How about Ball St. in the Rose Bowl?

Ball State plays Western Michigan tonight for a berth in the Rose Bowl.

OK, this isn't for a trip to Pasadena.

But maybe it should be.

Unless justice prevails, Penn State's Nittany Lions will represent the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl.

The What Ten? What in the world did the Big Ten do this season to earn an automatic bid to Pasadena?

The Nittany Who? Penn State will go to the Rose Bowl essentially because it was smart enough to schedule weakly both in and out of the conference?

Here's my case for Ball State - or call it Foot Ball State if the Cardinals win tonight to increase their record to 12-0:

Penn State's only loss was to Iowa. Iowa lost to Northwestern. Northwestern lost to Indiana. Indiana lost to Minnesota. Minnesota lost to Michigan. Michigan lost to Toledo of the Mid-American Conference. Toledo lost to Ball State in MAC play.

Bingo!

Listen, we already caught a break by Penn State being low enough in the Bowl Championship Series rankings that it'll take a cosmic quake for the Big Ten to get a chance to lose again in a national championship game.

The next assignment is to keep the conference from being rewarded with another embarrassment in another Rose Bowl in another down season.

Seriously, the Big Ten belongs in a BCS game like I belong in the Mr. Universe competition.

So why not a New Year's Day game in Pasadena between Ball State and USC? Or Ball State and Oregon State? Or even Ball State and Utah to keep the mediocre Pac-10 from its unjust deserts?

Quit snickering and think about it.

Big Ten teams lost four times to MAC teams this year. Four times in one year! Heck, it used to take four years for the MAC to win one time against the Big Ten.

Maybe John McCain had it right after all when he kept saying, "The Mac is back." But who knew he meant, "The MAC has arrived"?

Regardless, it's never good for the Big Ten to have to decide which loss to a MAC team is more regrettable.

The Big Ten does have a winning record against the Mid-American Conference this season. But it doesn't matter how many games the Big Ten wins against that league. If it loses four, the season should be forfeited and the Big Ten declared a field hockey conference.

Ball State against Utah is a silly proposal, yes, but maybe you get the point: The Big Ten squandered its bowl birthright.

Anyway, think of all the late-night publicity the Rose Bowl would get from Ball State alumnus David Letterman. The best Jay Leno could do is counter with jokes like, "A priest, a rabbi and a Big Ten team walk into a bar ..."

Oh, you say the Big Ten, Pac-10 and Rose Bowl are married in a kinky kind of contract a trois?

So what? Isn't it clear college football commitments aren't worth the struggling U.S. dollar they're printed on? Couldn't Nick Saban tell you that?

The Rose Bowl has become as stale, stodgy and stagnant as Big Ten football has. Pasadena needs something new, fresh and trendsetting.

Ball State and Utah to the Rose Bowl, I say, with the winner advancing to play Boise State in the Super Bowl.

mimrem@dailyherald.com