Blame that on the Orange Bowl execs for being a bunch of asses and taking Iowa. Since Iowa was co-Big Ten champion they should've been in the Rose Bowl. Oklahoma should've been playing USC in the Orange Bowl.
The Rose Bowl was pissed about Oklahoma coming to Pasadena because of the tradition being screwed up for the second year in a row(Big Ten vs. Pac 10), and also because there were 10,000 empty seats during the game. The Big Ten champion usually brings a large number of fans with them to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl, and it didn't happen that year.