ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER (1/1/04):
After conjecture gave way to computers that were shoved aside by controversy, college football's top-ranked team struggled to understand how it was excluded from the title game created by six conferences and a television network.
USC's players wondered why they had no chance to hold up the crystal football that has come to symbolize a championship in recent seasons.
Then the Trojans quickly learned that with another display of their old-school dominance they still could win a share of a national championship in a game that is their second home and perhaps the most appropriate setting for a program steeped in history to make some more.
Today's Rose Bowl isn't the final game of the season, and that's only appropriate because the Trojans don't consider their 2 p.m. contest against Big Ten champion and fourth-ranked Michigan a final destination.
Just as USC coach Pete Carroll boldly claimed his team was "just getting started" nearly a year ago at the Orange Bowl, he now sees the Trojans' first Rose Bowl appearance in eight years as another step, albeit the biggest one yet, in their return to college football's elite echelon.
"To me it's important to re-establish a connection with this game," said Carroll, USC's third-year coach who has a chance to win the school's ninth national championship and first in 25 years. "That's why it will be the focal point of our program to win our conference and get to the Rose Bowl, and we'll continue to do that.
"Maybe five or six years from now, we'll look back and that's all these kids will know. Then we've really accomplished something."
For longer than the riders on USC's ever-expanding bandwagon care to remember, all the Trojans knew was mediocrity. The Rose Bowl was where a steady stream of other teams from the Pac-10 went in the postseason, and the Bowl Championship Series was somebody else's mess because it certainly didn't involve USC.
Carroll, however, changed all that in his second season. His 2002 team earned an at-large berth into the BCS, dominated Iowa in the Orange Bowl and finished 11-2 and ranked fourth in the nation, but he refused to let the Trojans become complacent when he challenged them after the game to keep moving forward.
USC responded with a remarkable run that included only one stumble, and it won eight in a row since its 34-31 loss at Cal in three overtimes Sept. 27 to reach the top of the national polls. The Trojans' only other loss was in their battle with the BCS computers that spat them out of the Sugar Bowl, which will feature No. 2 Louisiana State against No. 3 Oklahoma on Sunday.
"This is another step, especially with the so-called question marks coming into this year, whether or not we could do it again, what we would do without Carson (Palmer)," said Mike Williams, USC's sensational sophomore wide receiver. "It was a good sign for this team to come back and do what we did this year in the fashion we did it.
"It's definitely just one more chapter in this program in taking it back to where it belongs."
The next necessary step, of course, is to beat a talent-rich, senior-heavy Michigan team (10-2) that showed it belongs among the top teams in the nation. If that happens, USC then will wait to find out how it fares with the national poll voters.
Although the coaches' poll is contractually obligated to vote the Sugar Bowl winner No.1, the voters in The Associated Press' media poll are free to select any team.
Essentially, USC could win today and not know until late Sunday night if it was voted the AP championship, which is a big part of why Carroll and his team have kept the focus on Michigan and the Rose Bowl. A national championship hasn't been discussed in a team meeting since Dec. 8, but the Wolverines have dominated every discussion.
There also is no sense of urgency some teams might have if they felt this was their one shot at a title. Only seven of USC's 22 starters today are seniors, but 10 are freshmen or sophomores, including Williams, quarterback Matt Leinart and the Trojans' top three tailbacks.
This clearly is a team built to last more than only a season or two. It likely will open next season ranked first and considered a favorite to reach at least the Rose Bowl again or maybe the BCS title game, depending on how that system is adjusted.
"I think it's just the next step for us," Carroll said. "It's a terrific moment for us to take this next step if we're able to do it, but I think we've already moved ourselves into a category that we can build from and hope to be able to maintain for a long time.
"Look how young we are. We're just starting to put this thing together. We're worthy of what we can achieve by winning a game like this, but I know we'll have the chance to be back in this opportunity again, so it's not like it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing.
"We're trying to create a program where it's normal to be in this kind of a situation."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
DETROIT NEWS (1/1/04):
The Bowl Championship Series debate and the dueling national championship games aside, the Rose Bowl is back to the way college football traditionalists prefer:
Big Ten champion versus Pac-10 champion.
The BCS, a computer-generated system that determines the nation?s top two teams to play for the national title in one of four rotating bowls, that includes the Rose Bowl, began in 1998. It marked the end of the traditional major bowl tie-ins.
So when top-ranked Southern California, which has a solid argument for playing for the BCS national title in the Sugar Bowl, faces fourth-ranked Michigan in the Rose Bowl today, tradition will be restored.
For one day, at least.
This is the first time since 2000, when Washington defeated Purdue, 34-24, that the Big Ten and Pac-10 champions have played in the Rose Bowl.
?One of the things people love about this matchup is this is somewhat of a return to what we have known the Rose Bowl to be,? USC Coach Pete Carroll said Wednesday.
?Just the makeup of the BCS and the rotation of the national championship game and the opportunity to select teams out of the traditional matchup has created different (scenarios),? Carroll said.
