National title game must be at Rose Bowl

Apostponed pregame flyover eventually joined the party, a single jet buzzing the cheering crowd at the start of the third quarter.

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Finally, early in the fourth quarter the San Gabriel Mountains made their annual breathtaking appearance, barging through the clouds like the Hoosiers rolling over the Tide.

Afterward, having earned their first Rose Bowl victory 58 years after their only other appearance, the Hoosiers stuck roses between their teeth and gave coach Curt Cignettia Gatorade bath of roses.

“Makes a helluva movie,” Cignetti said.

Truly, on a day that began so dark, there wound up being a familiar glow cast on the Rose Bowl winners and their unparalleled surroundings.

The difference between the unbeatens is that while the college football world’s decision-makers finally respect Indiana, they increasingly don’t appreciate Granddaddy.

The Rose Bowl needs to be college football's national championship game. Every Jan. 1. Always at 2 p.m. Now and forever.

This is not a new thought. The cries for this change could be heard from national college football pundits in recent weeks as the playoffs have made a mess of everything else.

Conference championship games? They've been rendered meaningless.

The other major bowl games? They've lost their identity, it being difficult to tell which CFP game is the Cotton Bowl, which one is the Orange Bowl and which one is the Bluebonnet Bowl. (Wait a minute. Is there still a Bluebonnet Bowl?)

The only bowl game that still carries any weight is the Rose Bowl, which may have just unofficially crowned a national champion for the second consecutive year. Last season the CFP quarterfinals here were dominated by eventual champion Ohio State. On Thursday the Rose Bowl absolutely was overrun by Indiana — and its fans — in a setting that was the perfect marriage of team and stadium.

The Rose Bowl is Augusta National. It is Churchill Downs. It is the Indianapolis Speedway. It is the tentpole that carries the sport’s postseason and thus deserves the sport’s final game.