LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The Oregon and Ohio State football teams arrived at Los Angeles International Airport Sunday, three days before meeting in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day.
The arrivals come three days later than is customary because "as part of the new expanded College Football Playoff, the schedule for teams in the quarterfinal and semifinal games has changed," Karen Linhart, the Rose Bowl Game's director of marketing & media, told City News Service.
"With the potential (for) a team to play in as many as four games, the College Football playoff worked closely with conference commissioners to implement a schedule that would work best for the participating teams," Linhart said.
The later arrivals mean the end of two Rose Bowl traditions -- the visit to Disneyland Resort and Lawry's Beef Bowl.
The Rose Bowl teams began visiting the Disneyland Resort in 1959, four years after Disneyland Park opened.
The Rose Bowl teams annually participated in the Beef Bowl from 1956 though 2023, except for COVID-19-related cancellations in 2020 and 2021. The Beef Bowl is older than all but the Rose, Orange, Sugar, Sun, Cotton, Gator and Citrus bowls. It was billed by organizers as college football's most enduring pre-bowl game tradition.
"As a part of the playoff, some of the traditional bowl week events for the Rose Bowl Game are unable to take place," Linhart said. "Disneyland and Lawry's continue to be great partners of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses and while it's unfortunate that we are unable to have these off-site events, we want to do what's best for our participating teams."
The Rose Bowl is a College Football Playoff quarterfinal in the first season of the 12-team College Football Playoff, which involved four teams during its first 10 seasons.
Oregon earned the top seed in the playoff and a first-round bye with a 45-37 victory over Penn State in the Big Ten championship game Dec. 7, improving to 13-0 and remaining the lone undefeated team in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Eighth-seeded Ohio State (11-2) advanced to the game with a 42-17 victory over ninth-seeded Tennessee in a first-round game Dec. 21.
The game will be a rematch of the Ducks' 32-31 victory over the Buckeyes Oct. 12 at Eugene, Oregon, when Atticus Sappington kicked the go-ahead field goal with one minute, 47 seconds to play,
Oregon will be making its ninth appearance in the Rose Bowl and fifth since 2010. The Ducks are 4-4 in the Rose Bowl and have won in each of their three most recent trips, most recently defeating Wisconsin, 28-27, on New Year's Day, 2020.
Ohio State has made 16 Rose Bowl appearances, third-most all-time behind USC (34) and Michigan (21), and have a 9-7 record in the game. The Buckeyes were a 48-45 winner over Utah in its most-recent Rose Bowl appearance on Jan. 1, 2022.
The winner will face the winner of the Peach Bowl game between fourth- seeded Arizona State and fifth-seeded Texas in the Cotton Bowl Jan. 10.
Tickets are available online through Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com/event/0B0060A1EAD33C14.