Throwback Thursday: When Cal Played on New Years Day

It hasn't happened often but Cal has played in New Years Day Bowl games. They really have. Cal has played in 21 bowl games in the ~100-year history of bowl games. Seven of those 21 bowl games were played on New Years Day. Two more bowl games were played on January 2nd due to the 1st falling on a Sunday. Eight of the nine New Years Day (or January 2) games were Rose Bowls. Technically, only six of the eight Rose Bowls that included Cal were called Rose Bowls at the time that they were played. The Rose Bowl was originally titled the the Tournament East-West Football Game. Cal played in the final two games under that awkward handle in 1921 and 1922. Cal's most recent appearance on New Years Day was in the 1992 Florida Citrus Bowl. That one was a blast.

Here is how Cal has fared on the day set aside for recovery and big college bowl games:

Rose Bowl, January 1, 1921
Cal defeated Ohio State, 28-0

Rose Bowl, January 2, 1922
Cal tied Washington & Jefferson, 0-0

Rose Bowl, January 1, 1929
Georgia Tech defeated Cal, 8-7

Rose Bowl, January 1, 1938
Cal defeated Alabama 13-0

Rose Bowl, January 1, 1949
Northwestern defeated Cal, 20-14

Rose Bowl, January 2, 1950
Ohio State defeated Cal, 17-14

Rose Bowl, January 1, 1951
Michigan defeated Cal, 14-6

Rose Bowl, January 1, 1959
Iowa defeated Cal, 38-12

Florida Citrus Bowl, January 1, 1992
Cal defeated Clemson, 37-13

That's not a real strong showing. 3-5-1.

If Golden Bears football had any "golden years," they would be Andy Smith's "Wonder Teams" of the early 1920s and the Pappy Waldorf-led teams following World War II. Some consider Smith's 1920 Cal team one of the best teams in college football history. They were 9-0 and outscored their opponents 510 to 14. That season ended with the dismantling of Ohio State in the 1921 Rose Bowl/Tournament East-West Football Game. From 1920-24, Smith's "Wonder Teams" were 44-0-2. Their success rivaled that of Knute Rockne's Notre Dame teams but the two titans never played. There were no polls back then but in a retroactive research poll, the Helms Athletic Foundation determined the 1920 Cal football team to be national champions that year, a conclusion recognized by the NCAA. Cal's success of the early 1920s built Memorial Stadium on the Berkeley campus. That great success might have continued if Smith hadn't died suddenly of pneumonia after the 1925 season at the age of 42. Two decades later, Waldorf returned Cal to the top of the college football world. They just couldn't carry great seasons through to the Rose Bowl. In the three Rose Bowl years, Cal was 29-3-1 and undefeated in the Pacific Coast Conference. They were ranked in the top-5 in the AP poll each season. However, nothing went their way on New Years Day, or the day after.

It's been pretty hard times ever since.

With college football playoffs finally a reality the traditional New Years Day Bowl game is fading. But, Cal will one day return to playing big games on the first day of the year.

Happy New Years Everyone!