No Victory, Slim Rose Bowl Chances

Is Saturday’s game against Arizona State a Rose Bowl elimination game as early as Oct. 11?

You do the math.

USC and Arizona State already have one conference loss each, and since 1916, there have been only six years in which a team with two losses has won what is now the Pacific 10 championship.

“I think everybody in the world knows that two losses for all intents and purposes takes you out of the Rose Bowl race,” said Arizona State Coach Bruce Snyder, whose team lost to Washington last week.

“I don’t think you can hope to win this thing with more than one loss,” said USC Coach John Robinson, whose team lost to Washington State in the second game of the season. “But a lot of teams are even. UCLA, Stanford, Washington, Washington State, and I think you can put us or Arizona State in that group--whoever wins this game.”

The most recent season that a team with two conference losses went to the Rose Bowl was 1993, when UCLA, Arizona and USC tied for the title and UCLA went to the 1994 game because of victories over Arizona and USC.

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No quarterback other than John Fox has taken a snap this season, and the closeness of the Nevada Las Vegas game kept USC from getting Mike Van Raaphorst or Quincy Woods into the game.

“It’s a concern,” Robinson said. “We just have to say, ‘John Fox is never going to be hurt.’ If he gets hurt, we’ll have to say to the second guy, ‘Get in there.’ A lot of times a guy in that situation will be scared and confused and he’ll play well.”

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NEXT UP FOR USC

WHO: Arizona State

WHERE: Sun Devil Stadium

TIME: Saturday, 12:30 p.m.

TV: Channel 7

RADIO: KLSX-FM (97.1)