Michigan 38 Washington 31

Washington attempts to win three consecutive Rose Bowl games but falls short as undefeated but thrice-tied Michigan outlasts the Huskies 38-31 before a crowd of 94,236. The suspenseful offensive show featured Player of the Game Tyrone Wheatley of Michigan who scores on runs of 56, a record 88 and 24 yards. The 225-pound running back finds wide open country after he breaks through a jammed line of scrimmage and races away from futile Washington chasers. Quarterback Elvis Grbac engineers a winning drive midway in the fourth quarter, throwing a 15-yard scoring pass to tight end Tony McGee who catches six passes for the day. Michigan outgains 9-2 Washington 483 yards to 413 in a game that see-saws to a 31-31 tie before the Grbac-McGee connection settles it. The record breaker for the game, however, is the southpaw Washington quarterback Mark Brunell who passes and turns to three-time career highs in Rose Bowl action -- passing yardage (560), total offense (618), completions (39), touchdown passes (5), and touchdowns involved (7). Brunell hits Jason Shelley for a 64-yard touchdown pass and Mark Bruener for 18 years and another tally. The all-time, one-game Rose Bowl rushing record eludes Wheatley who has 235 yards before being sidelined by painful back spasms.

XML error: Invalid character at line 61