any more significance than playing in any other non-playoff bowl, particularly when your qualification for said rose bowl only happened because a demonstratively proven better team happened to not be a member of your conference. Congratulations on back-dooring into a meaningless bowl game.

At least, as you point out, it’s the granddaddy of the meaningless bowl games. But then again, doesn’t that just mean the fact you qualified for it despite not even being the best team in your state gets broadcast on a bigger stage? Every college football analyst has congratulated BYU on being the real PAC12 champions. But go ahead and pat yourselves on the back as you run out onto that field, while everyone snickers at you and thinks “that’s cute.”