There is a reason Gopher football fans dream of returning to the Rose Bowl.
In a word: Tradition.
The Tournament of Roses Association first struck an agreement with the Big Ten Conference and the Pac-12 Conference in 1946. Under that agreement, a representative from each conference would meet in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. The first game under the agreement took place on Jan. 1, 1947, and saw No. 5-ranked Illinois square off against No. 4-ranked UCLA.
Though the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) era and eventually the College Football Playoff have intermittently taken priority over the traditional Big Ten-Pac-12 matchup in the Rose Bowl in the last two decades, the original agreement stands the oldest intercollegiate postseason bowl agreement between two major conferences in the United States.