The Rose Bowl literally keeps the earth spinning

[Kburjr]

Coach Bryant (who took Alabama to 8 Sugar Bowls, 5 Orange Bowls and 4 Cotton Bowls) once said, he regretted not being able to take one of his great Alabama teams to the Rose Bowl, as he thoroughly enjoyed the experience as a player in the 1935 win over Stanford.

Alabama probably wouldn't have went to that Rose Bowl if the Big Ten would have let National Champ Minnesota play.

 

[78Cyclones]

Alabama probably wouldn't have went to that Rose Bowl if the Big Ten would have let National Champ Minnesota play.

Could be! In the mean-time, Alabama went out and won 29-13 to cap off their 3rd Undefeated, Untied Rose Bowl Championship season. Perhaps, Alabama and Minnesota should have played in a Bowl Game (Rose, Sugar, Orange or Sun) that year? The Cotton Bowl hadn't started yet!

 

[Bring Back The Oilers]

Not necessarily. You need to learn some history.

#2 Alabama (SEC Champ) played #1 Nebraska (Big 8 Champ) in the '71 Orange Bowl.

The Rose Bowl prevented #1 Nebraska from facing #2 Penn St in 1994, and prevented #1 Michigan from playing #2 Nebraska in 1997.

So, who prevented #1 Nebraska from facing #2 Texas in 1983?

 

[Red_Alert]

So, who prevented #1 Nebraska from facing #2 Texas in 1983?

SWC tied to the Cotton and Big 8 tied to the Orange.

Cherry pick all you want, but the Bowl Alliance and Bowl Coalition fixed that issue. You know, those dastardly issues that the Big 10 and PAC 12 didn't want to fix?

#2 tejas (11-0) played #7 Georgia (9-1-1) in the Cotton.
#1 Nebraska (12-0) played #5 Miami (10-1) in the Orange.
#4 Illinois (10-1) played unranked UCLA (6-4-1) in the Rose Bowl.
Do you see the disparity there?

That was the reason the Big 10 and Pac 10 wanted exclusivity to the Rose Bowl. Their champs (if vying for an NC) wouldn't have to play the best available. Odds were they'd get a much weaker opponent from the other conference.

I'm not going to take the time to figure out how many Rose Bowls (Post Big 10/Pac 10 tie in and pre BCS) that pitted #1 vs #2, but I'm guessing not very many if any at all. Either the Big 10 champ or Pac 12 champ got a considerably weaker opponent than the Orange, Sugar, Cotton, or even Fiesta.

 

[Red_Alert]

Cover for the Big 10/Pac 10/Rose Bowl all you want, but the Bowl Coalition and Bowl Alliance would have pitted #1 Nebraska vs #2 Penn St and #1 Michigan vs #2 Nebraska.

The Big 10 and Pac 12 were finally drug into the BCS kicking and clawing.

 

[Red_Alert]

So going back to 1983 like Oiler fan wants to...

If #3 Auburn (10-1) had lost to #8 Michigan (9-2) in the Sugar Bowl and #4 Illinois (10-1) had beaten unranked UCLA (6-4-1) in the Rose Bowl, then Illinois would have likely won the NC since #1 Nebraska and #2 tejas both lost.

 

[Deep Creek]

I'm an old and a sucker for the Rosebowl game.. It's still the best bowl to me regardless of who's playing in it. The people running it need to get with the times.. history is history, but things change.. they got to get the memo.

When you are arrogant, you think the memo applies to everyone else.

 

[Kburjr]

Fuck the CFP.