A Rose Bowl of a different color

You can deny the existence of UFOs and Bigfoot but not that the Rose Bowl has changed since joining the Bowl Championship Series in 1998.

Whether it has changed for better or worse remains an open discussion.

The BCS needed the Rose Bowl's inclusion to release the champions of the Pacific 10 and Big Ten conferences, if they were ranked No. 1 or No. 2, to a newfangled system that would pair the top teams in a "national title" game.

So the Rose Bowl relented.

It's been different.

And, at times, it's been weird.

And?

"It was inevitable," Rose Bowl Chief Executive Mitch Dorger insisted this week.

The Rose Bowl post-1998 should be sponsored by a nut company, because it has definitely been a mixed bag.

Take Year 1, when the white coats watched in horror as UCLA players cried in the locker room after a loss to Miami knocked the Bruins out of the national title game and into the Granddaddy.

The Rose Bowl has hosted Miami and Nebraska, on a Thursday night, two days after the parade.

The Rose Bowl has handed out an invitation (to Miami) in Blacksburg, Va.

In 2002, the Rose Bowl couldn't stop the Orange Bowl from staging Iowa versus USC as the Tournament of Roses put on Oklahoma versus Washington State at the Pasadena play house.

Today, USC and Penn State, two 11-1, top-10 conference champions, meet in the 95th Rose Bowl.

What would have been -- before the BCS -- a classic, is now a classic with strings attached.

A terrific matchup between perennial top programs is also a consolation for teams that hoped to be playing in next week's BCS national title game in South Florida.

"That's the times we live in right now," USC defensive tackle Fili Moala said. "The Rose Bowl is still going to be what it is, still going to have great teams. The matchup is still going to be there. But I think everyone's just waiting for the national championship."

Of course, you can't ignore the positive flip side.

Joining the BCS has also allowed the Rose Bowl to host Texas versus Michigan after the 2004 season, a game that produced an all-time ending with the Longhorns winning on a last-second field goal.

"The clock hit zero," Dorger recalled of the game. "I was in a perfect position; I could see the scoreboard at zero, I could see the football in the air, and I didn't know who had won the game at that point. Now that's an exciting finish."