CHICAGO -- A vibrant bouquet of lush red roses garnished each of the 200 circular banquet tables at last week's Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon. An innocent centerpiece to some, a peculiar statement to others.
That's because for the first time in 55 years, conference champions from the Big Ten and the Pac-10 will not be guaranteed spots in the Rose Bowl this January. Instead, that right will go to the teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the final BCS standings.
So sitting in that lakefront banquet room last week, amidst hundreds of fresh-smelling bouquets, could very well have been the closest any Big Ten fan, player or coach comes to smelling the roses this year.
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Coming Up Roses
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It's been 55 years since the Pac-10 and Big Ten champs didn't play each other in the Rose Bowl. Here's a look at the last five times it happened. |
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Year |
Result
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1946
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Alabama 34, USC 14
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1945
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USC 25, Tennessee 0
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1944
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USC 29, Washington 0
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1943
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Georgia 9, USC 0
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1942
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Oregon St. 20, Duke 16
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It isn't exactly sitting well with all involved.
"There is certainly some sadness there," said Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, an assistant on two Hawkeye Rose Bowl teams in the 1980s. "But I don't think anyone in the conference is conceding just yet that a Big Ten representative won't be in the Rose Bowl."
The only way a Big Ten or Pac-10 team can reach the "Granddaddy of them all" is if it finishes the regular season as one of the top two teams in the BCS. It's part of the trade-off both conferences and the Rose Bowl agreed to in 1998 in order to be included in the BCS.
Without the agreement, the Big Ten would have been shut out of a potential national championship game and sent to the Rose Bowl. Such was the case in 1994, when the old Bowl Coalition kept 11-0 Penn State out of the national championship game. Three years later, the Bowl Alliance setup did the same to 11-0 Michigan.
The Wolverines still won a share of the title in '97, but Penn State, despite a 12-0 season including a 38-20 win in the '95 Rose Bowl, did not.
Under the current contract, a Big Ten or Pac-10 team ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the final BCS rankings is guaranteed a spot in any national championship game. In exchange, the title game will be held in Pasadena every four years. This season is the first.
"You have to understand that there's give and take. You have to give something," said Purdue coach Joe Tiller, who coached in the 2001 Rose Bowl. "If the Big Ten didn't get in the BCS game and said it was going to stick with the Rose Bowl, it would have been catastrophic. It would have been tough to recruit against other leagues. They could say, 'You don't want to go there. You'll never compete for the national championship.' "
Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez, who led the Badgers to three Rose Bowls in the 1990s, agrees.
"It would really put us behind the eight ball if we were not involved in the national championship game," he said. "My only regret would be if someone would happen to win the league and hadn't been to the Rose Bowl for a long period of time, it would be a shame for the players as well as the fans."
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If the Big Ten didn't get in the BCS game and said it was going to stick with the Rose Bowl, it would have been catastrophic. It would have been tough to recruit against other leagues. They could say, 'You don't want to go there. You'll never compete for the national championship.' ” |
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— Purdue coach Joe Tiller |
Such would be the case for a school like Minnesota, which hasn't been to Pasadena since 1962. Though the Golden Gophers have almost no chance at competing for the national title, they could be in the mix of what should be a wide-open race in the Big Ten. Yet a Big Ten title in 2001 -- the school's first in 35 years -- would probably send the Gophers to one of the other three BCS bowls, not the Rose.
It's a predicament that has given Gopher coach Glenn Mason, who played and coached in three Rose Bowls at Ohio State, a unique opinion on the give-and-take nature of the agreement.
"Money -- that's the trade-off," Mason said. "I know people say it's important we do this so we can play for the national championship, but how important is that, really? Is playing for the national championship that significant or is it the hype that's significant? I think it's very unfortunate, because as a player and a coach, the Big Ten was synonymous with the Rose Bowl."
The situation is similar for No. 12 Oregon State, a preseason pick to finish second in the Pac-10. The Beavers haven't been to Pasadena since 1965.
"It crushes me because we haven't gotten a chance to play there," said Oregon State coach Dennis Erickson. "It's just like the Orange Bowl and the Sugar Bowl. They had great tradition too. But once you play for a national championship, it's a different game."
If this year's Pac-10 champion does not qualify for the Rose Bowl, they will play in the Fiesta Bowl. No such clause exists for the Big Ten, leaving its champion eligible for the Fiesta, Sugar or Orange Bowls.
"You still want to win the Pac-10 championship and obviously the Fiesta Bowl is a great bowl. But as a traditionalist -- which I'm sure most of us coaches are -- it saddens you that the Pac-10 champion won't be in the Rose Bowl," said UCLA coach Bob Toledo.
Since the BCS inception in 1998, the Big Ten is the only member of the six-league alliance not to produce an undefeated champion. Ohio State came closest in 1998, spending much of the season undefeated and No. 1 in the country, but a late-season loss to Michigan State ended the Buckeyes title hopes.
That same season, UCLA had its eyes set on a trip to the Fiesta Bowl, that year's national championship site, before a loss to Miami in the Bruins' final regular season game sent them reluctantly to the Rose Bowl.
"It was a strange twist," Toledo said. "Our kids were upset that we had to play in the Rose Bowl. They wanted to play in the national championship. So this year, it would be doubly special to be in that game."
Not to mention the national championship game will be played on UCLA's home field.
"I think our players have already begun talking about that."
Wayne Drehs is a staff writer at ESPN.com. He can be reached at wayne.drehs@espn.com.
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