The Rose Bowl pregame weather has been about as crummy as the seven combined losses for Stanford and Wisconsin.
It's never good to make Dick Butkus, who made the game-clinching interception for Illinois in the 1964 game, slog through drenching rain during the inaugural Rose Bowl golf tournament.
It's regrettable that the leader of the Big Ten champion chose coaching in Arkansas over coaching in Pasadena.
The timing for this year's Rose Bowl — let's face it — could have also been better.
Last year, a Stanford-Wisconsin matchup would have paired quarterback Andrew Luck against Russell Wilson in a battle of future NFL rookie-of-the-year candidates.
This year it's Kevin Hogan versus Curt Phillips, two quarterbacks who started the season on the bench.
Some of the reporters could have been better prepared.
No Rose Bowl news conference transcript featuring Stanford's Zach Ertz, arguably the best tight end in college football, should ever read like an entry-level interview for Jack in the Box.
Question: Are you a senior?
Ertz: I'm a junior.
Q: What is your major?
Ertz: Industrial engineering.
Q: When do you guys go back to school?
Ertz: School starts the 7th, I believe.
Q: Where are you from?
Ertz: I'm from the East Bay.
Q: So you didn't go very far, did you?
Ertz: No, it's like an hour away.
Q: What part?
Ertz: Alamo.
