The Rose Bowl is the biggest spectacle among the traditional bowl games. And halfway through the season, chatter is louder than ever of who could play in Pasadena. This year's possibilities are slim as elite teams from the Pac 12 and Big 10 have already separated themselves.
Stanford? Oregon? These two teams are the teams leaving the most mouths in terms of representing the Pac 12. ESPN's Mark Schlabach and Brad Edwards are split on the two schools. College Football News has Stanford and so does CBS Sportline.
Stanford has the top pro prospect in the country in quarterback Andrew Luck but Oregon has big game experience and a slew of talented skill players. Either choice would make for an explosive matchup with whomever the Big 10 trots out there.
But there seems to be a consensus among bloggers and ‘experts' on who will represent the Big 10 in the game and that team is Wisconsin. All three previously mentioned websites picked the Badgers and the selection makes plenty of sense. The Badgers are 6-0 but some reference a soft schedule as the reason for the strong start. That reference is no longer this weekend when the Badgers visit the red-hot Spartans of Michigan State followed by three of their last five games on the road. If the Badgers can get past the Spartans, the road to the Rose Bowl could be an easy one.