PACIFIC 10 FOOTBALL / MAL FLORENCE : Little Stands Between Huskies, Rose Bowl

If Washington Husky fans already are making their reservations for the Rose Bowl game, they may not be premature.

Even though unbeaten and third-ranked Washington has five Pacific 10 Conference games remaining, the race is virtually over.

The Huskies would have to lose at least one, but more likely two games, to open the Rose Bowl to another Pac-10 team on Jan. 1.

Every other conference team has at least one defeat and, with the exception of Arizona State, does not control its destiny.

Washington virtually eliminated its primary challenger, California, by beating the previously unbeaten Bears a week ago in Berkeley, 24-17.

So all the Huskies have to do is keep winning and it’s all over.

Of course, Washington Coach Don James doesn’t want to hear such speculation at this juncture.

“We’re not worrying about destiny,” James said. “We’re worrying about Oregon (the Huskies’ next opponent). That destiny stuff takes care of itself.”

Oregon Coach Rich Brooks is more realistic, saying: “Washington would have to play a bad game for anybody--and particularly us--to have an opportunity at this point to win.”

USC, Washington State, Oregon, Stanford, Arizona and Oregon State have at least two conference losses. So you can forget about them.

On the bubble are California, 3-1 in league play, and Arizona State and UCLA, each with a 2-1 record.

Because Cal has lost to Washington, the Bears will have to win the rest of their games and hope Washington either loses two games or loses one and ties another.

Arizona State would go to the Rose Bowl if it won all of its remaining games, including one Nov. 2 at Washington. Then, if the Sun Devils and Huskies tied for first, Arizona State would get the bid for having beaten Washington. Opinion: unlikely.

UCLA and Washington don’t play this year, which is not to the Bruins’ advantage. If they tie for first place, Washington will get the bid based on a Pac-10 tiebreaking formula that awards four points for a conference victory, three for nonconference victories against NCAA Division I-A schools and two for a league tie.

The Huskies’ 3-0 nonconference record gives them the edge over the Bruins, who are 2-1 in such games.

Trivia question: Other than USC and UCLA, how many Pacific 10 teams have had unbeaten and untied seasons since the conference was formed in 1916?

California Coach Bruce Snyder said there is no question that the Bears would have gone for a two-point conversion if they had scored in the closing seconds of last Saturday’s game against Washington.

Snyder’s logic is puzzling, considering that a tie with Washington would have put Cal in the Rose Bowl if the teams had remained unbeaten the rest of the season.

Cal would have gotten the bid based on a conference tie-breaking rule eliminating a team with the most recent appearance in the Rose Bowl.

Moreover, the odds of making a two-point conversion in college football have been estimated at slightly better than 30%.

Stanford Coach Dennis Green naturally was elated that his team beat USC last Saturday, 24-21, the first Cardinal victory over the Trojans since 1975.

However, he got carried away when he said: “It showed we can play the very best and beat the very best.”

USC has a “very best” record of 3-3.

California tailback Russell White hasn’t decided whether to make himself available for the NFL draft at the end of the season.

“It’s going to be a difficult decision to make,” said White, who has one more year of eligibility. “If I leave, I lose my education. I’m trying to keep it out of my mind until the end of the season.”

Trivia answer: Four. Washington State in 1917, California in 1920 and 1922 and Stanford in 1940.

Brooks has been associated with the Pac-10 for 26 years as a player, assistant and head coach. So it was meaningful when he said that the Washington team is the best he has seen in the conference.

“Certainly there have been a lot of good ones, going back to some of the Southern Cal teams and Washington last year,” he said.

“But this team has more weapons, has better athletes and has better speed than any team I’ve seen in this conference in the time I’ve played or coached in it.’

Oregon, 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the Pac-10, had high hopes at the outset of the season before losing quarterback Danny O’Neil and three starting defensive linemen, among others, because of injuries.