Columnist Steve Carp: UCLA can relate to BYU snub

Steve Carp

Tuesday, Dec. 2, 1997 | 11:19 a.m.

LOS ANGELES -- This is supposed to be a time for celebration. Instead, this city's two college football teams are preparing for a big letdown.

UCLA, arguably the hottest football team in America with nine straight wins and a top-five ranking, may find itself on the outside looking in on the bowl alliance. Southern Cal, which has a winning record and a whole bunch of tradition along with the nation's No. 2 television market, may be on the outside looking in, period.

The Bruins are 9-2 and they'll be playing somewhere on New Year's Day. The problem is UCLA may have to go to the Cotton Bowl, which pays only $2 million instead of the Fiesta Bowl, which pays about $6 million more.

Sound familiar? It should, because it's the same scenario Brigham Young faced as the Cougars prepared to play in the inaugural WAC championship game a year ago at this time. And despite 13 wins and a top-10 ranking, the Cougars were frozen out of the alliance and forced to play in Dallas.

UCLA arguably can make a better case for being included. The Bruins are No. 5 in the nation and technically, they should be in either the Sugar, Fiesta or Orange bowls. But their fate will hinge on whether No. 2 Nebraska or No. 3 Tennessee win or lose their conference title games Saturday.

That's not sitting well with UCLA players or coaches. For one coach, it's particularly unnerving.

"It's a crazy deal," said former UNLV assistant Mark Weber, who coaches the UCLA offensive line. "If it worked the way it's supposed to, there would be no question. But it's out of our hands so there's nothing we can do about it."

Weber said an alliance snub would hurt a lot of people at UCLA. Six million dollars buys a lot of tennis balls and track shoes.

"We know we're going to be playing somewhere, so that's good," he said. "The Cotton Bowl is a very good game. But not going to one of the (alliance) bowls would be a tough one to explain to a lot of people.

"The players are frustrated. They read the papers. They saw what happened (to BYU) last year and they think it's happening to them and they don't think it's fair. I can't disagree with them."

Across town, USC is waiting to see if it will play anywhere. The Trojans were hoping to go to Hawaii but the Aloha Bowl took Washington and Michigan State. The school's administration supposedly is cool to the idea of playing in the Las Vegas Bowl, so it may come down to the Independence Bowl or nothing.

The problem there is would a team from California draw in Shreveport, La.? Louisiana State is penned in for one of the spots and you know LSU will travel well. Virginia and Iowa also are being considered. But perhaps the L.A. television market could serve as USC's ticket to Louisiana.

But if USC gets shut out, it wouldn't be as big an injustice as UCLA getting shafted by the bowl alliance. UCLA deserves to be in, plain and simple. When you're No. 5 in the country with an exciting quarterback (Cade McNown) and a team that is on a roll and you're not wanted, doesn't that tell you there's a flaw in the system?

And when it happens two years in a row, it's more than just a flaw. It's a sure sign the whole thing is screwed up and needs to be scrapped.