Few games matched the thrill of the Wisconsin-USC Rose Bowl in 1963

Wisconsin will face USC for the first time as a Big Ten colleague Saturday, a surreal development that perhaps calls to mind one of the greatest college football games in program history, albeit in a losing effort at the Rose Bowl in 1963.

Wisconsin last met USC in the Holiday Bowl after the 2015 season, a 23-21 win in San Diego thanks to Rafael Gaglianone's field goal with 2:37 remaining and a late interception by Sojourn Shelton to all but seal it. It was the first time Wisconsin had beaten USC in seven meetings.

The Badgers last played in Los Angeles in 1966, a 38-3 loss in September, and they met in Madison in 1965 when the Trojans prevailed, 26-6.

But the Wisconsin-USC rivalry can't be discussed without the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 1963, a 42-37 epic that stood as one of the greatest college football games of the era, and perhaps all time.

With future Badgers athletics director Pat Richter and Green Bay native Ron Vander Kelen leading the way, Wisconsin — ranked No. 2 in the country — nearly out-duked No. 1 USC in the de facto national-championship game. Vander Kelen joined Pete Beathard of USC as co-players of the game, but UW had to settle for a near-miraculous comeback and nothing more.

"I had an aunt and an uncle at the game," Richter told the Journal Sentinel in 2015 . "They left the stadium at the end of the third quarter to beat the traffic."

And thus, they missed the show. Rather, most of it … Richter said they heard the game on the car radio and made it back into the stadium to see the final moments.

Wisconsin trailed less than a minute into the fourth quarter, 42-14, but scored 23 consecutive points.

UW took advantage of a fumble (turning it into a touchdown) and a bad snap (safety), and Vander Kelen's 19-yard touchdown pass to Richter with 1:19 left accounted for the final points.

The Trojans recovered an onside kick but couldn't quite milk the rest of the clock, necessitating a punt. USC barely got the punt off, though time expired when the Badgers fielded the ball with a tackle at midfield.

"I think everybody was disappointed to lose but also relieved we were able to come back and make it as good of a game as it was," Richter said. "For years, people really got a kick out of the comeback off the Southern Cal guys because they didn't get as much credit as they should have."

Vander Kelen set Rose Bowl records for passes attempted (48), completed (33) and yards (401), while Richter caught 11 passes for a record that stood unmatched until 1986. Overall, 11 Rose Bowl records were set between the two teams.

The Madison native Richter lettered nine times at UW, the last Badgers athlete so to do, with three letters each in basketball, football and baseball. He twice earned all-Big Ten honors as an outfielder in baseball, but he made his presence most felt on the football field, leading the nation in receiving yards as a junior in 1961.

He also led the Big Ten in receptions, receiving yards, touchdown receptions and yards per catch in both 1961 and 1962. For good measure, Richter also led the Big Ten in punting in 1962.

Modern Badgers followers know Richter for something else, when he became the athletics director and quickly thereafter hired Barry Alvarez to lead the football program. The decision helped transform UW from a Big Ten also-ran to a perennial contender.

After the 1963 Rose Bowl, Wisconsin appeared in only three small bowl games over the course of 30 years, then returned to the Rose Bowl after the 1993 season. In the three decades since, Wisconsin has missed a bowl game just twice, and not since 2001.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Few games matched the thrill of the Wisconsin-USC Rose Bowl in 1963