PASADENA–The 2024 Rose Bowl is a matchup of two iconic College Football programs, as the NO. 1 Michigan Wolverines will face the NO. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide on New Year’s Day, Monday, January 1 in ‘The Grandaddy Of Them All.’
This Rose Bowl is part of the College Football Playoffs, and will serve as a semifinal game. While NO. 3 Washington will play NO. 4 Texas in the Sugar Bowl.
It was a stunning anouncement on Sunday morning, as the Selection Comitee faced the daunting and messy choice of picking four teams to compete in the CFP.
The final College Football Ranking was a highly controversial decision which shook the sports world to its core.
Former back-to-back National Champs,the NO. 5 Georgia Bulldogs were riding a 29 game winning streak before falling to Alabama, 27-24 in the SEC Championship. The other jilted program-the Florida State Seminoles-who went a perfect (13-0) yet wont have the opportunity to play for a National Title.
Ironically, these two schools who were left out in the cold rain will meet in the Orange Bowl.
This is percisely why the College Football Playoffs need to expand, and thats exactly what is going to happen in 2025.
In 2025 the Rose Bowl Game will transition from a College Football Playoff (CFP) semifinal game into one of CFP’s quarterfinal games.
This change is part of the expansion of the CFP from a four-team to a 12-team playoff format for the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 system. Under the new system, the six highest-ranked conference champions, along with the six highest-ranked other teams, will compete in the playoffs.
A quick breakdown of the classic matchup: the NO. 1 University of Michigan had a flawless record, puncuated by a 26-0 drubbing of Iowa in the Big 10 Championship.
Led by polarizing Head Coach Jim Harbaugh, It’s the third consecutive season the Wolverines have made the playoff.
The Wolverines will be playing in the Rose Bowl Game for the 21st time, the second-most behind USC’s 34, and first time since New Year’s Day 2007, when they lost to USC, 32-18.
As for Alabama the empire continues. After falling to Texas, the college football world prematurely claimed that Nick Saban and the Crimson Tides days of winning titles was over.
After a thrilling victory in the Iron Bowl over Auburn, where Alabama somehow managed to score the game winning TD on a desperate 4th and 31. Than Bama plays in Atlanta, knocking off their fierce rival Georgia.
Alabama will be playing in its eighth Rose Bowl, the most among non- Pac-12 or Big Ten teams, and first since Jan. 1, 2021, when it defeated Notre Dame, 31-14, in a game moved to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Michigan opens up as a slight favorite, largely due to their unstoppable defense and Running Back Blake Corum.
The 2024 Rose Bowl will kickoff at 2 p.m. and be televised by ESPN.
