The Wisconsin Badgers and the Oregon Ducks are not playing a consolation game. The Rose Bowl is not — and never should be viewed as — a consolation prize. The Rose Bowl is always a top prize. The playoff semifinals are the ultimate goal, but the Rose Bowl can never disappoint — at least, it can never disappoint if one adopts a mindset which always treats the Rose Bowl as a special game.
That having been said, why are Oregon and Wisconsin in Pasadena, and not in the Fiesta or Peach Bowls? Simple: They didn’t beat the very best teams on their schedules. That’s not a “burn,” or an “insult,” or a withering criticism. It’s just reality.
It is hard to call Utah an elite team after the Utes played horribly in their big primetime moment on Friday in Santa Clara, California, in the Pac-12 Championship Game. Utah did not beat any team this year which had at least eight wins. I didn’t create that fact. I am merely passing it along. The Ducks lost to Auburn and have to live with the reality that national observers won’t give them an extra measure of credit unless or until they beat Wisconsin in Southern California.
Wisconsin exists in a similar situation. The Badgers crushed Michigan, but is Michigan an elite team? A 9-3 team which nearly lost to Army at home (non-bowl Army, to be more precise; the Black Knights are 5-7) isn’t elite. The 10-2 Minnesota Golden Gophers are certainly a good team, but elite? Much as Oregon smashed the idea that Utah was an elite team this past Friday, Wisconsin did the same to Minnesota over a week ago.
Ducks-Badgers on the first day of the 2020s is significant primarily because it’s the darn ROSE BOWL GAME, the Granddaddy Of Them All. Winning the Rose Bowl is always a goal unto itself, without need for extra qualifiers and caveats and specifications. That said, one very prominent goal attached to winning the 2020 Rose Bowl for Oregon and Wisconsin is the need to beat an elite team, and more precisely, an elite team outside of one’s own conference.
No, this isn’t a playoff semifinal, but the winner of this game will know it has passed a defining test and deserves to stand tall on the national scene. Don’t call the Rose Bowl a consolation prize or an exhibition game — not when so much national respect is squarely on the line.