Nebraska Fullback Ineligible for Orange Bowl : Cornhuskers: Use of Soto, a starter at outset of season, could mean forfeiture of four victories.

Omar Soto, who began the season as Nebraska’s starting fullback, was ruled ineligible by the school Tuesday in a decision that could cost the Cornhuskers their claim to the Big Eight Conference co-championship and possibly its net portion of the $4.3 million payout that comes with tonight’s Orange Bowl appearance.

Less than 12 hours after the Palm Beach Post reported that Soto played in a preseason scrimmage for Mt. San Jacinto College in 1986 against an outside opponent, Nebraska faculty representative James O’Hanlon, who confirmed the story’s contents with Soto and other parties, declared the senior running back ineligible for tonight’s game against No. 1 Miami.

Soto exceeded the number of seasons, under NCAA rules, that a player is allowed to participate in a sport. Soto played in five seasons over six years. The maximum is four seasons in five years.

“Certainly you have to be heartsick for the young man,” O’Hanlon said. “As we all know, this was to be the biggest night of his athletic career.”

Nebraska has offered to forfeit the five games in which Soto played this season--Big Eight victories over Oklahoma and Iowa State, nonconference victories over Utah State and Colorado State and a nonconference loss to Washington. The next formal meeting involving the league’s athletic directors and faculty representatives is scheduled for March.

If Nebraska forfeits those four victories, the Big Eight could deprive the Cornhuskers of their one-eighth share of the bowl game payout. The NCAA also rules on forfeitures and bowl shares.

Soto, who attended high school in Miami, arranged for 60 Orange Bowl tickets for friends and family, including his mother, who apparently has never seen him play a college game in person.

Soto could not be reached for comment Tuesday. On Monday, after first denying he played at the junior college, Soto told a Post reporter: “I never told anybody at Nebraska because I knew it might cause some trouble like this.”

Soto never attended classes at Mt. San Jacinto and only played in at least one preseason scrimmage before quitting the team. He sat out the remainder of the year, played at Arizona Western Community College in 1987 and ‘88, then transferred to Nebraska, where he was a redshirt in 1989 and played in ’90 and ’91.

Nebraska, O’Hanlon said, was unaware that Soto played, however briefly, at Mt. San Jacinto, because the school wasn’t listed on academic transcripts.

According to NCAA rules, when Soto played in the scrimmage against outside competition, it qualified as used eligibility--regardless of his academic standing.