Bruins Have Plans for Holiday Season

Hola.

No sense in waiting too long to start the Spanish lessons.

Aloha.

Just in case things really go downhill.

Of course, the season could get even worse than that for the UCLA football team. Say, no games in December.

That’s how the Bruins can say--with a straight face--that they would be thrilled to play in the Holiday Bowl. Because the Rose Bowl is off the screen and the alternatives are much worse.

Starting Saturday night against Oregon, the team that is 2-3 overall and has beaten only clubs from the Big West and Western Athletic Conference needs to go at least 4-2 the rest of the way to qualify for any postseason game. That is hardly a stretch, since none among the final six opponents strikes fear, but it is also hardly safe money, since each of the final six opponents is capable of beating UCLA.

The only obvious advantage in the schedule is that four of the games are at home. But where among those are the locks: the Ducks (3-2), California (2-2), Arizona (3-2) or Washington (2-2)?

It’s no different on the road: Oregon State (3-1).

It’s no different in between: USC (3-1) at the Coliseum.

Such are the ramifications of allowing Arizona State to go 80 yards in four plays and 30 seconds and having a screen pass turn into a 49-yard touchdown with Rose Bowl elimination in the balance. The Bruins have to start playing for second place with half the season remaining, and know it could get much worse than that.

“We’ve got a lot of games to play,” tailback Keith Brown said. “We probably won’t go to the Rose Bowl. The Holiday Bowl is next. If we can win out and beat SC, we’ll have a good season.”

San Diego or bust!

“We’ve still got goals,” linebacker Robert Thomas said. “The Rose Bowl seems out of the question. But we’re just reaching for something, whatever that is out there.”

Four possibilities are out there, not counting the fifth they won’t consider. The chance to put all their energy into academics ahead of schedule.

* Culligan Holiday Bowl in San Diego, Dec. 29. The Pacific 10 runner-up gets that berth against the third-place finisher from the Big 12. At least Holiday officials wouldn’t have to sweat UCLA’s well-earned reputation for poor fan attendance at out-of-town bowl games. But the San Diego hotels and restaurants might not be too thrilled--how many Bruin supporters would make it a day trip?

* Wells Fargo Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, Dec. 31. Make a run for the border. The Pac-10’s third-place team--organizers have their choice in case of a tie--comes to play the Big Ten’s fifth-place team. The same committee also sets up excursions for the participants, and other visitors, into Mexico. Ask USC about the unscheduled trips much farther south on game day.

* Jeep Aloha Bowl in Honolulu, Dec. 25. Or don’t you believe in tradition? The last time the Bruins started 0-2 in conference, in 1995, they finished 4-2 in the remaining league games and went to Hawaii for Terry Donahue’s final game as coach. There are also the practical aspects. The UCLA basketball team is on Oahu for the Pearl Harbor Classic Dec. 21-23, so fans and athletic department officials can make the trip and double dip.

* Jeep Oahu Bowl in Honolulu, Dec. 25. See above. The organizing committee, in consultation with the conference and ABC, will decide which Pac-10 team is assigned to which game in the doubleheader at Aloha Stadium. There is no preset conference affiliation for either opponent.

Faced with knowing they are playing six more games for the consolation prize, at best, the Bruins have responded well. Bob Toledo altered the usual schedule and for the first time in his three-plus seasons as coach put the team in pads on a Monday for full-contact drills and a 15-minute scrimmage, getting rewarded with a spirited workout.

“There was a reason for doing that,” Toledo said. “They know I’m not happy. I told them that it was not a punishment. I want them to get better.

“I wanted to see us get more physical. That was the purpose.”

Because there is so much at stake. Still.