 The following year, the Panthers featured Gibby Welch, who led the nation in rushing in 1926 and helped Pitt to the Eastern Championship and its first bowl game, the Rose Bowl, in 1927.Pitt, ironically, lost the Rose Bowl 7–6 to a Stanford team headed by the Panthers' former coach, "Pop" Warner.In 1929, Pitt went undefeated in the regular season, the first of four undefeated regular seasons under Sutherland, and won the Eastern Championship, but lost its second appearance in the Rose Bowl to USC.