PACIFIC 10 / MAL FLORENCE : Copper Looks Good as Gold to California

The Copper Bowl may appear tarnished when measured against other bowl games, but it looks as bright as gold to the California Golden Bears.

California hasn’t been to a bowl since 1979, when it played in the Garden State Bowl, and hasn’t played in the Rose Bowl since 1959.

So, the Bears are excited about playing in any bowl game, but there’s reportedly a catch.

“They would have to win one of their two remaining games even to be eligible,” said Al O’Brien, an official of the Dec. 31 Copper Bowl game in Tucson.

Cal (5-3-1) will play Oregon (7-2) Saturday at Berkeley before finishing the regular season at home against Stanford (3-6) in the Big Game on Nov. 17. Oregon is assured of a Freedom Bowl bid.

The Copper Bowl, only in its second year of existence, wants a Pacific 10 team as an opponent for either Wyoming or Colorado State.

Arizona is a natural choice since it is located in Tucson. However, the Wildcats are apparently headed for the Aloha Bowl in Honolulu on Christmas Day.

Washington, of course, has already secured a Rose Bowl berth, and USC will play in the John Hancock (formerly Sun) Bowl in El Paso on Dec. 31.

Since all the other Pac-10 teams have losing records at this time, the Copper Bowl may be forced to invite Cal regardless of how it fares in its last two games.

Cal quarterback Mike Pawlawski isn’t choosy. “The Copper Bowl would be all right--I’ll go anywhere,” he said.

Oregon Coach Rich Brooks put the bowl mania thing in perspective when he said: “It puts the USDA stamp of approval on your program. Schools recruiting a player would say, ‘Why do you want to go there? They never go to a bowl game.’ Getting in a bowl game stops all that talk on the recruiting trail.”

The Dec. 29 Freedom Bowl game at Anaheim Stadium provides Oregon with an excellent recruiting opportunity in the Southland.

With five Pac-10 teams apparently headed for bowl games, it’s the largest representation in post-season games since 1986, when six Pac-10 teams played in bowl games.

Sudden thought: If USC plays Michigan State in the John Hancock Bowl, Bret Johnson could be the scout team quarterback imitating, of all people, Todd Marinovich, in practice.

Johnson and Marinovich were rival quarterbacks in high school. Johnson played for El Toro, Marinovich for Capistrano Valley in Orange County.

Johnson was UCLA’s starting quarterback last year. He left school and transferred to Michigan State, where he is obliged to sit out one year before he’s eligible to play again.

Trivia time: How many Pac-10 schools have won national championships since the inception of the wire service polls?

Iowa is Washington’s probable opponent in the Rose Bowl as the Big Ten representative.

The last time the Huskies played in the Rose Bowl, they met the Hawkeyes, winning, 28-0, in the 1982 game.

Remember when Stanford upset No. 1-ranked Notre Dame, 36-31, in South Bend, Ind.?

It was only on Oct. 6, but it seems much longer considering how the Cardinal has fared since, losing to USC, Washington and Oregon, before finally beating, Washington State, 31-13, last Saturday in Palo Alto.

“We have been very inconsistent,” Stanford quarterback Jason Palumbis said. “But we did beat Notre Dame on the road, and that was no fluke.”

The Cardinal, which will play Arizona (6-3) Saturday in Tucson, hasn’t won consecutive games since 1988.

Stanford leads the conference in passing, averaging 258.8 yards a game, but is seventh in total defense, giving up an average of 376.6 yards.

Trivia answer: Only two--USC and UCLA. The Trojans either won outright or shared the national title in 1962, ‘67, ‘72, ’74 and ’78. UCLA was ranked No. 1 by United Press in 1954.