What Happens to the Loser? : College football: Is the world ready for a USC-Fresno State rematch in the Freedom Bowl?

In a touch of irony, USC might be thanking Notre Dame by sundown today.

In a week or so, a note to Florida State might be in order, too.

Losses by either could thrust the Trojans into a Nightmare on Katella Avenue--a USC-Fresno State rematch in the Freedom Bowl--if they lose today to UCLA.

The winner of today’s UCLA-USC game will go to the Rose Bowl, but the fate of the loser is in the hands of others, including those involved in a potential national championship game.

Arizona, UCLA and USC will finish as the top three Pacific 10 Conference teams, and an official with the John Hancock Bowl, on Dec. 24 in El Paso, said Friday it would like to have the UCLA-USC loser.

The Hancock had Arizona last season, and an Arizona-Baylor rematch does not appeal to officials in El Paso or to their television partner, CBS.

But the Hancock stands well back in line among coalition members. Before it can choose a team, the Sugar, Cotton and Orange bowls will select one team each from the pool of eligible schools, the Fiesta Bowl will get both its teams and the Gator Bowl will get one.

If Notre Dame beats Boston College and Florida State beats North Carolina State and Florida convincingly enough, a rematch of their game last weekend is mandated for the Fiesta Bowl by the bowl coalition.

If not, and if Arizona beats Arizona State next Friday, the Fiesta will probably look no farther than Tucson for one of its teams. That would send the Pac-10’s No. 3 team, either UCLA or USC, to the Freedom Bowl.

A week ago, the Freedom agreed with the Copper and Aloha bowls to divvy up the Western Athletic Conference, except for the champion, either Brigham Young or Wyoming, which goes to the Holiday Bowl.

Are you ready for Fresno State?

The Freedom Bowl is.

“Our preference is for a local team in the game,” says Don Andersen, the Freedom’s executive director and one of the few people with USC ties--he is a former publicist at the school--who would like to see the Trojans in Anaheim on Dec. 29. “It has a certain allure and increased media coverage.

“Last season, Fresno State sold 26,000 tickets for the game and officials there say this year it would be 30,000. I know SC didn’t sell that many tickets themselves, but by their being in the game, a lot of tickets were sold.”

Last year’s game, won by Fresno State, 24-7, drew 50,745.

A Fresno State-Aloha Bowl link has been reported, but Andersen said, “I understand they would rather go here than the Aloha Bowl.”

Financially, the stakes today are significant. Although the Rose Bowl payout to each team is college football’s largest, about $6.5 million, Oregon State and Washington State would get as much as UCLA or USC in the Pac-10’s equal-shares formula. Last year that was about $570,000 for each school.

But there is an expense account that comes off the top. Last year it was $830,400, and there is a cost-of-living adjustment, yet to be set by the Pac-10, that could send it to $871,900 this year. From that, the schools pay for travel, negligible in the cases of local teams; housing, meals, entertainment, tickets and sundry expenses for administrators, band, and the like.

“We would hope to net out some money for our programs on that,” said Peter Dalis, UCLA’s athletic director, who says he does not have a bowl budget. “It’s expensive--the band alone would cost us close to $100,000--but we think we can do it and make some money.”

An unknown is the money generated next season by a team that went to the Rose Bowl.

USC would face similar costs and benefits.

The Hancock? The expense account is the NCAA minimum bowl payout--$700,000--plus 325 airplane tickets. But the cost to take a team to El Paso is greater, and the bowl coalition requires each school to buy 8,000 tickets to the game, a situation that did not exist when UCLA went to the Hancock two years ago.

“That takes off $240,000, assuming the tickets are about $30 each, and I doubt with the game being on Christmas Eve that we could sell many to our fans,” Dalis said. He added that a tighter rein would be kept on expenses for the Hancock Bowl, with such things as a limit on the size of the band that could go along for a school that is still chipping away at an athletic department deficit and has been eliminating sports in a move toward gender equity.

The Freedom Bowl is kept money, with minimal expenses. It paid out $720,000 to each school last season.

USC-Fresno State II in the Freedom Bowl?

“It’s intriguing,” Andersen said.

And if USC doesn’t want to go?

“Then I’d suggest they beat UCLA,” he said.