Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1165179
22 n o r t h w e s t e r n f o o t b a l l • D I G I T A L P R O G R A M • N O R T H W E S T E R N v s . U N L V 1949 ROSE BOWL | BY: SKIP MYSLENSKI The Wildcats, backed up on their own 12-yard line, were less than five minutes away from that vaunted long ride, and then came controversy. Tunnicliff took a hand-off and hit the left tackle to where the ball flipped high in the air that was recovered by Cal's George Souza. The Bears began to celebrate, but referee Jimmy Cain intervened, saying he had blown his whistle while Tunnicliff was airborne and before he fumbled. "They were incorrect. No question about it," Tunnicliff said about Cal's complaints. The 'Cats still had life and were on their very next play Aschenbrenner ran an option and found Don Stonesifer for a 17-yard gain. It was incredibly Northwestern's only completion of the afternoon and it came courtesy of their left halfback since quarterback Don Burson hurt his arm. "I give him all the credit," Tunnicliff said of Aschenbrenner. "He just kept fighting. He just picked us up." Gaspar Perricone swept to his left for 14 yards and after four runs, the 'Cats were on the Cal 43-yard line with under two minutes to play. They had practiced throughout the season a bit of chicanery, plays where Burson set himself under center, but Sarkisian snapped the ball through his legs directly to Tunnicliff. "We practiced it, practiced it, practiced it, but we never used it. So, we all wondered why we're doing this," Tunnicliff remembers. Yet they hadn't practiced it since they had made the trip out to California. Their workouts had been held at a parking lot adjacent to the Rose Bowl and open to the public, so secrecy had to be preserved. But in this moment, with that long ride home looming even more close, Burson called the play, and the ball came directly to the right half near Tunnicliff as Burson pivoted to his left and faked a pitch to the sweeping Aschenbrenner. Tunnicliff patiently took two steps parallel to the line, waiting for right end Chuck Hagmann's hook block. The Cal defenders, frozen in the moment, reacted to Burson and Aschenbrenner and adjusted to the right. Tunnicliff finally accelerated as he made his way down the right side toward the end zone. Right guard Ed Nemeth threw a block and left tackle Bill Forman threw another.