?It was an unusual (Rose Bowl) game last year for Washington State and Oklahoma. That?s why the people around the bowl and who love this bowl are so excited about this matchup, because it takes us back to something we?ve held very dearly.?
If the Trojans, who hold a 4-2 edge over the Wolverines in Rose Bowls, win today, it is more than likely there will be a split national championship for the 11th time. USC is ranked No. 1 in the AP and coaches? polls.
A top-ranked team has never been dropped in the AP writers? poll after winning its bowl game. Which means USC could claim the AP national title, and either LSU or Oklahoma will earn the BCS title.
All of this talk, all of this focus on USC have left Michigan (10-2) in an underdog role.
Michigan won its final six regular-season games, including three against top-10 teams. This will be the first time Coach Lloyd Carr has gone against a top-ranked team, but his Wolverines are 14-3 against top-10 teams and 7-1 against those in the top five.
The Wolverines won the Big Ten title outright to advance to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1998, when they earned a share of the national title.
?Each team leaves the legacy,? Carr said. ?When you win the Big Ten championship and the Rose Bowl, you leave a much greater legacy than you do if you win the Big Ten championship and lose the Rose Bowl.?
Carr has not belabored the point, but he has spent time during practices and in meetings telling his players, who have never before played on New Year?s Day in the Rose Bowl, what the experience is like. This will be Carr?s ninth Rose Bowl.
?I?ve talked to them about driving in there, seeing the crowd, running on the field, the bands, and the noises, the colors, the sunshine and the mountains,? Carr said. ?You don?t play in this game without some nerves. You don?t play or coach in this game without being excited. That?s the way it should be, because you work so hard to get here. When you have an opportunity to reach your goals, the reward is to play in a venue like the Rose Bowl.?
Michigan and USC have studied each other and prepared for each other through 15 bowl practices.
Carr said his biggest concern today is that the Wolverines have not played since Nov. 22. USC last played Dec. 6.
?That?s a long layoff,? Carr said Wednesday. ?How we?re going to start the game, that?s a real issue for us.?
Carr and the Wolverines are well aware of the Trojans? explosive offense, led by quarterback Matt Leinart and All-American receiver Mike Williams, both Heisman Trophy finalists, and a three-tailback threat. They are sixth nationally in scoring, averaging a school-record 42.2 points.
Carr said the beauty of today is that the traditional conference matchup is in place.
?Any time you play on New Year?s Day, you know everybody in the country is going to watch,? Carr said. ?You know all the teams you competed against during the regular season, all college football fans are going to be watching, and it?s a game that?s going to be remembered.?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
After conjecture gave way to computers that were shoved aside by controversy, college football's top-ranked team struggled to understand how it was excluded from the title game created by six conferences and a television network.
USC's players wondered why they had no chance to hold up the crystal football that has come to symbolize a championship in recent seasons.
Then the Trojans quickly learned that with another display of their old-school dominance they still could win a share of a national championship in a game that is their second home and perhaps the most appropriate setting for a program steeped in history to make some more.
Today's Rose Bowl isn't the final game of the season, and that's only appropriate because the Trojans don't consider their 2 p.m. contest against Big Ten champion and fourth-ranked Michigan a final destination.
Just as USC coach Pete Carroll boldly claimed his team was "just getting started" nearly a year ago at the Orange Bowl, he now sees the Trojans' first Rose Bowl appearance in eight years as another step, albeit the biggest one yet, in their return to college football's elite echelon.
"To me it's important to re-establish a connection with this game," said Carroll, USC's third-year coach who has a chance to win the school's ninth national championship and first in 25 years. "That's why it will be the focal point of our program to win our conference and get to the Rose Bowl, and we'll continue to do that.
"Maybe five or six years from now, we'll look back and that's all these kids will know. Then we've really accomplished something."
For longer than the riders on USC's ever-expanding bandwagon care to remember, all the Trojans knew was mediocrity. The Rose Bowl was where a steady stream of other teams from the Pac-10 went in the postseason, and the Bowl Championship Series was somebody else's mess because it certainly didn't involve USC.
Carroll, however, changed all that in his second season. His 2002 team earned an at-large berth into the BCS, dominated Iowa in the Orange Bowl and finished 11-2 and ranked fourth in the nation, but he refused to let the Trojans become complacent when he challenged them after the game to keep moving forward.
USC responded with a remarkable run that included only one stumble, and it won eight in a row since its 34-31 loss at Cal in three overtimes Sept. 27 to reach the top of the national polls. The Trojans' only other loss was in their battle with the BCS computers that spat them out of the Sugar Bowl, which will feature No. 2 Louisiana State against No. 3 Oklahoma on Sunday.
"This is another step, especially with the so-called question marks coming into this year, whether or not we could do it again, what we would do without Carson (Palmer)," said Mike Williams, USC's sensational sophomore wide receiver. "It was a good sign for this team to come back and do what we did this year in the fashion we did it.
"It's definitely just one more chapter in this program in taking it back to where it belongs."
