Dalis Thinking About That Bowl in Dallas

Pete Dalis, UCLA’s athletic director, said Saturday he doesn’t consider the Bruins’ playing in the Fiesta Bowl or anywhere in the bowl alliance a possibility, and that if he were a betting man, he would wager that UCLA would be in Dallas on New Year’s Day, playing in the Cotton Bowl against Kansas State.

“I haven’t heard a thing from the Fiesta, and I probably would have had a signal by now if UCLA was being considered,” Dalis said. “I think they’re locked on to Arizona State.”

Cotton Bowl representatives were not in evidence Saturday because of a scheduling mix-up involving a member of the bowl’s board of directors who had planned to be in Los Angeles on business, only to find his plans canceled at the last minute.

But the Cotton has said it likes the idea of UCLA returning to Dallas for the first time since 1989, though it cannot commit to anything until the bowl alliance releases the teams it no longer is considering.

That probably won’t be until about Dec. 1.

And the Fiesta, which is a member of the bowl alliance, is in a political situation with Arizona State and probably will take the Sun Devils with a 9-2 record, same as that of UCLA, and a lower national ranking.

That is largely because Arizona State will sell more tickets than UCLA, which is appealing because of the Los Angeles television market, but somewhat less so than others because the Bruin fans don’t travel to bowl games that aren’t played in Pasadena.

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USC’s bowl situation also depends on the bowl alliance. At 6-5, the Trojans meet the overall record criterion for bowl consideration, but at 4-4 they can finish no higher than tied for fifth in the Pacific 10.

Should Arizona State beat Arizona on Friday and go on to the Fiesta Bowl, USC would advance to the Aloha Bowl, possibly playing Missouri and former Trojan coach Larry Smith.

Should Arizona State lose, USC is thrown into a tie with Arizona, both eligible for bowls, but neither one eligible for the four locked into the Pac-10 (Rose, Cotton, Sun and Aloha).

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Skip Hicks’ 16-yard touchdown ran gave him 54 scores for his career, breaking Charles White’s Pac-10 record.

Hicks also ran for 117 yards, his fourth 100-yard game in a row, and has an even 3,000 lifetime yards, the fifth Bruin to reach the 3,000-yard mark.

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Good Position

Receptions by UCLA tight ends in the ‘ 90s :

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Year Passes Yards TD 1990 19 210 2 1991 15 175 1 1992 27 319 1 1993 20 184 0 1994 9 89 1 1995 8 74 1 1996 42 483 1 1997 32 408 6

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