From out of the desert sun, a team from Arizona State, undefeated and untied, rides into Pasadena today for college football's 83rd Rose Bowl game, ranked second-best to Florida State but here to show everybody in the land, beyond a doubt, that cactus makes perfect.
Out of the frosty Midwest, with something to prove of its own, is Ohio State, likewise undefeated and untied until a loss in its 11th game, now angry over being ranked as low as fourth and hungry from not having won a Rose Bowl championship for 22 years.
With an expected 2 p.m. kickoff and a 50/50 chance of rain, nothing is certain but that State will win. Although they represent institutions founded in the 19th century, the Sun Devils and Buckeyes have met in football only once before, and never in this New Year's Day classic.
"We still don't believe there's a better team than us," linebacker Pat Tillman says, speaking for everyone at Arizona State.
"Anybody who thinks we're dead," counters Ohio State lineman Rob Murphy, "we're here to prove them wrong."
Arizona State (11-0) is here because it won a wild season opener with Washington on a kick with two seconds remaining, held Nebraska scoreless as few teams ever have, refused to lose a game that UCLA led by 21 points, survived another that USC took to double-overtime and made the most of a friendly schedule that included seven games in Tempe, and none east of Tucson.
Ohio State (10-1) is here because it won its first two contests by a staggering cumulative score of 142-7, defeated a strong Notre Dame team by 13 points and a very good Penn State by 31, then withstood upset bids by Wisconsin and Indiana with fourth-quarter comebacks, leaving only one last engagement in Ohio impeding a perfect season, a fateful date with Michigan.
A national championship--its first--is a possibility for Arizona State, though it appears to depend on Florida State's inability to win a rematch with archrival Florida in the Sugar Bowl game to be played Thursday night in New Orleans. Separate polls that consult coaches and media have made the Seminoles the nation's No. 1 team, an opinion that Arizonans hotly dispute.
A national championship for Ohio State is less plausible. Seemingly the fourth-ranked Buckeyes would have to defeat Arizona State with relative ease, then count on third-ranked Florida to somehow upset Florida State in a less impressive fashion, enabling them to leapfrog all three teams. Ohio State was unanimously voted national champion in 1942 and 1968, and in split decisions was co-champion in 1954 (with UCLA) and 1957 (with Auburn).
