COLLEGE FOOTBALL NOTES : The Rose Bowl Offers More Than Prestige

It looks as if half the teams in the Pacific 10 Conference will go bowling this season, but only one of the games offers more than exposure, prestige and a holiday trip for the football team.

In other words, only the Rose Bowl means big bucks.

As a package, the five bowls -- it’s five as long as California can win one of its last two games -- will pay the league nearly $9 million in guarantees. But with air fares increasing and athletic directors being sure to give their players “a quality bowl experience,” the postseason checks won’t be any more than usual.

That’s not bad, though. Consider that each team in the Pac-10 -- because of the league’s contract with the Rose Bowl and the Rose Bowl’s contract with ABC -- will draw a check for about $550,000. That’s everyone from last-place Oregon State to league-champion Washington.

The Huskies figure to spend roughly $1 million of the $6.5 million guarantee, and the rest is divided up 10 ways. That’s why the bowl teams get to go a little crazy with the expenses ... they’re going to get only a 10th of what’s left, anyway, so why not live it up.

Each of the two -- and probably three -- teams headed for $600,000 bowls is allowed to spend the whole guarantee on expenses. USC probably will come close to using up the $800,000 it will receive from the Hancock Sun Bowl. In 1989, the Trojans spent more than that on expenses for the Rose Bowl, even though they had no air fare to worry about.

The Pac-10 has placed as many as five teams in bowl games only twice in the 16 years since the league began allowing teams to appear in postseason games other than the one in Pasadena.

In 1986, the league sent six teams to bowl games, and received five invitations in ’85. In ‘89, Pac-10 teams went 4-0 in bowls, and they are 9-2 in the past three seasons.

Probable match-ups involving Pac-10 teams (with their current records):

-- Rose Bowl, Jan. 1, Pasadena ($6.5 million), ABC. No. 2 Washington (8-1) vs. Big Ten team, probably No. 6 Iowa (7-1).

-- Hancock Sun Bowl, Dec. 31, El Paso, Texas ($800,000), CBS. No. 23 USC (6-2-1) vs. Michigan State (4-3-1).

-- Freedom Bowl, Dec. 29, Anaheim, Calif. ($600,000), Raycom. No. 20 Oregon (7-2) vs. WAC team, probably Colorado State (6-3).

-- Copper Bowl, Dec. 31, Tucson, Ariz. ($600,000), TBS. California (5-3-1) vs. WAC team, probably Wyoming (9-1).

-- Aloha Bowl, Dec. 25, Honolulu ($600,000), ABC. Arizona (6-3) vs. Syracuse (5-2-2).

Here and there:

-- The Apple Cup has never been the choice of ABC-TV. But with the Washington Huskies ranked No. 2 in the nation and No. 1 Notre Dame an underdog at Tennessee Saturday, the network is keeping its bases covered.

Normally, the USC-UCLA game is an automatic, slam dunk of a decision for ABC, with the highly ranked teams and the Los Angeles television market.

But if Notre Dame loses and the Huskies move up to No. 1, the network probably will choose the Apple Cup over the battle for Los Angeles for two reasons. Four previous No. 1-ranked teams have been upset this season, and the Cougars are always a threat to knock off the Huskies. Also, the game would serve as a three-hour advertisement for the Rose Bowl.

The only loser in such a decision would be KCPQ in Washington, which forged a precedent-setting deal with Washington State, Prime Sports Network and the Pac-10, which will allow the Apple Cup probably to be televised live annually ... or at the least whenever the game is in Pullman, Wash.

Yet, the game would be moved back to 12:30 p.m., and local Channel 13 probably would have to come up with a couple of old movies to fill the four-hour slot it is planning for game coverage, complete with pregame and postgame shows.

-- Oregon officials have reportedly told the Freedom Bowl folks that they can expect from 12,000 to 18,000 Ducks fans to show up for their game. But they didn’t -- and wouldn’t -- offer to buy a minimum number of tickets for the game.

When you’re 7-2 and ranked in the Top 20, with a strong shot at 9-2, you don’t have to buy a game program, not to mention thousands of tickets. In 1989, after agreeing to buy 10,000 tickets to the Independence Bowl, Oregon wound up losing almost $200,000 on the trip.

Freedom Bowl officials are hoping, too, that a few Northwesterners in Southern California for another game might take in the Oregon contest as part of their visit.

-- Fans don’t necessarily have to be rushing around to get flights and dipping into their savings to attend the Washington-Iowa game. The Huskies and Hawkeyes will square off Dec. 30 in Seattle, with tickets going for $6 apiece ... in women’s basketball.

“It’s too bad we can’t move the game to Pasadena,” UW publicist Cindy Fester said. “Believe me, we would if we could.”

-- Quarterback Todd Marinovich continues to frustrate USC coaches. The talented but increasingly enigmatic redshirt sophomore did not start the Trojans’ game against Cal because he was late for a Saturday team meeting.

After Shane Foley drove USC down the field for a game-opening touchdown, Marinovich played the rest of the 31-31 tie. Marinovich, remember, previously served a one-game suspension for skipping classes.