PASADENA, Calif. -- This time there's no national championship at stake. This time the essential words are tradition and retribution. This time what might be can never be as important as what might have been.

Rose Bowl. Two magic words. The game known by the copyrighted slogan "Granddaddy of Them All." And yet a game trivialized almost to the point where USC vs. Michigan in the 93rd Rose Bowl seems like a consolation prize.

USC coach Pete Carroll bristles when asked if he's disappointed with the Rose Bowl. (AP)

Both schools were planning on playing for the BCS championship until their final regular-season games, until previously unbeaten Michigan lost 42-39 to No. 1 Ohio State, and until previously second-ranked USC was upset 13-9 by mediocre UCLA.

Until structure was disrupted and regionalism destroyed, until voters and ratings and computers were blended to create the current system, the Rose Bowl, beginning in 1947, matched the champion of the Big Ten against the champion of the conference now called the Pac-10.

Such a tidy, historic, meaningful way to begin those New Years long gone.

And such a tidy, historic, meaningful way to start '07, a return to the past, to a game between schools who have been there before, USC 30 times, Michigan 19, from conferences that had been playing each other for 50 years.

Until the BCS rearranged the furniture.

If it didn't rearrange the thinking of USC coach Pete Carroll.

"That's all we've been asked," Carroll advised when someone wanted to know if the 10-2 Trojans were distressed because, for the first time in four years, they would be in a game without the national championship in the mix.

"It's the Rose Bowl. Anytime someone has to make excuses for that ... well, this is awesome," Carroll said. "It's great to be a part of this game. It's the game we shoot for, the opportunity our program is guided toward."

Mike Hart, running back for the 11-1 Wolverines, was no less defensive about his approach.

"Consolation prize?" Hart said. "The Rose Bowl is no consolation prize. We're playing for pride, playing for Michigan. We're one of the top teams in the country. We're out here to win. If we think it's a consolation prize, we'd be out here fooling around."

The BCS poll wasn't fooling when Michigan was dropped to third behind 12-1 Florida in the final rankings, thus sending the Gators against Ohio State in the championship game Jan. 8 in Tempe, Ariz.

That left the Wolverines and Trojans confronted with the "Where's your mind going to be when your body's on the field?" question.

"Yes, both teams probably think they should be somewhere else," agreed Michigan quarterback Chad Henne. "But we're here now. And we represent schools which have gone to the Rose Bowl more than any other."

And schools which also could be carrying a metaphorical hangover from their regular season ending, a loss to their biggest rival.

"I wish I could figure out who has the edge on this deal," said Carroll, who won national titles for the Trojans in 2003 and 2004. "It is kind of interesting that both teams are in a similar situation. I think things couldn't be more equal. So we're excited about it. It just sucks you into the game."

Carroll, a native of Northern California, is excited about everything all the time, in contrast to Lloyd Carr, the Michigan coach, who is pure Midwest. Asked if he keeps his personality under wraps, Carr, who doesn't lack a sense of humor, responded, "Personality?"

He also said he had been a "big fan of the bowl system" but now hopes the championship can be determined on the field. Which in this case, if Ohio State beats Florida, presumably it will be. Although it's Michigan's contention if it played Ohio State again, it would win.

"There are always things that happened that can be corrected," said Carroll, analyzing from afar. "But I can see why people didn't want Ohio State playing Michigan again. They wanted something different."

USC wants something different from its last two appearances in the Rose Bowl, the stadium, as opposed to the game itself. The Trojans lost to Texas in the 2006 BCS title game, played in the Rose Bowl, and of course they lost to UCLA, which plays its home games in the Rose Bowl.

"I'm guessing we go about things in the right way," said Carroll, when someone wondered if he ought to emphasize seeking a national championship instead of merely -- merely? -- trying to win the Pac-10.

"We positioned ourselves perfectly to get another opportunity this year, and we didn't do it. We were right at the precipice again."

But this time they tumbled into oblivion. Or more accurately, into the Rose Bowl against Michigan.