Teams Set for 100th Rose Bowl Game

Michigan State rendered the need for contingency plans for the Rose Bowl Game moot by upsetting previously undefeated Ohio State, 34- 24, in the Big Ten Conference Championship Game Saturday night in Indianapolis to become the conference's representative for the 100th Rose Bowl Game.

If the Buckeyes had won, they likely would have finished in the top two of the final Bowl Championship Series standings, giving them a berth in the National Championship Game and prompting the Rose Bowl Game's Game Policy Committee to select a replacement Sunday among the top 14 teams in the final BCS standings.

The Spartans might well have ended up in the Rose Bowl even if they had lost to Ohio State.

The committee would have put "a lot of consideration" into the Rose Bowl's partnership with the Big Ten and Pacific-12 conferences in choosing a replacement, Kevin Ash, the Rose Bowl Game's chief administrative officer, said in an interview Thursday.

"The Pac-12-Big Ten relationship is a very key component to everything we do," Ash told City News Service. "We're very loyal to our partners. We give them top consideration in that decision."

Another factor to preserving the traditional Big Ten-Pacific-12 matchup is "this is our 100th Rose Bowl Game. That partnership is even more important to us this year," Ash said.

Ohio State and Michigan State were the final two Big Ten teams under consideration for berths in BCS bowl games.

Other factors would have included "what kind of year they had," "how long it's been since they've been at the Rose Bowl," where it is ranked, who the opponent is and "who would play well against that team," Ash said.

Michigan State entered this week's play 10th in the BCS standings and Associated Press media poll and ninth in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Today's victory was the Spartans ninth straight, improving their record to 12-1. Their only loss came to Notre Dame, Sept. 21, 17-13.

Michigan State last played in the Rose Bowl Game on New Year's Day 1988, defeating USC, 20-17.

There was no need to have to deal with any contingency plans for the Rose Bowl Game's representative from the Pacific-12 Conference. That distinction would go to the winner of the conference's championship game, which turned out to be Stanford, which defeated Arizona State, 38-14, on Saturday at Tempe, Ariz. to be the conference's representative for the second consecutive season.

The Cardinal defeated Wisconsin, 20-14, on Jan. 1, 2013.

Since the Bowl Championship Series began in the 1998 season, a replacement for a Big Ten or Pacific-12 champion in the Rose Bowl has been needed five times -- three times to replace a Big Ten and two to replace a Pacific-12 team. Another Big Ten team was chosen as a replacement twice.

The most recent time a replacement was needed was for the 2011 game when Oregon from what was then known as the Pacific-10 Conference qualified for the National Championship Game.

Under BCS rules, the first year the Rose Bowl lost a team to the National Championship Game and a team from the non-automatic qualifying group was an automatic qualifier, the non-automatic qualifier was required to receive a Rose Bowl berth.

The Rose Bowl Game is likely to see more departures from the traditional Big Ten-Pacific-12 matchup in coming years. The Rose Bowl will serve as a site of a semifinal game of the new College Football Playoff once every three years, beginning on New Year's Day 2015. With four teams needed for the semifinals, there is a larger chance at least one will come from the Big Ten or Pacific-12 conferences.

—City News Service.