 This game was for the championship of the AAWU (then informally known as the Pac-8 and now the Pac-12), a berth in the Rose Bowl game, and for the likelihood that the winner of the game would be the AP Poll National Champion, as the final poll was published at the end of the regular season.The next year, the final poll would be published after the bowl games.Aside from conference standings, the top Heisman vote getter from the previous season, Beban, would meet Simpson, one of the most explosive running backs of that season.