The Afterglow at the Rose Bowl

College Football changes and nostalgia collide in one late-night walk in Pasadena.

The game ended late on a Saturday night in Pasadena—Pacific time bleeding into the early-morning hours back East—as UCLA fell to Washington at the Rose Bowl 48-14. The Bruins didn’t look sharp. The Huskies did. And now they march into rivalry week with Oregon carrying the weight of a potential College Football Playoff berth at stake.

It was a blast being back in the booth that Keith Jackson called home and now hosts Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler every January.

As a broadcaster I often get asked which stadium is the best to call a game in. It’s a nuanced question, as each stadium has its own flavor, own aura, own nostalgia.

But none are like the Rose Bowl.

Over the course of my 18 years as a broadcaster I’ve whispered the same thing to myself prior to every game, “let’s go call the Rose Bowl.”

The idea, at least how I see it, is that if you prepare for every game like it’s the biggest game in the sport then when you actually get there it will feel like every other time you’ve worn a headset.

Not sure if I’ll ever call an actual Rose Bowl but it still remains a dream.

For UCLA Bruins past and present playing at the Rose Bowl Stadium was a dream actualized and all week in Los Angeles there was conversation around that dream possibly ending and the Bruins calling SoFi Stadium their new home.

I’m nostalgic, so of course I’d love to see UCLA run out of that tunnel again but in college football all of us have to continue to radically accept change, and this may be the future for UCLA. Time, and legal documents, will tell.

As the stands emptied and I walked toward my car I veered left and drifted toward the front of the Rose Bowl.

I just stood there, taking it in—the silhouette of a place that has hosted so many chapters of this sport. I thought of the games I’ve been lucky enough to call from that press box, the afternoons and evenings spent in the broadcast booth at the Granddaddy of Them All and even the games I coached on the floor of the Rose Bowl. I listened to families greeting their sons, worn out kids laughing while catching passes amid the streetlights and just soaked in the Afterglow of the night.

If that’s the final time hearing those sounds in the regular season at least that memory will sit with me, hopefully that image evokes something for you too.

The truth is that our sport is in constant motion and walking back to my car that is where my mind went.

I can still remember being a young coach at USC. Back then, the dream was simple: become one of the nine full-time position coaches. If you did, you made $100,000—and at the time, that was significant.

Flash forward to this weekend: Lane Kiffin is reportedly going to sign a $13 million contract somewhere. Multiple coaches make north of $10 million. And the conversation isn’t just about salaries anymore. It’s also:

• How much will you pay your players?

• How will you retain them?

• How strong is your local NIL support?

Has the sport lost its way? I don’t think so. I’m not a pessimist. But it is shifting—rapidly. Salaries, expectations, patience, geography, conferences, media rights… everything is in flux.

And when you zoom out, it mirrors the world around us. There’s uncertainty everywhere you look. More questions than answers. More change than continuity. More chaos than calm waters.

Maybe that’s simply where college football lives right now. There are over 10 head coaching openings, with more likely to come. One domino will tip, and the whole landscape could move with it. Players will transfer. Others will graduate. Some won’t. And the definition and desire around “graduating” may be evolving in real time.

I referenced radical acceptance and as I woke up this morning that phrase kept coming up. I first learned about it from David Shaw, as he once shared with me a book that shaped how he navigated the pandemic season of 2020. The theme was simple: embrace what is, not what you wish it to be.

I try to do that now as we enter the final weekend of the regular season. I’m not anti new venues, new rosters, new realities. I’m leaning in, as there is some entertainment value to it all.

But two things can be true, as I’m also still for the things that made us fall in love with this sport—the pageantry, the nostalgia, the tradition, the connection between campus and community, student and athlete.

I’ll be curious where this sport sits in 5, 10, 15 years. But I’m not letting myself live that far ahead. Because right now, we’re entering the final week of the regular season. You only get 14 of these Saturday’s guaranteed. As a broadcaster, if you’re lucky, you get to call 14 games.

This year, I’ve been blessed with four different broadcast partners across Big Ten Network and NBC. Each week, each crew, each moment has been a gift. And during Thanksgiving week I’m counting those blessings with even more intent.

So maybe that’s the theme for all of us to ponder this week as we all likely know where our favorite teams sits:

• In the CFP hunt.

• In the race for a conference title.

• Fighting for bowl eligibility.

• Searching for stability…or a new head coach.

Wherever you fall, lean in. Compete. Engage. Radically Accept. It’s too easy to do the opposite.

Much love, stay steady and thanks for the community here at Y-Option—it’s hard to imagine our second full season is almost complete.

And be sure to subscribe to our content as we have some deep dive film study coming your way for the the Big Ten Championship Game and the CFP.

Peace,

Yogi