Football

Nov. 10, 1997

The Rose Bowl Picture

1997 Pac-10 Standings

                  Conference  Overall  Last RB Appearance
Washington State      5-1       8-1         1931
ASU                   5-1       7-2         1997
Washington            5-1       7-2         1993
UCLA                  5-1       7-2         1994
USC                   3-3       5-4
Oregon                2-4       5-4
Arizona               2-4       4-5
Stanford              2-4       4-5
California            1-5       3-6
Oregon State          0-6       3-6

Schedule
November 15
Washington at UCLA
Stanford at Washington State
Oregon at Arizona State
USC at Oregon State
California at Arizona

November 22
Washington State at Washington
UCLA at USC
Oregon State at Oregon
California at Stanford

November 28
Arizona at Arizona State

Who goes under what scenario?
Two-Team Ties
ASU-UCLA: UCLA (teams did not meet, same overall record, ASU been to Rose Bowl more recently)
ASU-UW: UW (defeated ASU)
ASU-WSU: ASU (defeated WSU)
UCLA-UW: Winner of UCLA-UW game on Nov. 15
UCLA-WSU: WSU (defeated UCLA)
UW-WSU: Winner of Apple Cup on Nov. 22

Three-Team Ties
Any three team tie involving WSU would send the Cougars to the Rose Bowl. A three-way tie among ASU, UCLA and Washington would send the winner of the UCLA-UW game on Nov. 15 to the Rose Bowl.

Four-Team Tie
An unlikely occurance, but should a four-way tie happen among the four contenders, the winner of the Washington Washington State Apple Cup game on Nov. 22 would take home the Roses. ASU and UCLA would be eliminated from the tie-breaker by virtue of more recent appearances in the Rose Bowl than UW and WSU.

Pac-10 Bowl Arrangements

The Pac-10 has guaranteed that four of its teams will appear in bowl games this postseason. The Rose Bowl gets the champion or winner of a tiebreaker if there are co-champions. If the Bowl Alliance does not invite a Pac-10 team, the second choice goes to the Cotton Bowl. If the Cotton Bowl chooses the WAC champion instead of a Pac-10 team, the Holiday Bowl will get the second choice of Pac-10 teams. The third choice of Pac-10 teams belongs to the Sun Bowl and the fourth choice goes to the Aloha Bowl. Furthermore, there are four bowl games with "open" slots, meaning it is possible for a fifth Pac-10 team with six Division I wins to be chosen. Bowl games with open slots are the Las Vegas Bowl, Motor City Bowl, Independence Bowl and Humanitarian Bowl.

Pac-10 Order of Choice
1. Rose Bowl
2. Bowl Alliance*
3. Cotton Bowl or Holiday Bowl^
4. Sun Bowl
5. Aloha Bowl

*The Bowl Alliance can, but is not obligated to, select a Pac-10 team

^If the Cotton Bowl selects the WAC champion instead of a Pac-10 team, the Holiday Bowl gets the choice

The following is the Rose Bowl Tie Breaker formula for two- and multiple-team ties. If criteria 1 results in a tie, then criteria 2 is used. If criteria 2 still results in a tie, then criteria 3 is used and so on.

Two-Team Tie

If there is a tie for the conference championship, the Rose Bowl representative will be the:

1. Winner of head-to-head game
2. Team ranked first or second in the nation in the AP or Coaches poll.
3. Team with better overall record (so long as all opponents are Division I-A)
4. Team that has not played in the Rose Bowl for longest period of time

1. Team that has defeated all the others
2. Team ranked first or second in the AP or Coaches poll
3. Eliminate team defeated by all others and go to two-team tie formula
4. Eliminate team with worst overall record and go to two-team tie formula
5. Eliminate team with worst overall record and, if tied for worst overall record, most recently went to Rose Bowl and go to two-team tie formula.