The next necessary step, of course, is to beat a talent-rich, senior-heavy Michigan team (10-2) that showed it belongs among the top teams in the nation. If that happens, USC then will wait to find out how it fares with the national poll voters.
Although the coaches' poll is contractually obligated to vote the Sugar Bowl winner No.1, the voters in The Associated Press' media poll are free to select any team.
Essentially, USC could win today and not know until late Sunday night if it was voted the AP championship, which is a big part of why Carroll and his team have kept the focus on Michigan and the Rose Bowl. A national championship hasn't been discussed in a team meeting since Dec. 8, but the Wolverines have dominated every discussion.
There also is no sense of urgency some teams might have if they felt this was their one shot at a title. Only seven of USC's 22 starters today are seniors, but 10 are freshmen or sophomores, including Williams, quarterback Matt Leinart and the Trojans' top three tailbacks.
This clearly is a team built to last more than only a season or two. It likely will open next season ranked first and considered a favorite to reach at least the Rose Bowl again or maybe the BCS title game, depending on how that system is adjusted.
"I think it's just the next step for us," Carroll said. "It's a terrific moment for us to take this next step if we're able to do it, but I think we've already moved ourselves into a category that we can build from and hope to be able to maintain for a long time.
"Look how young we are. We're just starting to put this thing together. We're worthy of what we can achieve by winning a game like this, but I know we'll have the chance to be back in this opportunity again, so it's not like it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing.
"We're trying to create a program where it's normal to be in this kind of a situation."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
DETROIT NEWS (1/1/04):
The Bowl Championship Series debate and the dueling national championship games aside, the Rose Bowl is back to the way college football traditionalists prefer:
Big Ten champion versus Pac-10 champion.
The BCS, a computer-generated system that determines the nation?s top two teams to play for the national title in one of four rotating bowls, that includes the Rose Bowl, began in 1998. It marked the end of the traditional major bowl tie-ins.
So when top-ranked Southern California, which has a solid argument for playing for the BCS national title in the Sugar Bowl, faces fourth-ranked Michigan in the Rose Bowl today, tradition will be restored.
For one day, at least.
This is the first time since 2000, when Washington defeated Purdue, 34-24, that the Big Ten and Pac-10 champions have played in the Rose Bowl.
?One of the things people love about this matchup is this is somewhat of a return to what we have known the Rose Bowl to be,? USC Coach Pete Carroll said Wednesday.
?Just the makeup of the BCS and the rotation of the national championship game and the opportunity to select teams out of the traditional matchup has created different (scenarios),? Carroll said.
?It was an unusual (Rose Bowl) game last year for Washington State and Oklahoma. That?s why the people around the bowl and who love this bowl are so excited about this matchup, because it takes us back to something we?ve held very dearly.?
If the Trojans, who hold a 4-2 edge over the Wolverines in Rose Bowls, win today, it is more than likely there will be a split national championship for the 11th time. USC is ranked No. 1 in the AP and coaches? polls.
A top-ranked team has never been dropped in the AP writers? poll after winning its bowl game. Which means USC could claim the AP national title, and either LSU or Oklahoma will earn the BCS title.
All of this talk, all of this focus on USC have left Michigan (10-2) in an underdog role.
Michigan won its final six regular-season games, including three against top-10 teams. This will be the first time Coach Lloyd Carr has gone against a top-ranked team, but his Wolverines are 14-3 against top-10 teams and 7-1 against those in the top five.
The Wolverines won the Big Ten title outright to advance to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1998, when they earned a share of the national title.
?Each team leaves the legacy,? Carr said. ?When you win the Big Ten championship and the Rose Bowl, you leave a much greater legacy than you do if you win the Big Ten championship and lose the Rose Bowl.?
Carr has not belabored the point, but he has spent time during practices and in meetings telling his players, who have never before played on New Year?s Day in the Rose Bowl, what the experience is like. This will be Carr?s ninth Rose Bowl.
?I?ve talked to them about driving in there, seeing the crowd, running on the field, the bands, and the noises, the colors, the sunshine and the mountains,? Carr said. ?You don?t play in this game without some nerves. You don?t play or coach in this game without being excited. That?s the way it should be, because you work so hard to get here. When you have an opportunity to reach your goals, the reward is to play in a venue like the Rose Bowl.?
Michigan and USC have studied each other and prepared for each other through 15 bowl practices.
Carr said his biggest concern today is that the Wolverines have not played since Nov. 22. USC last played Dec. 6.
?That?s a long layoff,? Carr said Wednesday. ?How we?re going to start the game, that?s a real issue for us.?
Carr and the Wolverines are well aware of the Trojans? explosive offense, led by quarterback Matt Leinart and All-American receiver Mike Williams, both Heisman Trophy finalists, and a three-tailback threat. They are sixth nationally in scoring, averaging a school-record 42.2 points.
Carr said the beauty of today is that the traditional conference matchup is in place.
?Any time you play on New Year?s Day, you know everybody in the country is going to watch,? Carr said. ?You know all the teams you competed against during the regular season, all college football fans are going to be watching, and it?s a game that?s going to be remembered.?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
