Right about now, one of America's grandest sports institutions is learning a hard lesson.
Tucked among the mountains of the idyllic San Gabriel Valley, it's easy to see how the Rose Bowl could isolate itself from the realities around it. And for an entire century, it managed to do just that. If it were up to them, the good folks of Pasadena would enjoy each New Year's Day from now until the end of time with a splendid parade and a Big Ten-Pac-10 football match and leave the BCS mumbo jumbo to all those bowls less sacred than the Grandaddy of Them All.
The problem, of course, is that by the mid-1990s their partners of nearly 60 years could no longer afford to abstain from the potential riches of a national championship game. So the Rose Bowl reluctantly agreed to buck its tradition once every four years with the assumption they could go back to business as usual the other three.
But here they are, a year after sucking it up and letting strangers Miami and Nebraska invade their precious turf, looking at a possible matchup of Washington State and ... Colorado?
"We were very much looking forward to, after our national championship year, returning to the traditional Big Ten-Pac-10 matchup," said Rose Bowl Executive Director Mitch Dorger. "That matchup is what's made the Rose Bowl what it is all these years."
The Rose Bowl knew going into the BCS there would be years it lost a No. 1 or 2-ranked team -- in this case Ohio State -- to the bowl hosting the national championship.
What it never fathomed was that a second desirable Big Ten team -- let's say, oh, 11-1 conference co-champ Iowa -- would also be plucked out of Pasadena.
Such will likely be the case come Saturday if Miami beats Virginia Tech and Washington State beats UCLA. The Cougars would land the Pac-10's berth in the Rose Bowl, USC would automatically gain one of the two BCS at-large berths and the Orange, by virtue of losing Miami, would have first choice of filling the other.
That choice -- to the bewilderment of every Big Ten fan who begins each season dreaming of Pasadena, and to the dismay of the Rose Bowl itself -- would likely be Iowa. The Orange Bowl has a stadium to fill, too, and there's just no guarantee USC fans would travel across the country to do it.
"I think it's fair to say we'd be very disappointed," said Dorger. "It was always our hope that a second-place team with a good BCS ranking would exist, and in this particular year, Iowa is almost the perfect fit. If you're going to send Ohio State off to the Fiesta, having an 11-1 team, co-champion, is almost ideal to step into the Rose Bowl. It would be disappointing if that weren't able to happen."
For an organization that invented the bowl game back at the turn of the 20th century, the 21st century bowl landscape can be awfully humbling. There is no longer one preeminent game.
"It's just something we have to get used to with the BCS -- it's not going to be the same tradition we're used to year in and year out," said Orange Bowl CEO Keith Tribble. "Maybe we're starting a new phase in how the upper-echelon bowls are played. This might not be the last time they [the Rose Bowl] lose their teams, because those teams are going to be playing for national championships for years to come."
The Rose Bowl may not be ready just yet to accept this new reality.
Dorger has insinuated in recent interviews there would be "ramifications" if Iowa isn't in Pasadena. Those could be as simple as a tweak to the BCS' selection process next year.
Or they could be as serious as the Rose Bowl splitting ways with the BCS when the current contract ends after the 2005 season.
"Opting out of the Rose Bowl every four years was a tough [decision] for many people in the Big Ten," said Iowa AD Bob Bowlsby. "But the Big Ten needed to be able to have our top teams compete for a national title. This is the first time it's happened. We'll have to look back after it's over and decide, 'Is this worth it?'"
First of all, UCLA could beat Washington State, sending USC and Iowa to the Rose Bowl and reducing all of this to needless worry. But even if not, any disappointment Hawkeyes fans may have about missing their first trip to Pasadena since 1990 will dissipate in plenty of time for them to flock to Miami.
And the Big Ten will be thrilled with the extra riches that comes with a second BCS berth.
"The first point in our deal is that we wanted to maintain an opportunity to play in the championship game," Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany told The Chicago Tribune. "The price of that happens to be we give up the Rose Bowl."
Welcome to the new century, Pasadena.
Cougars on the run
The $13 million question -- named so in honor of the BCS bid at stake - surrounding Saturday's Washington State-UCLA game is whether Cougars QB Jason Gesser will be healthy enough to contribute.
But considering the Bruins still have to score, it might not matter.
It's no secret that the success of UCLA's offense is almost entirely dependent on its running game. The Bruins went 4-2 during a recent stretch in which freshman RB Tyler Ebell gained 100 yards in all six games but gained just 40 yards on 33 carries in a 52-21 loss to USC, owner of the nation's sixth-ranked rush defense.
Saturday brings an equally stingy defense in Washington State, which ranks just one spot behind the Trojans. Opponents have averaged just 2.46 yards per carry against All-America DT Rien Long and the Cougars, their only breakdown coming against Ohio State's Maurice Clarett back in September.
The way to attack Washington State is through the air, as Washington did in its Apple Cup upset two weeks ago. Huskies QB Cody Pickett threw for 368 yards on 35-of-57 passing, with receiver Reggie Williams burning acclaimed Cougars cornerback Marcus Trufant and others for 169 yards on 12 catches.
But Bruins have no Pickett, rather two freshman quarterbacks, Drew Olson and Matt Moore, neither of whom have thrown for 200 yards in a game. If Gesser can't go, the Pac-10's Rose Bowl berth could be determined by a battle of inexperienced QBs, with Washington State calling on junior backup Matt Kegel.
