With Illinois the first-ever Big Ten runnerup with three losses invited to the Rose Bowl, the question this week is whether the Pac-10/Big Ten tradition is upheld, as the Rose Bowl Committee folks contended it was, by sticking with the traditional conference matchups?

Is it tradition when only one league champ is available. USC vs. Ohio State, now that would have been the tradition.

But the 14-point spread for USC over Illinois, making the Trojans the biggest favorites of all the bowl matchups, would not seem to warrant staying with tradition even if the Illini are a great story and have a half-dozen really good players.

Not providing USC an opponent that would allow it to move up with an impressive win would seem to be a disservice to the host school. Too bad someone (the Pac-10 or the Rose Bowl people) didn’t protect the Trojans.

Clearly someone (the Big Ten) was battling for the Illini, who will have a chance to make a big move up.