Indiana was dominant in the College Football Playoff at the Rose Bowl victory over Alabama. After the game, Pat Coogan was awarded the Rose Bowl MVP. It is a rarity that an offensive lineman gets an MVP award in any game, much less a playoff game and the Rose Bowl. Now, Kirk Herbstreit, while hosting Nonstop for ESPN with Joey Galloway, spoke about why Coogan got the award.
“It’s my 18th Rose Bowl that I’ve called. I’ve been lucky enough to do a bunch of them. And in the middle of this game, they always come in to us around the end of the third quarter, and they ask us, you know, the Rose Bowl booth does the MVP, and they’re like ‘Who do you want as the MVP?'” Herbstreit first said, speaking of the process to decide the MVP of the game.
Herbstriet's first game being the analyst for the Rose Bowl was the 2007 game, when USC defeated Michigan, ending the 2006 season. He has called every game since then, except for the 2016 game, and again in 2021 due to other assignments. Beginning in 2005, the game has had both an offensive and defensive MVP, and the media covering the game has had a say in the winner of the award.
“And normally it’s the quarterback or the receiver or whatever. And you do one on each side of the ball. And I’m like, ‘Can I do the whole offensive line?'” Herbie continued discussing how the process played out.
The offensive award had only been awarded to quarterbacks, wide receivers, and running backs since 2005. Meanwhile, a group of players had never won the award, either on the offensive or defensive side of the ball.
“We came back from a break, we went to another break, and he’s like, ‘Herbie, Rose Bowl says you can’t do the whole offensive line.’ And I was like, well, they’ve been dominant to me, I’ve been talking about them the whole game, and that’s what I would like to do. So I said, ‘Pat Coogan represents that line to me as kind of in the middle, kind of the anchor.’ I said, ‘Let’s give it to him,'” the commentator concluded.
The Hooiser's line was dominant, protecting Mendoza well, while also letting Indiana run for 215 yards and two touchdowns. Indiana is now the clear national title favorite, and they will play against Oregon in the CFP Semifinal at the Peach Bowl on Friday.
