[FlJoePa]

That game was certainly significant - for a number of reasons. Also the 1994 PSU team cemented the need for another system - arguably still the best offense to ever take the field, and yet they had to go to the Rose Bowl, while UNL went on to play an average Cane team in Miami.

Too bad the system they came up with has evolved into espn having all the control.

[Alberta's Child]

The 1994 PSU team got everything it deserved. Penn State was a perennial championship contender as an independent school because it always had the freedom to accept a bowl bid against a top-ranked conference champion in one of the major bowls. This is why independents like Penn State, Notre Dame and Miami had a disproportionate number of national titles back in the 1980s and early 1990s.

The only way they would be left out in the cold was if the Rose Bowl -- where both of the teams had automatic bids -- was played between two of the top-ranked teams in the country.

That all ended when Penn State joined the Big Ten -- which they did for purely financial reasons. So they end up as one of the top-ranked teams but were forced to play an Oregon team with three losses in the Rose Bowl. Too bad, eh?