My Jan. 1, 2014, column from CBS Chicago …
As the Granddaddy of Them All, it’s always a big game.
But, fact is, the Rose Bowl hasn’t been much of a B1G game for years.
In fact, since the 2000 season, the Big Ten has gone just 1-9 vs. the Pac-12 on New Year’s Day in Pasadena, with Ohio State’s 26-17 win over Oregon in 2010 as the league’s lone victory.
Which makes for an awfully lonely victory, too. No. 4 Michigan State, however, will be hoping to give that win some company when it attempts to right the Big Ten’s ship this afternoon against No. 5 Stanford in the 100th edition of the Rose Bowl. The game, as you might have heard, is Sparty’s first appearance in Pasadena since Jan. 1, 1988, when MSU edged out USC 20-17. What you might not have heard, though, is that 11 games before ending that season with a Rose Bowl win over the Trojans, the Spartans opened the 1987 season with a win over them.
Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …