Rose Bowl trip would suit Bowden and FSU, but they're just happy about 10-2 season.
By BRIAN LANDMAN
Published December 1, 2003
To Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, the Rose Bowl always has been synonymous with college football.
"It was the granddaddy of all bowls," he said Sunday. "It's history to me."
He still remembers listening to the New Year's game in the late 1930s and vividly recalls how his favorite team, Alabama, went to Pasadena in 1946 and whipped Southern California 34-14.
As a student of history, he also knows that was the last time a team from outside the Big Ten or Pac-10 played in the Rose before the game's inclusion in the Bowl Championship Series. Miami played Nebraska in the BCS finale in 2002, then Washington State met Oklahoma last season.
Bowden wouldn't mind a three-peat with his No.9 Seminoles, fresh off a thrilling 38-34 win at Florida, making the trek out west to play Big Ten champion Michigan on Jan.1.
"If it did, it would be an amazing thing," he said. "No.1, Florida State has never played in the Rose Bowl. If Florida State played in it, it would mean they made the circuit; they've gotten them all.
"Then of course, when you're in the twilight of your career like I am, how many shots are you going to get at something like that? It's a really wonderful problem to have, when you start thinking (it's) between the Fiesta and the Rose Bowl."
Unlike last season, Bowden is thrilled his Seminoles (10-2) reached double figures, a standard they maintained for an NCAA-record 14 straight years (1987-2000), heading into any BCS game.
Even with a regular-season ending win against the Gators last year, Bowden was almost apologetic for taking a four-loss team to New Orleans to face No.4 Georgia (12-1).
"It does make you feel better about deserving to go and having a record that's representative," he said. "That means a lot. It does make you feel like you can hold your head a little bit higher wherever you are selected. It sure is nice if you can get at least 10 wins to go to a BCS bowl because you're getting down to the elite in the country. If you don't have that, you might have the privilege of playing but you might have (the feeling), "We might not be good enough to play."'
No such feelings this time.
Not after Saturday's win. Not for him, not for his players.
"We still have a bowl game left," senior linebacker Michael Boulware said, "but we've done some good things to hopefully get the dynasty started again and hopefully the guys behind us can build on what we started."
"It does put a good taste in your mouth about the team because it can relate back to our successful years," Bowden added. "There's so many things right now that point back to, well, this is kind of like you were several years ago. But I'll be honest with you. Maintaining that isn't the easiest thing in the world."
Whatever bowl they're in, the Seminoles will face a highly-ranked opponent, which will give them the opportunity to inch closer to the Top 5 - a poll position they held a record 14 straight seasons.
The pairings for the BCS games, the Sugar (national title showdown), Orange, Fiesta and Rose, won't be announced until Dec.7, but the ACC champion Seminoles figure to be a lock for either the Fiesta or Rose if the Orange selects Big East champion Miami. (The bowls pledge to avoid rematches of regular-season games if possible.)
The Rose Bowl would prefer to maintain its traditional Big Ten-Pac-10 matchup and could if: USC loses to Oregon State on Saturday to fall out of national championship contention; USC wins but is passed by LSU in the final BCS poll; or Washington State (9-3) moves up at least three spots in the last BCS poll to No.12 and is selected as an at-large team to face Michigan.
