by Antonio Martinez

Created on: December 23, 2011   Last Updated: December 25, 2011

It is the one game in the early hours of the new year that almost any avid sports fans looks forward to watching. It is the one game that has stood virtually the test of time, earning the moniker "The Granddaddy of Them All," even through some of America's most difficult times. Many colleges played in the Rose Bowl, but one question lingers: how are teams selected to play in the Rose Bowl?

Beginning in the first game in 1902 and running continuously when the game resumed in 1916, the Rose Bowl invited a team from the Pacific Coast Conference, now the predecessor for the Pac-12 Conference, and an east coast team. The east coast teams were rather diverse: among some of the schools that have actually played in the Rose Bowl include Brown (1916), Pennsylvania (1917), Harvard (1920), Columbia (1934), Duke (1939 and 1942), and Notre Dame (1925).

After the PCC dissolved in 1959 and became the Pac-8, the Rose Bowl usually have teams winning from the traditional Pac-12 schools play the East Coast teams from the current-day Big Ten Conference. However, neither champion was obligated to participate in the game, and leading up to the 1962 Rose Bowl, Ohio State, winners of the Big Ten Conference, did not want to play in the game, allowing runners-up Minnesota to take Ohio State's place.

In addition, in the 1960s, both conferences agreed to not have schools play in consecutive Rose Bowls. This was a period that included Indiana's first ever bowl game, which remains their only Rose Bowl appearance in 1968. Strangely enough, the top two teams the following season came from the Pac-8 and the Big Ten Conferences. Indiana's losers in the 1968 Rose Bowl, Southern California, who was ranked #2 in the nation, played #1 ranked Ohio State the following year.

For the 1980s and most of the 1990s, the Big Ten and the Pac-10 (evolving from the Pac 8) remained that format. In 1998, the Bowl Championship Series came to existence, and the Rose Bowl was part of a four bowl rotation that would determine a national champion., but not without its share of controversy.

For the 2002 Rose Bowl, Nebraska was selected to play #1 ranked Miami (FL) over Pac-10 champion Oregon, even though Oregon was ranked #2 on both AP and Coaches' Polls. Adding insult to injury, Nebraska did not even win the Big 12 North Division, getting thumped at eventual Big 12 champion Colorado 62-36.

The following year, the Big Ten was unlucky in securing a spot in its game. Ohio State was undefeated and ranked #2, getting

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