CBS: Another beautiful, compelling Rose Bowl faces uncertainty in playoff era

[BleedGopher]

per Dennis Dodd:

We may never get this moment back. For those of us who love the Rose Bowl, the end of the 100th game kicked off a departure.

Next year -- and for four of the next 12 years -- the Rose Bowl becomes a national semifinal game in the new playoff. The grand old game will not retain its end-all status that it retained for more than a century, even through the BCS years.

It will be -- as some have clinically termed the semis -- a play-through.

Keith Jackson just cringed.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoo...ng-rose-bowl-faces-uncertainty-in-playoff-era

Go Gophers!!

 

[SelectionSunday]

Excellent piece by Dodd. Hard to argue with him. In all probability the playoff system means the Rose Bowl will lose some of its luster, no matter how Hitchcock tries to spin the playoff. Michigan State got back to the Rose Bowl just in time, because it's not going to be the same in the future, especially in years where the Rose Bowl hosts a semifinal.

I'll consider it a Rose Bowl only in seasons where it's a Big Ten team vs. a Pac 12 team, but even then we might be getting the runner-ups in both conferences. It's a sad realization for those of us who appreciate & understand the tradition of the Rose Bowl, but with the advent of a playoff we all knew the trade-off would be the Rose Bowl being diminshed even further. I'm glad the Rose Bowl (as we know it) went out in style, with a setting, weather, and game befitting its tradition.

 

[Bad Gopher]

I've always been for keeping the historic bowls separate from the new playoff. That would be the best of both worlds, and I don't think anyone would complain.

 

[eastsider]

I could care less about the National Championship. You'll almost never be able to pin a true national champion. Too many teams with too few teams.

I wish the Rose Bowl, Big Ten, and PAC should agree to their respective champions always meeting every year. The SEC, ACC, Big 12, and National Championship can go to hell for all I care. The Rose Bowl is what really matters. It was great while it lasted.

 

[SelectionSunday]

Agree. I'll take watching the Rose Bowl over the BCS title game any day of the week. Rose Bowl has always been can't miss on my sporting calendar. Since its inception I can't say the same about the BCS title game. If I see the FSU-Auburn game Monday, fine, but if there's an interesting college basketball game from one of the major conferences I'll watch that instead.

Hoping somehow, some way, the Rose Bowl will be mostly unaffected by the playoff, but that's probably wishful thinking.

 

[Jike Spingleton]

Same here. Rose Bowl > National Championship Game.

I felt bad for Illinois in 2001 when they won the Big Ten after an almost two-decade drought, but had to play in the Sugar Bowl (against LSU, no less) because that was the year the Rose Bowl hosted the title game. They kind of got a make-up call six years later when they got chosen for the Rose Bowl to replace Ohio State despite there being several teams ranked ahead of them. But I've always feared that the year the Gophers finally make their run to the Big Ten title (it's gotta happen sometime, right?), they'd still miss out on Pasadena because that's our luck.

 

[MirandaB]

Don't mess with the Rose Bowl. Obviously these officials don't understand and appreciate the significance of the history of the Rose Bowl. I like eastsider's idea. Not that it's important, but the parade has been totally bastardized by television.

 

[Sports_Realist]

I prefer a Big Ten vs. Pac-12 Rose Bowl each year, but the use of the game in the semifinals is a good thing if the bowls are going to be part of the playoff. Even if the game pits an SEC team against a Big XII team, the do or die nature of the game will add intensity to the proceedings. In the event of runners up, the game will still be a Big Ten vs. Pac-12 Rose Bowl match up and will always be New Year's Day (January 2 when New Year's Day is on Sunday). I'd also venture that if the semis match up teams from those two conferences against each other, the committee would send the schools to Pasadena instead of to New Orleans (the Sugar Bowl is the Rose Bowl's semifinal partner, other pairings are Orange/Cotton and Fiesta/Peach) and we'd have a regular Rose Bowl anyway.

 

[WorkingMyTailOff]

I could care less about the National Championship. You'll almost never be able to pin a true national champion. Too many teams with too few teams.

I wish the Rose Bowl, Big Ten, and PAC should agree to their respective champions always meeting every year. The SEC, ACC, Big 12, and National Championship can go to hell for all I care. The Rose Bowl is what really matters. It was great while it lasted.

Amen EastSider!

 

[Jike Spingleton]

I'd also venture that if the semis match up teams from those two conferences against each other, the committee would send the schools to Pasadena instead of to New Orleans (the Sugar Bowl is the Rose Bowl's semifinal partner, other pairings are Orange/Cotton and Fiesta/Peach) and we'd have a regular Rose Bowl anyway.

I also think they'll attempt to do it this way, too - though I'm not sure how much they'd be willing to bend the integrity of the seeding to make it happen (like in 2010, when Oregon finished the year ranked #2 and Wisconsin was #4, would they seed them 2/3 and put the match-up in Pasadena?).

The other five times in the BCS era when both the Big Ten and Pac-10/12 had teams ranked in the top 5 of the final regular season AP poll:

2012 (#3 Ohio State, #5 Oregon)
2005 (#1 USC, #3 Penn State, #4 Ohio State)
2003 (#1 USC, #4 Michigan)
2002 (#2 Ohio State, #3 Iowa, #5 USC)
1998 (#3 Ohio State, #5 Arizona)