Traditionalists are firing up their RVs — Big 10 Conference champion Ohio State vs. Pac-12 Conference in Pasadena at 2 p.m. New Year’s Day in the Rose Bowl. Let the caravan shortly begin heading south on I-5.
The pairing was confirmed Sunday morning when the College Football Playoff selection committee chose 12-1 Oklahoma for the fourth spot behind three unbeatens — Alabama, Clemson and Notre Dame.
Following Saturday’s results that included the Sooners’ victory over Texas, responsible for their only loss, there was relatively little drama in the announcement. Georgia picked up a second loss Saturday against Alabama and was ranked fifth, one spot ahead of 12-1 Ohio State.
Somewhat remarkably, despite the long Big Ten/Pac-12 tradition, the Buckeyes and Huskies have never met in any bowl, much less the Rose Bowl. Ohio State has an 8-3 lead in the regular season series, the last in 2007, a 33-14 win at Husky Stadium.
The Huskies, voted ninth in the latest Associated Press poll released Sunday, locked up the Pac-12 title Friday in Santa Clara with an excruciating 10-3 win over Utah, and Ohio State Saturday cruised past Northwestern 45-24 in Indianapolis.
The only mystery about the pairing was whether the Buckeyes would advance to the CFP field, which would have promoted Michigan to Rose Bowl.
Washington State (10-2) finished 13th in the final CFP rankings (12th in AP), leaving the Cougars out of the 12-team field of the more lucrative New Year’s Day bowls. They will play Iowa State Dec. 28 Alamo Bowl in San Antonio (6 p.m., ESPN).
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2241962 https://sportspressnw.wpengine.com/?p=2241962">6 Comments
Nothing like a traditional Rose Bowl matchup! Big 10 vs Pac 8. (Not a typo.) Something is dreadfully wrong with the universe when Tejas or Oklahoma or Florida State or Georgia invade this hallowed ground.
The only bummer here is not getting to hate Harbaugh a little extra. HAR HAR HAR.
Gotta be open to change, Spumoni, even in sports. But the first bowl game against Ohio State is cool for fans.
Pac 12 vs Big 14
For the Dawgs to have any chance, Browning needs the game of his life and CP needs to call the plays. Otherwise, the electric supply in the NW will spike by halftime from TV’s turning off.
Ohio State is very good, but look at some of their results. Lots of lesser teams strayed close.
A team that got smoked by Purdue and should’ve lost to Maryland is nobody to fear.