COLLEGE FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : UCLA : Bruins, Wildcats in Control

The winner of Saturday night’s UCLA-Arizona game will go to the Rose Bowl if it wins the rest of its games. They are the only teams in the Pacific 10 Conference that control their own destiny.

What of the loser?

A hint will come from some people at the game Saturday night at the Rose Bowl. The Sugar Bowl will have a representative there, but not to watch UCLA. If Arizona loses, the Wildcats can finish with a 10-1 record, still in line for a major bowl in the college football coalition, with likely political pressure coming from the Fiesta Bowl.

If UCLA loses, it can still go 8-3 and finish second in the Pac-10, and second place is tied to the coalition. An 8-3 record probably would warrant a second-tier bowl, such as the John Hancock, which generally prefers a western team, likes having Pac-10 teams--particularly with marquee (read: television) value--and will have a representative in attendance on Saturday; or the Gator Bowl, which tends to prefer teams from the Southeast.

The third-place Pac-10 finisher is bound for the Freedom Bowl, which will have a representative at the game Saturday, and the fourth-place team is tied to the Alamo Bowl’s inaugural game, at San Antonio, Tex.

Bowl bids are not scheduled to be extended until Dec. 5.

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No team has played in the Rose Bowl after losing its first two conference games, and only three--UCLA in 1942, California in ’58 and Washington in ‘63--have played in the game after losing their first two games overall. UCLA started this season 0-2. . . . How good is Arizona’s rushing defense? The Wildcats have given up an average of 17.2 inches per run. . . . UCLA has given up only six sacks in its last five games. Arizona has 36 sacks in eight games. . . . UCLA center James Christensen, out since injuring his knee in the second game of the season against Nebraska, has begun running plays but is unlikely to be ready to play against Arizona.