Rose Bowl Teams Greater Than Individual Parts
Sometimes, a game is greater than the sum of two team’s parts. Such is the 2010 Rose Bowl. How else do you explain the fact that both participants will be fielding one measly first team all-conference performer as voted on by conference coaches?
| Big Ten all-Conference Players by Team | |
| Iowa | 7 |
| Penn State | 6 |
| Wisconsin | 3 |
| Michigan State | 3 |
| Michigan | 2 |
| Minnesota | 1 |
| Ohio State | 1 |
| Purdue | 1 |
| Pac-10 all-Conference Players by Team | |
| Oregon State | 7 |
| USC | 5 |
| UCLA | 5 |
| California | 5 |
| Stanford | 3 |
| Arizona State | 1 |
| Oregon | 1 |
For Oregon, it’s tight end Ed Dickson. The Buckeyes can boast only of safety Kurt Coleman. That’s it. Five Big 10 and five Pac-10 teams have more all-conference representatives than these two league champions.
Forget all-Americans, Doak Walkers, Bronco Nagurskis or any other individual honors. These guys are fighting just to get recognition within their own conference.
The Rose Bowl isn’t a game so often lacking in star power. We’re talking hallowed grounds where the legends have walked. Vince Young, Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart are just the recent headliners.
Okay, sure, some of this is dramatic effect playing on (flawed?) conference voting that basically ignored the individual accomplishments of two champions. And I’m sure coaches Chip Kelly and Jim Tressel spent all of one minute caring about such perceived slights.
But it is odd, isn’t it?
Perhaps the matchup we were supposed to get was Oregon State vs. Iowa. After all, both conference runner-ups placed seven players on their respective first teams. That game would have featured 14 first team players. The one we are getting has two.
And with that said, would anyone choose that over Oregon and Ohio State? Okay, perhaps this audience is a highly biased sample, but I’m guessing there’s not a lot of clamoring for a Hawkeyes-Beavers matchup beyond these digital walls of Duck fandom.
Whatever slight fans, players and coaches may have at first felt can be safely buried beneath a rug of rose petals. These teams should carry the all-conference voting as a badge of honor where “team” matters and “individual” is a passing thought.
On January 1, it’ll be Ducks ‘n’ Bucks and that’s all you need to know. The pieces within those two team names are simply an afterthought.
Note: The Pac-10 includes three more special teams players on its all-conference teams. The Big Ten features both a media and coaches team. The Pac-10 uses only coaches’ selections. For a straight up comparison, the Big Ten’s media vote was not considered.
Really who cares how many of our players go on to reach success at the next level(NFL)? Success should only measure how awesome our uniforms are from game to game and how much money our donors are able to contribute. On the field play should have nothing to do with it.
Okay, serious Beaver fan. You’ve lost your mind in a Las Vegas stupor. On the field success was the whole point. You guys are the ones with all the talent apparently. We just win. But yeah, our uniforms are awesome and as for donations, that’s all you’re doing by playing TCU. The donation is just coming from ESPN instead.
Come on little brother. See the light!
I remember the bad old days when the Ducks had to pimp themselves out to road games for a paycheck. Glad those days are long gone. Thanks Phil!!
Thanks for another great analysis Nick! The Ducks would much rather have a team achievement – the Rose Bowl berth and sole PAC-10 Championship – than individual awards. On the field play has everything to do with it – on the field TEAM play. And let’s remember this is college football, not the pros. One of the wonderful things about college sports is watching these young people grow. I would much rather watch Jeremiah Masoli and his teammates, most of whom will never go pro, than a bunch of NFL primadonas.
As for our unis they are awesome and the players like them. And as for rich donors I have said it before and will say it again – Thank you Phil Knight!! Goo Ducks!!!
I made a another video, Ohio State LOWLIGHTS, pretty funny, watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLHAYmWvlvk
Hey, thanks for making the videos! I don’t mind you posting them in the comments, but can you just keep them to the most recent post? I don’t necessarily want to flood all the different posts with the same thing.