WHEN DID THE BIG TEN FOOTBALL CONFERENCE ALLOW THEIR SCHOOLS TO COMPETE IN CONSECUTIVE ROSE BOWL GAMES ?
From the start of the Big Ten’s agreement with the Rose Bowl beginning with the 1946 season (1947 game) through the 1971 season (1972 game), the Big Ten did not allow a team to represent the conference in consecutive years in the Rose Bowl with the exception of the 1961 and 1962 games in which Minnesota played in. It was not until the 1975 season that the Big Ten and Pac-8 lifted the restriction that prevented teams from playing in bowl games other than the Rose Bowl. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.
Iowa was the Big Ten champs in 1958, not Ohio State, so they got the bid to the Rose Bowl. To my knowledge, there’s never been a rule in place prohibiting them from going to 2 in a row “Since 1947, the game’s participants were established as the champions of what is now the Big Ten Conference and the Pac-10.” Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Bowl_Game, http://www.collegefootballpoll.com/champions_bigten.
