A Sweet Deal for Pac-10? : ABC Reportedly Urges Sugar Bowl to Take USC or UCLA

ABC-TV, which is televising 11 games this season featuring USC or UCLA, reportedly has urged Sugar Bowl officials to invite the loser of the USC-UCLA game to oppose the Southeastern Conference champion Jan. 2 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

ABC will televise the Sugar Bowl game immediately after it shows the Rose Bowl game, which will match USC or UCLA against the Big Ten champion.

“It makes an awful lot of sense for us to think in terms of USC and UCLA because we follow the Rose Bowl on ABC and we’re not going head to head against that game, like we have in the past,” said Mickey Holmes, executive director of the Sugar Bowl. “Had we taken a co-champion or a second-place team out of the Pac-10 in the past and tried to go head to head against the Rose Bowl, it would have been very difficult.

“But (inviting) a Pac-10 team now that we follow the Rose Bowl makes a lot of sense to us. All you’ve got to do is look at the Nielsen numbers.”

The A.C. Nielsen Co. ratings for ABC’s package of Big Ten and Pac-10 games this season is up almost 20% from last season, a network spokesman said Monday.

Holmes, though, denied a report in the New Orleans Times-Picayune Monday that said ABC has asked Sugar Bowl officials to invite the Pac-10 runner-up.

“They haven’t exerted any influence on us,” Holmes said. “We make the decision.”

Mark Mandell, an ABC spokesman, said it was network policy to decline comment on negotiations.

Provided that both win Saturday--USC against Arizona State at Tempe, Ariz., and UCLA against Stanford at the Rose Bowl--the second-ranked Trojans (8-0) and sixth-ranked Bruins (8-1) will play for the Pac-10 championship Nov. 19 at the Rose Bowl.

Both teams have been courted by bowl officials throughout the season and, if the loser of their game doesn’t go to the Sugar Bowl, it probably will wind up in the Cotton Bowl.

Top-ranked Notre Dame is the No. 1 choice of all bowl officials, but the Irish apparently are headed for a Fiesta Bowl matchup with unbeaten West Virginia, possibly for the national championship.

USC and UCLA offer an attractive alternative.

“We’ve probably spent more time on the West Coast this year than we have in the last 6 or 7 years combined,” said Jim Brock, executive vice president of the Cotton Bowl. “(USC and UCLA) know of our interest, and we feel we have a legitimate shot of landing the Pac-10 runner-up--along with the Sugar Bowl. One or the other is going to get (one of) them.”

No team from the West Coast has played in the Sugar Bowl since 1946, when Oklahoma A&M; beat St. Mary’s, 33-13, and no team from the West Coast has played in the Cotton Bowl since 1949, when Southern Methodist beat Oregon, 21-13.

Why the interest this season?

“You’ve got two great programs that are known all over the country and all around the world, two great football coaches and two marquee football players in (UCLA’s Troy) Aikman and (USC’s Rodney) Peete,” Brock said.

Of the three, the third is probably the overriding reason. Aikman and Peete are among the leading contenders for the Heisman Trophy.

Would the Cotton Bowl be interested in UCLA even if the Bruins lost their next 2 games and wound up 8-3?

“We sure would,” Brock said.

USC Athletic Director Mike McGee and his counterpart at UCLA, Peter Dalis, both were reluctant to discuss the situation, saying that it was premature to guess where their teams might end their seasons.

“It’s hard to say in this business,” Dalis said. “I’ve had bowl people have their arm around me and say to me, ‘Be by your phone tomorrow at 9 when we can (officially) invite you and you’re going to be our bowl rep,’ and they never called.”

However, McGee said: “I think there is a strong likelihood that we will have strong opportunities for two and maybe three of the Jan. 2 bowls.”

The third choice of both schools--actually the fourth, considering the Rose Bowl is obviously their No. 1 choice--would be the Citrus Bowl.

The Sugar Bowl this season will pay its participants a minimum of $2.75 million, and the Cotton Bowl will pay $2.4 million.

The Citrus Bowl, which announced UCLA was one of several schools it has targeted, will pay a little more than $1 million.

Official bowl invitations cannot be extended before Nov. 19, but agreements are expected to be reached this weekend.

UCLA might not have been concerned about any bowl game this season if a message from Oklahoma Coach Barry Switzer had reached Jack Elway.

When Troy Aikman decided 3 years ago that he would transfer from Oklahoma, Switzer put in a call to the Stanford coach.

But Elway, Switzer said, never returned his call.

“I’m hearing that all the time, but I don’t ever remember not returning a call to Barry Switzer,” said Elway, whose team will face Aikman and the Bruins Saturday. “Some of our phone calls haven’t been too amiable, but I don’t remember not returning a call about Troy Aikman.”

What does Elway think about the comparisons between Aikman and Elway’s son, John, a pretty fair quarterback in his own right?

“He certainly has that kind of talent,” Elway said. “When speaking of John, it’s obvious that I’m going to be a little bit biased, but he’s definitely in that category.”

Bruin Notes

Georgia and Louisiana State are tied for the Southeastern Conference lead, with Auburn a half-game behind. Georgia and Auburn will play Saturday at Auburn, Ala. . . . Arkansas (9-0) has wrapped up the Southwest Conference championship and an automatic berth in the Cotton Bowl. . . . Troy Aikman ran and passed for 13 of UCLA’s 17 first downs last Saturday in a 16-6 victory over Oregon. He ran for 7.

Coach Terry Donahue missed his weekly news conference Monday because of the flu, but made it to practice. . . . Tailback Eric Ball, who sprained his right ankle against Oregon, is not expected to play Saturday against Stanford. His replacement will be sophomore Brian Brown, who ran for a season-high 102 yards in 16 carries against Oregon, including a 68-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

A crowd of more than 70,000 is expected for Saturday’s homecoming game. . . . Dodger pitcher Tim Leary will be the grand marshal of a homecoming parade Friday night through Westwood.