Alexander: Where does the Rose Bowl fit in college football’s future?

PASADENA – So, is this the end of an era, or a continuation?

The 112th Rose Bowl was played Thursday afternoon, a Big Ten team won … and boy, does that have a different meaning here than it used to. Two years in, it still takes some getting used to that Southern California as well as the states of Oregon and Washington are part of the Big Ten footprint.

But, as college football continues to evolve – and not necessarily in a good way, if you believe so many people who either pine for the good old days or have abandoned any interest in the sport whatsoever over NIL, the playoff system, the turnstile that is the transfer portal or all three – where does Pasadena’s New Year’s celebration go from here?

The 2026 game, in which Indiana routed Alabama, 38-3, was the last one of ESPN’s media rights contract with the Rose Bowl. Still to be determined is what form future iterations of the College Football Playoff will take, and where the Rose Bowl fits into what could be a 12-team, 16-team or – unlikely but possible – a 24-team bracket.

Does it stay a quarterfinal? Does it become a semifinal, or part of a rotation – sometimes a quarterfinal, sometimes a semifinal? Do the sport’s power-brokers continue to recognize the historic nature of this game and its role in helping to make the sport what it has become?

I think you know the answer This Space would choose, because I’ve written it before: Move up the schedule to start the regular season in August and the playoffs the first week of December, and make the Rose Bowl the yearly national championship game, New Year’s Day at its traditional 2 p.m. start time. (In other words, bring back that third quarter sunset.)

Or, in the name of fairness, rotate it with the Orange and Sugar Bowls in the championship game slot, and rather than trying to make the final a junior Super Bowl, let’s decide the title on Jan. 1 and leave January and early February to the NFL.

I’m not holding my breath, of course. I’ve never had the sense that College Football Inc., obsessed with the money spigot, has had any true appreciation for what the Rose Bowl means to the sport. Or, for that matter, how the Tournament of Roses Parade fits into that mosaic, because it, too, is almost as much an advertisement for college football as is the game broadcast itself.

But don’t ask me. Ask Thursday’s winning quarterback.

Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, the newly-minted Heisman Trophy winner, is now one step away from playing for a national championship with a program that has gone from among the nation’s worst to, at this point, a 14-0 record and the No. 1 seed in this year’s 12-team tournament.

Mendoza grew up in Miami. But he played on this turf in November of 2023 as a California Golden Bear, firing two touchdown passes in a 33-7 Cal victory over UCLA.

“I think it means a lot” to play here, he said Thursday after completing 14 of 16 passes for 192 yards and three scores, one each to Charlie Becker, Omar Cooper Jr. and Elijah Sarratt.

“I actually have a lot of Mexican family over here,” he continued. “And a lot of my family from Miami came over here to go watch. And it’s such a great, historic venue, the Rose Bowl. It’s such an iconic point of not only college sports (but) all of sports.”

And yes, he remembered that earlier game against the Bruins, in which he was 19 for 30 for 178 yards and two scores, though with two interceptions.

“I believe it was the last Pac-12 After Dark game,” he said, adding, “Pac-12, a great conference. I think it’s resurging right now. I was playing against UCLA, and Dante Moore was their quarterback.

“Good to have another rematch against Dante Moore and a great Oregon team next week,” he added, a reference to the semifinal game against the Ducks in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta next Friday.

“And I think the Rose Bowl itself, the venue, the grass – I know (it) was a little rainy today, but it’s still the perfect college football venue.”

The Pac-12 vs. Big Ten rivalry, once part of the bowl contract but now extinct, is part of the heritage of the Rose Bowl. But even without the soon-to-be reconstituted (and Group of Six) Pac-12 as a foil, Pasadena on New Year’s Day still means a lot to Big Ten schools, and particularly those fans who follow them.

For Indiana, whose last visit to the Rose Bowl Game was Jan. 1, 1968, and a 14-3 loss to No. 1 USC – with a fellow named O.J. Simpson scoring both Trojans touchdowns – this was a long, long time coming. Hoosiers fans made up maybe 65 to 70 percent of the announced crowd of 90,278, and they dominated the stadium concourse before the game, many of them with that “I can’t believe I’m here” look in their eyes.

The fan composition was particularly noticeable with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, after Roman Hemby’s 18-yard touchdown run made it 38-3. The Indiana fans were loving it, and evidently, the chant “Hoosier Daddy” has a dual meaning – repeat it slowly and you’ll get it – while the Alabama fans began heading for the exits in large numbers.

And in a fitting sight on what had been a mostly overcast day, a bright beam of sunlight suddenly shone on precisely those sections that Crimson Tide fans were abandoning.

(As an aside, I don’t ever again want to hear anyone from that part of the country criticizing L.A. fans for leaving early.)

Indiana achieved something else Thursday, as the first team in the two-year history of the 12-team playoff field to succeed after being awarded a first-round bye. The Hoosiers hadn’t played for 25 days, from the Dec. 6 Big Ten championship game to Thursday. They needed one offensive series to get rid of the kinks, and then were off and running.

After all, when you’ve had a 58-year absence from Pasadena, what’s another 25 days?

jalexander@scng.com