Rose Bowl rematch wouldn’t be a choice

Posted by ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg

Many of you have e-mailed me with questions similar to this one from Dan in Washington, D.C.

Will the Rose Bowl take a Penn State-Oregon State rematch? This is a no win for the Lions and for the Big Ten. A game (and win) against USC is the only thing that will help the league’s perception.

I figured I’d address the situation once, just to be clear.

The official word from the Big Ten and BCS administrator Bill Hancock is that the Big Ten and Pac-10 automatic qualifiers will play in the Rose Bowl if not selected for the BCS title game. Because there’s no more than one champion for each conference, this would result in a Penn State-Oregon State rematch if both teams win their remaining games.

USC is probably the only remaining Big Ten or Pac-10 team with a chance to reach the national title game, and a very slim one at that. Should the Beavers lose and the Trojans go to Miami, the Rose Bowl would select an at-large team to face the Big Ten automatic qualifier, which will be Penn State, Ohio State or Michigan State.

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