Notes on a Scorecard - Nov. 18, 1992

Not even the UCLA-USC game, apparently, is going to bring college football out of its attendance slump in Southern California this season. . . .

Only 75,000 tickets have been sold for Saturday at the Rose Bowl and the crowd could be the smallest to see the rivals play since 1975, when 80,927 watched the Bruins win, 25-22, at the Coliseum. . . .

The biggest crowd during the series--103,303 in 1939 at the Coliseum--saw the smallest amount of scoring--none. . . .

UCLA Coach Terry Donahue, who was a defensive tackle, played against Bruin assistant coach Mike Scarpace, who was a USC offensive tackle, in the 1965 and ’66 games. . . .

Asked whom Tulane’s biggest rival was when he coached there, USC’s Larry Smith said, “LSU. . . . LSU didn’t know it, but it was.”. . . .

The NCAA ranks the schedules of five Pacific 10 Conference teams among the eight toughest in the nation--No. 1 USC, No. 2 Stanford, No. 4 Oregon State, No. 6 Arizona, and No. 8 Washington. . . .

“I don’t think any team in the nation would be able to go unbeaten in our conference this season,” Smith said. . . .

Never has so much attention been given so many mediocre baseball players as Tuesday during ESPN’s telecast of the expansion draft. . . .

I kept kept waiting for Mel Kiper Jr. to analyze the selections. . . .

Clearly, the Dodgers needed a second baseman. The question is whether they got the right one by trading for Jody Reed rather than signing free agent Harold Reynolds. . . .

It will be interesting to see what the Angels do with the $10.75 million in salary they saved by allowing relief pitcher Bryan Harvey to be picked by the Florida Marlins during the first round. . . .

The money could be donated to the contract of a free agent, the re-signing of Jim Abbott, or the Autry family bank account.

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Surprise of the Florida draft might be Jeff Conine, a power-hitting first baseman-outfielder from the Kansas City Royals organization whose progress has been slowed by injuries. . . .

After the New York Mets made journeyman catcher Hobie Landrith their first selection in the 1962 expansion draft, Manager Casey Stengel explained, “If you don’t have a catcher, you have a lot of passed balls.”. . . .

What a weekend--the NBA champion Chicago Bulls making their only Forum appearance of the season Friday against the Lakers, UCLA vs. USC Saturday at the Rose Bowl, and the Rams vs. San Francisco at Anaheim Stadium and the Raiders vs. Denver at the Coliseum on Sunday. . . .

Next time a New Yorker tries to tell you his city is the sports capital of the nation, ask him or her how many major college football games he or she has attended there recently. . . .

Remember the great Chicago Bear defenses? Only the Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots have given up more points than the Bears this season. . . .

The Seattle Seahawks scored fewer than half as many points as any other team during the first 10 games. . . .

Minnesota Viking defensive coordinator Tony Dungy could become the next black head coach in the NFL. . . .

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Buck Smith, a welterweight from Oklahoma City, will try to improve to 125-2-1, score his 91st knockout, and extend his winning streak to 107 tonight against Kevin Pompey on ESPN. Can Smith fight? He has beaten plenty of tomato cans, but did knock out 1988 Olympic Games gold medalist Robert Wangila in two rounds. . . .

All five of golf’s million-dollar earners--John Cook, Fred Couples, Davis Love III, Tom Kite and Raymond Floyd, who won on both the PGA regular and seniors’ tours--will play in the Shark Shootout this weekend at the Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks. . . .

Today and Thursday, Bobby Rahal will try his luck at another form of driving during the event’s pro-am. . . .

If the Kings and Tampa Bay Lightning are the most surprising teams in the NHL this season, the St. Louis Blues and Washington Capitals are the most disappointing. . . .

It’s a good thing Heisman Trophy voters have to list only their first, second, and third choices. The number of legitimate candidates this season is small. . . .

The NIT only wishes its postseason event was half as attractive as the preseason version. UCLA opens the tournament tonight against St. Louis at Pauley Pavilion and the field includes Indiana, Seton Hall and Florida State. . . .

After reading a newspaper story quoting USC Coach George Raveling as saying he is always looking to lighten up his schedule, coaches of four NCAA Division II and III schools called him trying to arrange a game with the Trojans. . . .