Football notebook

Tuesday, November 25, 1997

Football notebook

UCLA likely to go to Cotton Bowl

The No. 6 Bruins are enjoying a nine-game win streak and their
highest ranking since their 17-3 Cotton Bowl victory at the end of
the 1988 season.

Funny thing, though, that the Cotton Bowl comes into play.

The bowl Alliance (the Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl)
was meant to have the top teams in the nation face off against each
other to decide a national champion.

But because of ticket revenue, it is very likely that UCLA will
be passed up by the Fiesta Bowl in favor of No. 12 Arizona State,
as long as ASU beats Arizona on Friday.

"I’m not going to slash my wrist (if the Alliance skips us),"
Bruin head coach Bob Toledo said. "I’m not even concerned about
that. I’m just happy that we’re going to play in a New Year’s Day
bowl."

The Bruins will most likely accept an expected invitation from
the Cotton Bowl to play in Dallas Jan. 1.

Because one of the top six teams in the nation probably will not
receive an Alliance bid, Toledo is very critical of the fairness of
the system to determine a national champion and reward the best
teams.

In fact, UCLA athletic director Peter Dalis and Toledo both
believe that a playoff system pitting the top eight teams would do
much more justice in determining the national champion.

"I’m supportive of a football play-off for a variety of reasons
outside of the Alliance," Dalis said.

"The only way to really settle it is on the field," Toledo
added. "They’ve been doing it in Division I-AA for years. (Critics
of a play-off system) say it takes away from academics, but I think
a lot of the athletes from I-AA are graduating."

Kansas State got peek at Bruins

The match-up likely to take place in the Cotton Bowl is UCLA vs.
No. 11 Kansas State. This will be interesting, considering that
last spring several of the Kansas State coaches visited UCLA and
took a very close look at the Bruin offense.

"I know their coaches visited our coaches last spring," Toledo.
"I hope they didn’t tell them that much."

Also, the visit to the Cotton Bowl will allow another recruiting
trip for the Bruins in Texas. UCLA is already recruiting about 16
players from Texas’s talented pool of athletes.

Win at USC sends WSU to Rose Bowl

The reason Washington State will go to the Rose Bowl instead of
UCLA has a lot to do with the Bruins’ performance on Saturday.

If ASU defeats Arizona on Friday, a three-way tie will exist at
the top of the Pac-10. But because of tie-breaker rules, WSU will
win out.

If UCLA had lost against USC, the Cougars would have lost a
two-way tie with ASU because of their loss to the Sun Devils
earlier this season.

"(Cougar head coach Mike) Price said he would send me a case of
wine," Toledo said. "Everyone keeps forgetting that we’re the ones
that sent them to the Rose Bowl by winning (the USC) game."

McNown may be a Heisman favorite

If UCLA quarterback Cade McNown returns for his senior year, his
top-passer rating this season should make him one of the favorites
to win the coveted 1998 Heisman trophy.

Toledo, who said Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning should win
this year’s Heisman trophy because of his decision to come back to
school instead of becoming a millionaire, expects McNown to be back
and ready to compete for the Heisman next year.

"I don’t know if he should be the favorite, but he should be one
of the candidates," Toledo said.

Bruins selected to all-Pac-10 team

The all-conference selections from the Pac-10 were released on
Monday, and many Bruins were rewarded for their stellar
seasons.

Here are the Bruins selected:

First Team

Skip Hicks, RB

Chad Overhauser, OL

Shaun Williams, DB

Chris Sailer, PK

Second Team

Cade McNown, QB

Jim McElroy, WR

Danjuan Magee, OLB

Larry Atkins, DB

Honorable Mention

Danny Farmer, WR

Kris Farris, OT

Weldon Forde, DE

Mike Grieb, TE

Andy Meyers, OG

Chad Sauter, OG

Brian Willmer, MLB

The top offensive player was Cougar quarterback Ryan Leaf. The
top defensive player was Sun Devil outside linebacker Pat
Tillman.

Compiled by Vytas Mazeika, Daily Bruin Staff