Rose Bowl 2011: Why Aren't More People Taking About TCU vs. Wisconsin

Rose Bowl buzz is at a low audible.

And you can blame it all on the lack of a playoff system.

The sad fact is that it's the same story every year about this time.

Unbeaten TCU (12-0) faces big, burly Wisconsin (11-1) in the Rose Bowl, and as usual, the wonderful parade will get more attention.

With no playoff system, there's only one bowl that means anything, and even with the whopping payout and the history and the prestige, the Rose Bowl will not determine the NCAA champion.

Sure, this is one of those classic Greyhounds vs. Cylesdales, speed vs. size.

Neither coach is going to knock your socks off with quotable quotes. Gary Patterson is the defensive genius that makes TCU the top-rated defender in the nation. Brett Bielema is a low-key guy who is just very very good at his job.

No one will every mistake either of these guys for Rex Ryan.

This game has all the ingredients for a really good college football game, but this and every other bowl game that doesn't determine the champion really doesn't mean much unless you're really sweating those final rankings after all the bowl business is said and done.

This is the classic Pac-10, Big Ten matchup. Stanford-Wisconsin would have had a touch more glamor with Jim Harbaugh and Andrew Luck. Harbaugh is college football's hottest coaching prospect, the man being bantered as perhaps the main target of the San Francisco 49ers.

Luck is a junior who could enter the NFL draft and end up as the No. 1 pick.

Luck vs. the TCU defense would have been very interesting to watch.

TCU certainly isn't complaining and a win over Wisconsin can give them a seat over in the corner for the national champion discussion class.

A 12th win for the Badgers means another really good year and thoughts of what could have been without that one loss.

Oh yes, and there haven't been any memorabilia sales in Madison, no autographed jerseys or pants or shoes being traded around town for money and services.

How boring.

So when these teams take the field, it's two programs looking to finish high in that season-ending poll.

For whatever that's worth.