College Football
Pac-10 notebook: State could land in Cali-forefront

By Bud Withers
Times college football reporter

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Only in college football, your headquarters for weirdness, could this happen: Two teams from California meeting Jan. 4 in Miami for the national title.

No, it's not such a stretch to project the Orange Bowl hosting USC and California in the BCS national-championship game, 3,000 miles from home. Bring your surfboards and gardenburgers if Nos. 1 and 2 are both from the Left Coast.

"That's what the system is supposed to do," says Keith Tribble, CEO of the Orange Bowl. "We'd be happy."

Unlikely, maybe, but certainly not remote. USC is No. 1 this week in the BCS standings, and if somebody is going to beat the Trojans that team is going to have to declare itself pretty soon. Ditto No. 4 Cal, which, unlike a lot of Johnny-come-lately teams, has been remarkably free of letdowns.

If the Bears can coax an upset out of Oklahoma and one from Auburn, and not have Wisconsin pass Cal, the Old Blues of Berkeley would find themselves having the season of their lives and yet not playing in the Holy Grail, the Rose Bowl.

This week, Oklahoma must go to Texas A&M, which is spoiling for payback after a 77-0 defeat last year. That might be the only potential stumble for the Sooners.

Auburn has a challenging road after this week's bye, entertaining Georgia next week and having to survive the SEC championship game.

The possibility of a rematch of USC's narrow Oct. 9 victory over Cal would be a bizarre twist, especially as the number of unbeatens is at six entering November. Potentially, while the national-title game would have a one-loss team, Wisconsin could be out there undefeated.

Irony would not be lost on the Trojans, who picked off half the national title last year while not playing in the BCS championship game. In this case, Wisconsin could argue for the AP championship with a solid win in the Rose Bowl if Cal were to defeat USC.
 
You doubt that the Orange Bowl would be very enthusiastic about the whole thing. Imagine hosting a block party, except it's the block two streets away.

"They (the public) would know they were the top two teams in the country," argues Tribble, saying the matchups of Nos. 1 and 2 "takes care of most things."

Tribble notes that a similar pairing happened in the 1996 Sugar Bowl, though it wasn't between conference brethren. Florida and Florida State played for the title, after having met several weeks before.

"I think everybody in the whole state of California would come," Tribble said.

Who's your daddy?

In the matchup of former offensive gurus at Oregon who coach Pac-10 teams, it's not much of a contest. Against Dirk Koetter of Arizona State, Cal's Jeff Tedford hung 55-38 and 51-23 losses on the Sun Devils in 2002-03, both times as an underdog.

Having unleashed his offense on Koetter, this year Tedford had his defense stymie Koetter's offense, winning 27-0.

"Cal beat us three years in a row, and we beat Oregon three years in a row," Koetter said. "How do you figure it? I don't try to overanalyze it."

Oregon, meanwhile, has won seven straight against Cal, but only one is on Tedford's watch.

Big Ben, on the clock

At least three Pac-10 schools — UCLA, Cal and Oregon — are awaiting word on the college choice of Ben Olson.

You may recall Olson as a highly rated high-school quarterback of 2001 in southern California — PrepStar Magazine tabbed him as the nation's best player — before he chose Brigham Young.

Olson wasn't enamored of BYU, went on a Mormon mission and will be done with it shortly. UCLA is believed to be the front-runner to get him.

The End Around

• UCLA defensive coordinator Larry Kerr went to the press box for last week's shutout of Stanford, so he figures to remain up top for a while.

• Oregon fans booed some play-calling in the Washington game last week, leading coach Mike Bellotti to cut loose on them in the Eugene Register-Guard. "You know what? I am embarrassed and ashamed of our fans. That is utterly irresponsible toward the players on the field. I don't care if they boo the coaches — and maybe they thought that's what they were doing. It's disrespectful, it's irresponsible ... I try to figure out if you beat the Huskies 31-6 in your stadium that any booing is needed."

• Washington State's Michael Bumpus has 289 yards in punt returns. Washington has 51.

• Cal offensive coordinator George Cortez should be back in action against Oregon after two eye surgeries in recent weeks. Tedford called Cortez a "security blanket" and said, "It was a little odd, not talking to anybody (on the headset) between series."

• ASU RB Hakim Hill sprained an ankle in practice this week, again leaving the Sun Devils in trouble at the position.

• Under Pete Carroll, USC has been a very strong second-half team. It hasn't allowed a fourth-quarter TD this year.

• Best percentage FG kicker in the league? Why, Alexis Serna of Oregon State, who is 8 of 9.

• This is how big an impact assistant coach Tom Cable has made at UCLA this year: Last year the Bruins gave up a league-leading 51 sacks. This year, they allow the fewest (10).

• USC's Pete Carroll on offensive coordinator Norm Chow, 58, and the UW opening: "This is the kind of situation that could have a big impact on our conference. He's a fantastic candidate. It could really affect us in a big way." Still, it doesn't seem like a great fit.

• Last week at WSU, USC CB Kevin Arbet, beaten to the outside by RB Allen Thompson, lunged and simply clipped Thompson's legs from under him — easily visible in the press box and cause for dismay on the WSU sideline. Still, no flag. Arbet admitted to the infraction in the L.A. Daily News this week, saying, "It was so blatant."

Pac-10 bowl game arrangements
The Rose Bowl will feature its traditional Pac-10 vs. Big Ten matchup unless the Pac-10 champion is No. 1 or No. 2 in the final BCS rankings, in which case that team would play in the national-championship game at the Orange Bowl. Bowls with Pac-10 ties:
Bowl	Site	Matchup	Date	TV
Rose	Pasadena	Pac-10 champ vs. Big 10 champ	Jan. 1	ABC
Holiday	San Diego	Pac-10 No. 2 vs. Big 12	Dec. 30	ESPN
Sun	El Paso	Pac-10 No. 3 vs. Big 10	Dec. 31	CBS
Insight	Phoenix	Pac-10 No. 4 vs. Big East	Dec. 28	ESPN
Las Vegas	Las Vegas	Pac-10 No. 5 vs. Mountain West	Dec. 23	ESPN
Emerald	San Francisco	Pac-10 No. 6 vs. Mountain West	Dec. 30	ESPN2
Silicon Valley	San Jose	Pac-10 No. 7 vs. WAC	Dec. 30	ESPN2