This year they are facing more difficult requirements under the new bowl alliance.
Four conferences were already tied together in what was called the bowl alliance.
And a change already made under the new bowl alliance to take effect next season will eliminate a major obstacle.
This match up was only possible because of the new Bowl Alliance.
The game was part of the 1995-1996 Bowl Alliance.
- has declared the new bowl alliance a success.
In the last two years of the Bowl Alliance, the possibility existed for a split national championship.
The 1998 Rose Bowl will be the last played without a link to the bowl alliance.
This Rose Bowl will be the final one played before the game becomes part of the bowl alliance next season.
Like the Bowl Alliance, a national championship game would rotate between the four bowls, with the top two teams facing each other.
