This year they are facing more difficult requirements under the new bowl alliance.

Four conferences were already tied together in what was called the bowl alliance.

And a change already made under the new bowl alliance to take effect next season will eliminate a major obstacle.

This match up was only possible because of the new Bowl Alliance.

The game was part of the 1995-1996 Bowl Alliance.

- has declared the new bowl alliance a success.

In the last two years of the Bowl Alliance, the possibility existed for a split national championship.

The 1998 Rose Bowl will be the last played without a link to the bowl alliance.

This Rose Bowl will be the final one played before the game becomes part of the bowl alliance next season.

Like the Bowl Alliance, a national championship game would rotate between the four bowls, with the top two teams facing each other.