With the BCS National Championship Game all but set in stone as an Oregon-Auburn matchup at this point, the Rose Bowl becomes the easiest BCS bowl to predict.
Bowl Projections: BCS National Championship Game Matchup Sets Up Wisconsin-TCU Rose Bowl
That’s because with Pac-10 champion Oregon set to go to Glendale for a national title, the Rose Bowl is contractually obligated to welcome Wisconsin and TCU to Pasadena.
For the Badgers, that’s a matter of tradition: the Rose Bowl’s long-standing Big Ten and Pac-10 ties mean that the champions of those conferences that don’t go to the BCS National Championship Game go to Pasadena. Wisconsin will assuredly be this year’s Big Ten champion — thanks to a BCS tie-breaker that should reward it for leading the Big Ten in the final BCS standings — and that means the Badgers will play in their first Rose Bowl since 2000.
Meanwhile, TCU’s appearance is a concession to modernity. The Horned Frogs are filling the space Pac-10 champion Oregon would have taken, thanks to a new provision that took effect this year and will be in place until 2013.
Unfortunately for prognosticators, this is the only BCS bowl matchup besides the BCS National Championship Game that appears set.
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