The Rose Bowl Game

The Granddaddy of Them All, the Rose Bowl, is college football’s ultimate tradition. Played in Pasadena’s gargantuan Rose Bowl stadium nearly every year on January 1^st since 1902, the game is rife with tradition and competition, and is the culmination of a life’s worth of dreams for the players, coaches and fans who are lucky enough to participate in the NCAA’s biggest football game.

The Rose Bowl started the venerable New Year’s Day bowl game tradition in 1902, when East met West in a battle between the Michigan Wolverines and the Stanford Cardinal. Traditionally, the game was a contest between the Big 10 and the PAC 10 champions, often seeing the likes of Michigan or Ohio State doing battle USC or other PAC 10 notables.

In 1998, under the BCS Championship reorganization, the Rose Bowl entered into a new era, opening the game to teams outside of the two traditional conferences. Thus, the stakes grow even higher when the game serves as the BCS Championship.