Trojans Say ‘Aloha’ to Syracuse Rematch : USC: Bowl date in Honolulu is declined when Orangemen, 34-16 losers in teams’ opener, emerge as probable opponent.

After playing its way out of a New Year’s Day bowl appearance, USC talked its way out of a trip to Honolulu, a spokesman for the Freedom Bowl said Tuesday.

“When I talked with (USC Athletic Director) Mike McGee on Sunday, he told me that USC was leaning toward the Aloha Bowl,” said Don Andersen, executive director of the Freedom Bowl, to be played Dec. 29 at Anaheim Stadium.

Andersen, who sought the Trojans, said USC apparently reconsidered because its opponent in Honolulu on Dec. 25 would have been Syracuse. The Trojans beat the Orangemen in their opener, 34-16, and weren’t interested in a rematch.

Instead, USC reached a verbal agreement with officials of the John Hancock Bowl to play in the New Year’s Eve game at El Paso, a spokesman for that bowl said Monday. McGee was unavailable for comment, and other USC officials would not confirm for the record that an agreement had been reached.

Bowl invitations cannot be officially extended until Nov. 24, but the John Hancock Bowl hopes to match USC (6-2-1) against Michigan State, which is 4-3-1 and would eliminate itself only if it falters in its last three games and finishes with a losing record.

“They say they want to come, and we say we want them,” John Folmer, chairman of the El Paso game’s selection committee, said of the Trojans.

USC committed for several reasons, according to sources familiar with the negotiations:

--It offers national exposure. The CBS telecast of the game, which starts at 11:30 a.m., PST, Dec. 31 will be unopposed by any other game.

--It might help the Trojans establish an even stronger recruiting base in Texas, where several schools, including USC and UCLA, have made significant inroads in recent years against the scandal-ridden Southwest Conference schools.

--USC felt it should make a commitment to John Hancock Bowl officials, who told the Trojans last month that, barring a total collapse by the Trojans, USC would be extended an invitation.

“They told us a few weeks ago that, unequivocally, they wanted us,” a USC official said.

Five years ago, Coach Larry Smith took Arizona to El Paso to play in the game, which was formerly called the Sun Bowl, and came away impressed.

Three years ago, in Smith’s first season, USC was set to play in the Sun Bowl before it upset UCLA, 17-13, to qualify for the Rose Bowl.

“I’ve been there and I related my experience to Mike (McGee) and the (university) president (James Zumberge),” Smith said. “It’s an excellent bowl. They treated us very, very well. The players and people who went had an outstanding time. . . . If that’s where we end up, I think we’ll all be happy.”

USC would have been happier, of course, to play in any of the eight New Year’s Day bowl games.

But after Saturday’s 31-31 tie with California, the Trojans’ options grew more limited.

“We still showed some interest in them, but it was an outside interest,” said Thad Foret, a spokesman for the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla., Jan. 1. “The tie made (a USC appearance) go from a possibility to an outside chance.”

A source said USC also was interested in the Holiday Bowl Dec. 29 in San Diego, where its fans could more easily attend and the Trojans would possibly be paired against Brigham Young and its All-American quarterback, Ty Detmer.

“I guess you could say they had some (interest),” John Reid, executive director of the Holiday Bowl, said of the Trojans. “I don’t know how serious it was.

“We’d had an ongoing dialogue with them. Of course, it changed from week to week, but the word we got was that they were looking to a New Year’s Day game.

“We didn’t anticipate things happening this early, especially with USC, considering they had lots of options. But apparently they felt differently.”