1. Teams
    Ohio State  Stanford 

2. Scoring
    First quarter  Second quarter  Third quarter  Fourth quarter 

3. Statistics

4. Aftermath

5. Notes

6. References

The 1971 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1971, in Pasadena, California. It was the 57th Rose Bowl Game. The Stanford Indians of the Pacific-8 Conference defeated the second-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes of the Big Ten Conference, {{nowrap|27–17.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}}} {{nowrap|The Player of the Game}} was Stanford quarterback {{nowrap|Jim Plunkett,}} the Heisman Trophy winner.

Teams

Ohio State

Ohio State started the season ranked #1 and proceeded to roll off five easy wins by a combined score of 195-60. In their sixth game, they beat #20 Northwestern in Columbus, 24–10. But for some reason, Texas leapfrogged Ohio State to #1 after beating unranked Rice 45–21 that same day. The next week the Buckeyes won at Wisconsin 24–10 and dropped another spot to #3 as Notre Dame moved up to #2.

After a 10–7 win at Purdue, they fell to #5 despite still being undefeated, as Nebraska and Michigan passed them. They earned the Rose Bowl berth on the strength of their 20–9 victory over #4 Michigan in the game that decided the Big 10 title and rose back to #3. A week later, Notre Dame was upset by USC and Ohio State was back at #2 behind Texas. After Texas had lost to Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl earlier in the day, Ohio State went into the Rose Bowl with a chance to claim the national championship with a win.

Stanford

Stanford started the season ranked #10, and in the season opener they upset #4 Arkansas {{nowrap|34–28}} at Little Rock. After an easy win over San Jose State, they traveled north to Eugene for a game that featured a quarterback battle between Plunkett and Oregon sophomore Dan Fouts. Stanford won {{nowrap|33–10,}} but then were caught looking ahead to their showdown with USC and lost {{nowrap|24–16}} at home to Purdue. They then beat three-time defending Pac-8 champion USC at Stanford, {{nowrap|24–14}} (avenging a last second loss to the Trojans the year before). An easy {{nowrap|63–16 win}} over conference doormat Washington State boosted the Indians to #8.

Next up was a showdown with #16 UCLA in Los Angeles for the conference lead. In what was expected to be another quarterback showdown between Plunkett and the Bruins' Dennis Dummit, the defenses dominated in Stanford's key {{nowrap|9–7 win.}} After an easy win over Oregon State, they rose to #6 before clinching the conference title in the Rose Bowl decider over sophomore QB Sonny Sixkiller and Washington, {{nowrap|29–22.}} They then suffered a pair of letdowns, losing to #13 Air Force {{nowrap|31–14}} and to arch rival California, {{nowrap|22–14.}} In retrospect, the Pac-8 standings were so tightly bunched, that a win by either Oregon, UCLA, or Washington over Stanford would have sent that team to the Rose Bowl instead.

Scoring

First quarter

• Stanford - Jackie Brown 4-yard run (Steve Horowitz kick), 10:20^[7]
• Stanford - Horowitz 37-yard field goal, 6:50
• Ohio State - John Brockington 1-yard run (Fred Schram kick), 3:45

Second quarter

• Ohio State - Brockington 1-yard run (Schram kick), 14:24

Third quarter

• Stanford - Horowitz 48-yard field goal, 12:29
• Ohio State - Schram 32-yard field goal, 8:33

Fourth quarter

• Stanford - Brown 1-yard run (Horowitz kick), 10:03
• Stanford - Randy Vataha 10-yard pass from Jim Plunkett (Horowitz kick), 8:18

Statistics

{{small|Source:}}^[3][4][5]

Aftermath

Earlier that New Year's Day, top-ranked Texas lost {{nowrap|24–11}} to #6 Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl {{nowrap|in Dallas.^[6]}} Stanford's upset prevented Ohio State from claiming the national championship, which went to {{nowrap|#3 Nebraska,^[8]}} a 17–12 victor over {{nowrap|#5 LSU}} that night in the Orange Bowl {{nowrap|in Miami.^{[9][10][11][12]}}} {{nowrap|In the final AP poll}} taken after the bowls, Ohio State fell to fifth and Stanford rose {{nowrap|to eighth.^[8]}} Stanford repeated as Rose Bowl champions the following year, led by fifth-year senior quarterback Don Bunce, who redshirted this season.

Notes

• Plunkett is Stanford’s only Heisman Trophy winner, and is the only player to be named MVP of the Rose Bowl and {{nowrap|Super Bowl (XV);}} he was the first overall pick of the 1971 NFL Draft.

References

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• Alvars
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• Alva "Smoky" Smith
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• Alvaston
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• Alvastra monastery
• Alvastra Pile Dwelling
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• Alvastra pile-dwelling
• Alva Vanderbilt