First No Pro Teams, Now No Bowls?

To be in the running for a bowl bid, USC and UCLA must win their remaining two games. That can’t happen, since they play each other Nov. 23.

If neither qualifies, it would mark the first time in 16 years and only the second time in the last quarter-century that neither team has appeared in a postseason game. Neither the Trojans nor the Bruins played in a bowl game after the 1980 season (when both were on probation), and, before that, after the 1971 season.

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Trojan freshman receiver R. Jay Soward, who has returned two kickoffs for touchdowns, is second in the nation in average kickoff return yardage at 32.0, trailing only Tremain Mack of Miami, who is averaging 39.3.