Toledo Excited About Both Games

If Coach Bob Toledo wasn’t busy trying to figure a way for UCLA to beat Tennessee today in the Rose Bowl, what would he be doing?

“I’d be watching a doubleheader,” he said, figuring that he would find a way to beat the traffic to the Coliseum for the USC-Florida State game and its 5 o’clock start. “How can people not see these two games?

“They’re two great college football games, and if people want to go out and watch football, how could you not go out and watch these two great college football games here Saturday?

“I’d be in the stands and I’d probably be having an iced tea. Seeing it live is great.”

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Quarterback Peyton Manning didn’t figure to play against UCLA in the Rose Bowl in 1994, but his parents, Archie and Olivia Manning, were on hand, just in case the freshman got a chance.

And then he did.

“I had told Olivia that he wouldn’t be playing,” said Archie Manning, a former quarterback of some note with Mississippi and the New Orleans Saints. “She said, ‘Oh, no? Then why is he there warming up?’ ”

Manning’s contribution to the Tennessee effort in a 25-22 loss amounted to three handoffs.

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The Mannings will be on hand for today’s game, but their time in Los Angeles will be short and their weekend frenetic.

First, there was a game in New Orleans on Friday night, with Eli Manning, their 16-year-old son, quarterbacking Isadore Newman High in its first game of the season.

Then there was the plane ride to Los Angeles, to watch Peyton against the Bruins this afternoon, followed by a red-eye flight back to New Orleans, where Archie will work Sunday as the analyst on the Saints’ broadcast of their game against the San Diego Chargers.

“No, the Saints couldn’t be playing the Chargers in San Diego this weekend, could they?” Archie Manning said.