Community College Football : It’s a Whole New Bowl Game, Folks : Postseason Matchups Will Be Made From 19-Team Eligibility List

For as long as anyone can remember, the California Assn. of Community Colleges (CACC) has determined which schools would play in the state’s bowl games.

Near the end of the regular season, CACC administrators would lock themselves in a smoke-filled hotel room, and after hours of debate, emerge with what they thought were the most attractive postseason matchups.

But, in recent years, fans rarely found their selections attractive. Attendance had declined to such an extent that most games lost money.

So this year the CACC discarded the procedure. Its fiscal-minded commissioner, Walt Rilliet, has issued a list of 19 bowl-eligible teams (nine from Southern California), but the the state’s involvement won’t go any further than that.

Decisions on who will play in Southern California’s four bowl games and the three in Northern California will be made by specially appointed game managers, who will make their selections from Rilliet’s list.

The new bowl-selection process means three things:

--First, conference champions, who once were almost guaranteed bowl berths, can no longer count on an automatic postseason bid. Game managers, who are either current or former athletic directors, will be allowed to use their own criteria for selection, and are expected to take different factors into consideration, including geographical rivalries and strength of schedules.

--Second, since game managers will act autonomously, some schools will likely get more than one bowl bid. For the first time, a school could have the flexibility of selecting which bowl game it wants to play in.

--And, since local administrators, who were among the most vocal critics of the the state’s pairings, will make the bowl matchups themselves, they’ll no longer be able to blame for the state for money-losing bowl games.

What hasn’t changed is the rampant speculation about which schools will play where the first week in December.

Only one matchup seems certain. Grossmont and Southwestern, both 7-1, have accepted invitations to the National Football Foundation Bowl.

The other matchups are undecided, even though invitations can be issued as early as 8 a.m. Tuesday.

Saddleback (8-0), which is seeking the national championship, is one of the teams that will play in the fifth PONY Bowl. Since profit is the No. 1 motive behind postseason games, Orange County rival Fullerton seems to be the Gauchos’ most logical opponent.

But Keith Calkins, PONY Bowl manager and Saddleback’s director of health, recreation and physical education, says that Glendale (8-0) will be his choice if the Vaqueros clinch the Western State Conference title by beating Moorpark tonight.

Where does that leave Fullerton (6-2), which has won five straight and is playing as well as any team in the state at the moment?

If the Hornets do not get invited to the PONY Bowl, where they defeated Saddleback last year and in 1982, they will probably play in the San Fernando Valley Kiwanis Bowl against Los Angeles Pierce (6-2).

The Shrine Potato Bowl, which has the biggest money-making potential of any Southern California bowl game since it is played in 19,000 seat Memorial Stadium, will most likely match the winner of today’s Taft-Bakersfield game against a Northern California team, Sacramento City (6-1) or College of the Sequoias.

Herb Loken, Potato Bowl manager and Bakersfield’s former athletic director, said either Taft or Bakersfield must play in the Potato Bowl to attract interest from Kern County fans.

However, Al Baldock, Taft coach, has said he isn’t sure he would accept a bowl invitation this year since the defending national champion Cougars will likely finish second to Fullerton in the Pac-9 Conference. Loken said that if Taft beats Bakersfield and then turns down the Potato Bowl, he might try and arrange a Fullerton vs. Santa Rosa (7-0) game. Santa Rosa is ranked first in the state by the JC athletic bureau.

In Saturday’s community college football games:

Mission Conference Citrus (2-3, 2-5) vs. Saddleback (6-0, 8-0), Saddleback Field, 7:30--The Gauchos, ranked second in the nation and first in the Southland, can clinch at least a tie for their ninth consecutive Mission title and their 13th in 15 years by beating the Owls. Saddleback will be seeking its 48th straight home victory. Citrus is coming off its worst defeat of the year, a 55-6 embarrassment against Rancho Santiago. Last week, Saddleback had to rally for a 30-19 win over Palomar. Quarterback Jason Schmid had another good game, completing 15 of 28 passes for 201 yards and 3 touchdowns, but the Gaucho ground attack, dormant much of the year, was even more effective. Freshman Roger Fickling became the first Saddleback player to rush for more than 100 yards in 1985 when he gained 138 on 27 carries.

Palomar (1-4, 3-4) vs. Orange Coast (1-4, 1-5-1), LeBard Stadium, 7:30--The Pirates, headed for their seventh consecutive losing year, hit a low last week when they lost to San Diego City, 24-14. Orange Coast’s incentive in this game is to escape last place. But to do that, the Pirates’ lackluster wishbone attack, which is averaging only 12 points per game, will have to start producing and stop giving the ball away. Against San Diego City, which is not known for its defense, Orange Coast fumbled on five of its first seven possessions.

Rancho Santiago-Bye