A Boise State win over Virginia Tech next Monday could be bad for the Big Ten (and Iowa?)

It was a change that mostly went undetected at the time, but it could raise a lot of ire come early December.

The Rose Bowl agreed that once between the 2011-2014 cycle if a team from a non-BCS conference  qualified for a BCS bowl, and the champion of either the Pac-10 or Big Ten made the BCS title game, the Rose Bowl would invite the BCS buster.

You know where this is going. Let's say a Big Ten team goes 12-0 or a really strong 11-1 and advances to the BCS title game. Then let's say Boise State or TCU go 12-0 or a really strong 11-1. The No. 2 team from the Big Ten would either go to one of the other BCS bowls or the Capital One Bowl.

Now let's say Iowa's team lives up to the projections many inside and outside Iowa have, uh, projected. And let's say Boise State or TCU does likewise. You Hawkeyes could have your first Rose Bowl in 20 years snatched from your grasp.

If you haven't been to the Rose Bowl, trust a sportswriter who has covered three of them. It's the only bowl game. The Orange Bowl is nice. I'm sure the same can be said for the Sugar and the Fiesta. And the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl looks like a real charmer.

But there's only the Rose. Pasadena, the San Gabriel Mountains, the Rose Parade, the history -- the Orange Bowl doesn't begin to compare. And this is coming from someone who thinks Miami Beach truly is the Sun and Fun Capital of the World.

Now, there is a little bit of football left to be played this season. Or rather, all of it. To presume anyone will go 11-1 or 12-0 borders on hysteria. But you can't get to 12-0 without going 1-0, and Boise State has a heck of a first hurdle next Monday night when it plays Virginia Tech at FedEx Field just outside of Washington, D.C.

If the Broncos win that game, though, many assume they will dust off the rest of their opponents and walk into the postseason at 12-0. Lovable upstarts or not, the blue-turf Boise boys wouldn't be beloved in Big Ten country if the league sends one of its own to the BCS championship.

And I haven't even gotten to TCU, which plays a good Oregon State team Saturday in Arlington, Texas.

So, are you going to root for Boise State and TCU to lose in Week 1 and squash this sort of talk, or would you like to see the Broncos and Horned Frogs muddy up the BCS waters in a few months?

Hey, I think I'll have a poll.

[poll id="27"]