However, because the Buckeyes had finished second in the BCS, they were set to play in the Fiesta Bowl for the national championship against the Miami Hurricanes.
The next, best available team to choose was #8 (#7 BCS) Oklahoma, who won the Big 12 Championship Game, to play Pac-10 winner Washington State.
[8] Rose Bowl committee executive director Mitch Dorger was not pleased with the results.
[8] This left the Sugar Bowl with #14 BCS Florida State, the winner of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Kansas State, although ranked higher in the AP poll, lost to Colorado in the Big 12 North, and could not play in the championship game.
Former University of Michigan coach Bo Schembechler remarked, "Didn't watch it," when asked what he thought of this game and also about the Nebraska-Miami Rose Bowl the previous year[9] During the early 2010s cycle of conference realignment, the Pac-10 eyed six Big 12 members as possible additions to the conference, including Oklahoma.