All Eyes Will Be on Peete Today at Rose Bowl : Key to UCLA Showdown Is Whether Ailing USC Quarterback Plays

One of the most celebrated measles patients in history will be the focal point in Pasadena today when USC and UCLA meet in a showdown for a Rose Bowl berth.

A crowd of about 100,000 will be on hand in the Arroyo Seco, and a national television audience will tune in to ABC-TV to see if USC quarterback Rodney Peete, who was hospitalized earlier in the week, can play and keep the Trojans unbeaten.

USC Coach Larry Smith said a final decision on Peete’s status will not be made until after pregame drills, although it seems likely that he will play.

The winner of the 58th game of the series, which dates to 1929, will meet Michigan of the Big Ten Jan. 2 in the Rose Bowl game.

A victory would keep USC on track for the national championship. The second-ranked Trojans (9-0 overall and 7-0 in the Pacific 10 Conference) will play top-ranked Notre Dame next week at the Coliseum.

UCLA’s chances for the national championship virtually ended 3 weeks ago when the Bruins, ranked No. 1 at the time, squandered a 21-point second-half lead in a 34-30 loss to Washington State.

In the last 2 weeks, the disheartened Bruins (9-1, 6-1) struggled to victories over Oregon and Stanford, setting up today’s showdown for the conference championship.

“It’s a burden off our shoulders to get to this position,” UCLA Coach Terry Donahue said last week after a 27-17 victory over Stanford.

USC was in a similar situation last season after it lost to Oregon. The Trojans won 4 consecutive conference games to set up a Rose Bowl showdown with UCLA, then upset the favored Bruins, 17-13.

This is the 34th time these teams will meet with a Rose Bowl berth at stake for one or both. USC leads under these circumstances, 20-11-2, including a 12-3 edge since 1967.

The Trojans have won the last 8 times the Rose Bowl has been on the line for both teams, but in none of those instances did USC’s quarterback come down with the measles the week before the game.

Peete showed flu-like symptoms not long after he passed for a career-high 361 yards and 3 touchdowns last week in the Trojans’ 50-0 rout of Arizona State.

He spent 2 nights under assumed names at St. Mary’s Hospital in Long Beach and was diagnosed Wednesday as having measles. He was released from the hospital Thursday.

Other than throwing for a few minutes Thursday, Peete did not practice this week before he ran through a light workout Friday.

“It felt good to practice, to run and throw the ball,” he said in a statement released through the school’s sports information office. “It didn’t seem that my timing was affected. I didn’t get tired.”

As a freshman in 1985, Peete scored the game-winning touchdown against UCLA, and he had his best game of the season against the Bruins last year, passing for a season-high 304 yards and 2 fourth-quarter touchdowns.

USC is far from a one-man team, however. The Trojans, playing a schedule ranked by the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. as the most difficult in college football, lead the nation in rushing defense and rank fifth in total defense.

But UCLA is mostly a passing team, and USC will be without injured strong safety Cleveland Colter, who intercepted a pass last season against UCLA.

In Troy Aikman, UCLA has a quarterback with enormous talent and, seemingly, the law of averages on his side.

Aikman, a transfer from Oklahoma, suffered through the worst game of his UCLA career last season against USC, completing only 11 of 26 passes for 171 yards and no touchdowns with 3 interceptions in the last 20 minutes as the Bruins squandered a 13-0 third-quarter lead.

And in the last 2 weeks, Aikman has had his least productive games of the season; he passed for a career-low 114 yards in a 16-6 victory over Oregon and for only 135 yards against Stanford.

After throwing 19 touchdown passes in 7 games, he has thrown 2 in the last 3, including 1 in the loss to Washington State, in which the Bruins were unable to score in 4 plays from the Cougars’ 6-yard line in the last 44 seconds.

Still, Aikman, who is projected as the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft next spring, is not expected to be below par 3 weeks in a row.

Donahue, who shut himself off to reporters after Wednesday, said earlier this week: “I’m concerned about our offensive production. We’ve not been very efficient or effective the last 2 weeks. Unless I was a total idiot, I’d have to be a little concerned about that.”

And Aikman said: “Without a question, I’m going to have to play better than I have in the last 2 weeks. I think everyone is going to have to play better.”

That includes the offensive line, which allowed Aikman to be sacked 7 times last week.

USC has allowed only 90 yards on the ground in its last 4 games, and UCLA probably will be without its leading rusher, tailback Eric Ball, who is listed as doubtful because of an ankle injury. Brian Brown, who has rushed for more than 100 yards in each of UCLA’s last 2 games, will start.

“We’d like to generate enough rushing yardage to keep the defense busy, but the area where you’ve got to try to win the game is through the air,” Donahue said. “That’s where people have moved the ball on them.”

Oregon State’s Erik Wilhelm and Washington’s Cary Conklin were successful throwing against the Trojans. Wilhelm completed 37 of 62 for 406 yards and 3 touchdowns, and Conklin completed 19 of 30 for 280 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Although Steven Webster, USC’s No. 1 tailback and the 1987 Pac-10 rushing leader, has missed most of the season with injuries, the Trojans have been balanced offensively, running for 227.8 yards a game and passing for 255.9.

Scott Lockwood, Ricky Ervins and Aaron Emanuel have started at tailback for USC this season. Emanuel, playing for the first time in almost 2 months, ran for 88 yards against Arizona State.

Of the Trojans’ offensive line, Donahue said: “They continue to hammer you until they get what they want.”

The Bruins, who believed strongly that they had the better team last season, have waited a year for revenge against the Trojans.

“We went in there with a resume, “ Bruin cornerback Darryl Henley said of last year’s game. “We could have gotten a job with IBM or Xerox. I mean, we had credentials-- greatest quarterback, best running back, great wide receivers, great defense.”

All they had afterward was a berth in the Aloha Bowl.

This year, they want roses.

USC won’t give them up easily.

USC-UCLA Notes

If the Trojans lose, they will go to the Sugar Bowl to play the Southeastern Conference champion, Auburn or LSU. If UCLA loses, it will go to the Cotton Bowl to play Arkansas. Both games will be played Jan. 2. . . . USC leads the series, 32-19-6, but UCLA has won 4 of the last 6 meetings and is 3-0 against the Trojans at the Rose Bowl. . . . USC, which was listed as a 3-point favorite before it was revealed that quarterback Rodney Peete had the measles, is listed now as a 1-point pick.

UCLA’s Stacey Elliott, a reserve nose guard who has not played in 6 weeks because of a knee injury, is listed as probable. Tailback Eric Ball (ankle injury), wide receiver David Keating (hamstring) and offensive guard Scott Spalding (knee) are listed as doubtful. . . . Cleveland Colter, USC’s starting strong safety, will miss the Trojans’ next 2 games but will be available to play in a bowl game. He is out with a knee injury.

Because of the great demand for tickets, UCLA sold about 2,000 obstructed-view seats that it does not usually make available. They went for $15 each. . . . The USC-UCLA game hasn’t drawn a crowd of more than 100,000 since 1954, when 102,548 saw UCLA beat USC at the Coliseum, 34-0, wrapping up a 9-0 season.

Traffic advisories will be available in the Pasadena area at 530 AM on the radio. . . . UCLA is encouraging fans to use a shuttle bus that will provide free transportation from a parking lot just west of Fair Oaks Avenue between Holly and Walnut streets in Pasadena.