins held their own through a scoreless first quarter . In the second quarter , UCLA recovered a muffed punt inside the Michigan State 5 - yard line . Quarterback Gary Beban eventually took it in from one yard out to give the Bruins a surprising lead over the stunned Spartans . Then UCLA coach Tommy Prothro went into his bag of tricks and called for an onside kick . Kicker Kurt Zimmerman executed it perfecty and Dallas Grider fell on the ball . Beban then threaded a pass between three Spartan defenders to Kurt Altenberg , who made a great catch that put UCLA on the 1 - yard line . Beban then scored on a short run to make it 14 – 0 . UCLA ' s undersized defense continued to play well , but the larger Spartans were beginning to wear them down and began picking up bigger and bigger chunks of yardage on the ground . Midway through the 4th quarter , Michigan State finally broke through for a touchdown , but failed on the try for a 2 - point conversion and UCLA led 14 – 6 . Michigan State got the ball back and began to march down field in the waning moments . With under a minute to play the Spartans scored again , and trailing 14 – 12 , lined up for a two point conversion attempt . They pitched out to their large Samoan fullback Bob Apisa , and as he turned the corner , it appeared he would fall into the end zone to tie the game . But UCLA defensive back Bob Stiles ran full speed and threw himself into Apisa . Although Apisa knocked Stiles unconscious , Stiles ' sacrifice kept Apisa out of the end zone . Aftermath . Back in 1966 , the final UPI poll was taken before the bowl games so Michigan State retained its # 1 ranking in the UPI . Alabama , led by quarterback Steve Sloan and with a record of 8 – 1 – 1 , handed undefeated and # 2 ranked Nebraska a 39 – 28 loss in the Orange Bowl ; the Crimson Tide was then voted # 1 in the AP . UCLA ended up ranked # 4 AP , # 5 UPI . In a 1995 vote of the greatest moments in Los Angeles sports history , Bob Stiles ' stop of Bob Apisa on the goal line ranked # 26 . The defeat of USC in the UCLA - USC rivalry game to get to the Rose Bowl ranked # 35 . Prothro would never be able to bring the Bruins to the Rose Bowl again . In 1966 , the USC Trojans were voted in ahead of the Bruins despite UCLA ' s 14 – 7 win over USC . In the 1967 USC vs . UCLA football game , a spectacular run by O . J . Simpson would give USC the bid and the National Championship . In the 1969 USC - UCLA football game , a battle of undefeated teams , USC would again prevail , 14 – 12 . Kurt Altenberg died in 2005 .