Remember the old Big Ten bowl tie-ins? The Rose Bowl was the goal. You earned it. You went to Pasadena because you won the conference, not because some committee decided you were pretty enough. That 1993 team, the one that went out there and punched UCLA in the mouth, that was the reward for a season of work in the November mud. Now look at it. We are slotted into some exhibition game in a dome against a team from a conference that didnt even exist when Barry was building this program. The whole system is a participaiton trophy factory now.
I was sitting here on this quiet Sunday morning reading that ESPN piece about the 100 days until kickoff and they mention our trip to Notre Dame this fall. That is a real game. That means something. South Bend in the fall, the gold helmets, the gameday atmosphere, it is college football the way it is supposed to feel. But then I scroll down and see the bowl projections and my stomach turns. Nobody even knows what bowl games are gonna look like in a few years with the playoff expanding again. The Citrus Bowl used to mean something for a second place Big Ten team. Now it is just a consolation prize for programs that missed the cut.
I remember when we went to the 1998 Outback Bowl and beat Florida. That was a big deal. We went down to Tampa and took on an SEC team and won. The whole trip was an experience for the players and the fans. The parade, the beach, the steak dinner. Now these kids are opting out of bowl games to prepare for the draft or entering the portal before the game is even played. The whole tradition is gone. You cannot tell me it is the same.
And do not get me started on the playoff. A 12 team field. everybody gets a trophy. The Rose Bowl is just a quarterfinal now. I am supposed to get excited about our team being the 11 seed and playing on a Tuesday night in Atlanta? No thank you. I will take the 1994 Rose Bowl over any of this. A perfect January afternoon, the sun setting over the San Gabriel mountains, and our boys running the ball down the other teams throat. That is what I miss. That is what is gone forever.