Ohio State Might End Up in Holiday Bowl

Ohio State will play in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego on Dec. 30 if Wisconsin beats Michigan State on Dec. 4 and gains a Rose Bowl berth.

The second-place Big Ten team usually would go to the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla., to face the Southeastern Conference’s second-place finisher on New Year’s Day. But Mark Rudner, assistant conference commissioner, said Monday a team could not make a repeat trip to the Citrus Bowl. The Buckeyes lost to Georgia in last year’s Citrus Bowl, 21-14.

The winner of Friday’s Penn State-Michigan State game would go to the Citrus Bowl if Wisconsin goes to the Rose Bowl and Ohio State goes to the Holiday Bowl, Rudner said.

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Indiana will play Virginia Tech in the Independence Bowl on New Year’s Eve. No. 21 Indiana and No. 22 Virginia Tech are 8-3. . . . Alabama linebackers Will Brown and Andre Royal were suspended indefinitely for unspecified reasons. No. 17 Alabama will play No. 7 Florida in the Southeastern Conference championship game Dec. 4.

Pro Basketball

Shaquille O’Neal of the Orlando Magic was fined $5,000 by the NBA for making derogatory comments about the officiating in a Magic game against the Detroit Pistons last Wednesday. “We’re the only team in the league that can’t get a call at home or on the road,” O’Neal had said.

Police in Scottsdale, Ariz., say they did not recommend filing a charge against Charles Barkley of the Phoenix Suns, who allegedly punched a man in the face at a nightclub.

Baseball

Sid Fernandez ended his 10-year association with the New York Mets by agreeing to a three-year, $9-million deal with the Baltimore Orioles.

Hockey

The struggling Kings recalled goalie Rick Knickle from Phoenix of the International Hockey League and assigned defenseman Mark Hardy and goalie David Goverde to Phoenix. . . . Center Denis Savard of Tampa Bay and defenseman Steve Smith of Chicago were suspended indefinitely by the NHL for a slashing incident last Saturday.

Boxing

Julio Cesar Chavez, Terry Norris and Michael Nunn will defend world titles on Dec. 18 at Puebla, Mexico. Chavez will defend the WBC super lightweight championship defense against Andy Holligan of Britain. Norris, the WBC super-welterweight champion, will fight Simon Brown, a former welterweight champion, and Nunn will defend the WBA super-middleweight title against Merqui Sosa.

Miscellany

The state Board of Examiners, as expected, rejected a claim for more than $10,000 in damages by former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian. The vote clears the way for Tarkanian’s case to be heard in Clark County District Court. . . . Davy Jones, the fastest Indianapolis 500 rookie qualifier when he drove as A.J. Foyt’s teammate in 1987, was selected as Foyt’s primary driver for the 1994 Indy car season. . . . Southern Illinois football coach Bob Smith was fired after his fourth losing season in five years. . . . Sylvia Gerasch, European women’s champion in the 100-meter breaststroke, tested positive at a meet last week for caffeine, a prohibited stimulant, the German sports agency SID reported. . . . A member of Cuba’s shooting team at the Central American and Caribbean Games left the team, the sixth athlete to do so since the delegation arrived in Puerto Rico.

Stanford (21-6), California (19-8) and USC (17-8) were seeded 1-3 for this weekend’s NCAA men’s water polo tournament at Belmont Plaza pool in Long Beach. In the first round Friday, Stanford will play Navy (20-5) at noon, Cal will play Massachusetts (20-4) at 1:30 p.m., USC will play UC San Diego (19-8) at 3:30 p.m. and UC Irvine (17-9) will play Pacific (17-8) at 5 p.m. The semifinals will be Saturday, the final Sunday.