Rose Bowl locks in on CFP ranking for selection. . .

If Iowa wins the Big Ten championship game, this won't be an issue. But until the results plays out on Saturday night, there is some question on which Big Ten team would play in the Rose Bowl.

The No. 4 Hawkeyes (12-0) go into tonight's College Football Playoff rankings as the No. 4 team in the nation. They will face No. 5 Michigan State (11-1) at Lucas Oil Stadium for the Big Ten title. The winner punches its ticket for the CFP semifinals at the Orange or Cotton Bowls.

No. 8 Ohio State (11-1) will likely move up to at least the sixth slot when the latest CFP poll is released tonight. The Buckeyes slammed Michigan last weekend, 42-13. No. 6 Notre Dame and No. 7 Baylor suffered losses last weekend.

The Rose Bowl committee has been adamant that it will select the highest rated CFP Big Ten team to replace the champion if it is selected for the final four.

Rose Bowl management committee chair Scott Jenkins released this statement Monday:

By contract with our Pac-12 and Big Ten Conference partners, each of their conference football champions will play in the Rose Bowl Game this year. In the event that either such champion is ranked in the top four in the final CFP ranking, we will then release that team to play in the CFP semi-final game, and the Tournament of Roses will select a replacement team from that conference. The strong presumption is that we will select the next highest CFP ranked team in that conference. Only in extraordinary situations will we deviate from that presumption.

The word 'presumption” could be open for interpretation. What's an 'extraordinary situation”?

Jenkins told the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Monday that he has heard from Ohio State athletics director Gene Smith and Iowa athletics director Gary Barta. There has been lobbying. Smith said Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer has never coached in a Rose Bowl and would love to.

The Buckeyes' last Rose Bowl appearance was 2010. Iowa hasn't played in a Rose Bowl since 1991, a span of 25 years.

The Plain Dealer asked if that was an 'extraordinary circumstance”?

'I'm not going to bite on that,” Jenkins said. 'I'll go back and say that the strong presumption is that we're going to take the highest-ranked team.”

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com