Three-Act Program

The 90th Rose Bowl, scheduled for a 2:08 p.m. kickoff today, was not supposed to be Act I in a potential two-part serial drama.

A month ago, it was shaping up as a terrific parade/good game.

In a serendipitous twist, however, fate (in cahoots with of a couple of computer nerds) tossed Pasadena a bouquet.

The Rose Bowl landed No. 1 USC (11-1) vs. No. 4 Michigan (10-2), with a share of posterity in the balance.

“We try not to talk about it,” USC offensive lineman Lenny Vandermade said of the possibilities. “I know we’re in line, if we win, that we can get a partial national championship. But, you know, first things first.”

USC vs. Michigan would have been enough without the subplots:

* The Pacific 10 Conference team with the best Rose Bowl record (20-8) against the Big Ten team with more wins, 833, than any school in history.

* Pete Carroll vs. Lloyd Carr.

* Norm Chow, USC’s chess-master offensive coordinator, against the Michigan defense.

* A game not only with history, but with pedigree.

How about the nerve of former Michigan coach Bo Schembechler, a man who would have hired armed guards to secure his team’s Rose Bowl secrets, walking into USC’s media session this week?

“What are you doing in this tent right now?” Carroll jokingly asked.

“I want to find out what you’re going to do,” Schembechler bluntly responded.

Let’s face it, the Rose Bowl hit the lotto.

Since selling a chunk of its soul to become part of the bowl championship series in 1998, and relinquishing its exclusive Pac-10 vs. Big Ten arrangement, the Rose Bowl has staged Miami vs. Nebraska on a Thursday night (2002) and Oklahoma vs. Washington State in front of empty seats (2003).

This year, USC vs. Michigan takes a back seat to no bowl.

USC has averaged 44.5 points a game in recording eight consecutive victories.

Michigan has won six in a row after a 4-2 start and boasts the nation’s seventh-best defense.

USC redshirt sophomore quarterback Matt Leinart has thrown for 35 touchdowns.

The Michigan defense has allowed five touchdown passes in 12 games.

USC has established itself as a powerhouse.

Michigan wants to.

“We’re playing to prove that we are a great football team,” Carr said.

Yet, there is more to USC-Michigan, much, much more.

Because of a major foul-up in the BCS this year, USC was left No. 1 in the writers’ and coaches’ polls yet No. 3 in the BCS standings, the computer-enhanced ranking system designed to ferret out the nation’s top two teams.

The BCS went bust because it ended up with three top one-loss teams: USC, Louisiana State and Oklahoma.

USC, which lost the second spot to LSU by 0.16 in the final BCS standings, was “demoted” to the Rose Bowl; LSU and Oklahoma will play Sunday for the BCS national title in the Sugar Bowl.

Yet only the Rose Bowl can determine what that Sugar Bowl will mean.

If Michigan defeats USC, the BCS pulls a Houdini-like escape, the voting coaches don’t have to cash in their consciences, and LSU vs. Oklahoma becomes a game for the unanimous crown.

A USC win, however, probably will produce college football’s 11th split national title.

Because the Associated Press poll is part of the BCS but not contracted to it, it will almost certainly crown a 12-1 USC its national champion. (In the history of the AP poll, no No. 1 team has dropped after winning its bowl game.)

The voting coaches are bound by their governing body, the American Football Coaches Assn., to vote the Sugar Bowl winner its champion, even though USC is currently No. 1 in the coaches’ poll.

For the record, 37 of the 63 coaches in the USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll voted USC No. 1 on Dec. 7.

If USC prevails, those coaches will presumably (and anonymously) hand those votes over to the Sugar Bowl winner, then head on recruiting trips to talk about honesty, integrity and accountability.

The BCS controversy has produced, in effect, two national-title games involving three teams, in two bowl games, the Rose and Sugar.

The Rose has the promotional advantage of teeing off first.

The more USC thought about its BCS predicament, in fact, the better it looked.

The Trojans get to play in their bowl of first preference. Their fans received 32,000 tickets instead of the 16,000 they would have received from the Sugar Bowl.

All this and a crack at the national title.

“We really get to do everything in this game,” Carroll said. “As we sat back and evaluated, sat back, and gathered our stance a little bit, it was clear this was an incredible opportunity for us.”

It is an opportunity Michigan players hope to crush.

They have sat around for weeks hearing about USC getting cheated out of a national title it hasn’t won yet. Michigan hopes to catch USC looking beyond this game at the ramifications, the politics and the hype.

“A team can always be distracted by the media,” Michigan offensive tackle Tony Pape said. “No game is guaranteed, no matter who you’re playing. That’s what makes it fun.”

Michigan, one of college football’s most high-profile programs, appears happy to be the underdog in this Rose Bowl.

Split titles?

BCS controversy?

“The game is going to be played on the field in the end,” Michigan defensive tackle Grant Bowman said. “None of this talk or hype about who’s the real No. 1 is going to matter. If they start to lose focus because of that, it’s to our advantage.”

USC’s Carroll is a smart man and a master motivator, and he has no doubt spent days and hours impressing that fact that all is lost without a win.

“We take this opponent extremely seriously,” Carroll said. “We’re not caught up with the hype that’s going on, the BCS or any of that stuff. This is a football game for us.... We’re going to find out. Michigan is capable of beating any team in America.”

Then again, USC may not be just any team.

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History Lesson

USC and Michigan head to head:

*--* Season Date Site Score Att. 1947 Jan. 1* Rose Bowl Michigan 49, USC 0 93,000 1957 Sept. 28 at Coliseum Michigan 16, USC 6 44,739 1958 Sept. 27 at Michigan Michigan 20, USC 19 77,005 1969 Jan. 1* Rose Bowl USC 10, Michigan 3 103,878 1976 Jan. 1* Rose Bowl USC 14, Michigan 6 106,182 1978 Jan. 1* Rose Bowl USC 17, Michigan 10 105,629 1988 Jan. 1* Rose Bowl Michigan 22, USC 14 101,688 1989 Jan. 1* Rose Bowl USC 17, Michigan 10 103,450 * Rose Bowl of the following calendar year.

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