The Rose Bowl used to be known as the most exclusive, desirable, and prestigious bowl game in all of college football. The late, great Keith Jackson dubbed it the “Granddaddy of them all,” and for good reason. The scenery is iconic, the playing surface pristine, and it used to have significant national ramifications almost yearly.
That’s all changed a little with the advent of the Bowl Alliance, BCS, and now College Football Playoff, but heading to Pasadena is still a memorable experience and still has the tradition and pageantry that is second to none. And yeah, it is a part of the CFP rotation, so every three years, it has huge implications still.
The Big Ten and Pac-12 are the two conferences that have contractual agreements with the Rose Bowl, so they’ve appeared in the game more than other conferences. But which Big Ten schools have appeared more than others?
With Ohio State heading to Pasadena for the 16th time, we thought we’d publish some historical lists of the iconic scene at the foot of the San Gabriel mountains, and this time we’re focusing on Big Ten teams and how many appearances they’ve made in Southern California. And, for what it’s worth, every team in the Big Ten aside from the three newcomers (Nebraska, Maryland, and Rutgers), have been at least one time.
Off we go …
