Road Games Obstacles to Bowl Bid

Pasadena? Honolulu? The Bruins have tumbled so far that they might have to beg to play in a bowl game in Las Vegas.

The Bruins haven’t won a road game in two years, and they won’t be favored to win in either of two remaining road games this season, Saturday at No. 24 Arizona and Nov. 11 at No. 9 Washington. If the Bruins lose those games but defeat Stanford and USC in their two remaining home games, they would finish 6-5 and qualify for bowl consideration.

But they would finish 3-5 in the Pacific 10 Conference, and the Pac-10 assigns teams to bowls based strictly on conference standings, assistant commissioner Jim Muldoon said Sunday. The Pac-10 has a guaranteed spot in the Rose, Holiday, Sun, Aloha and Oahu bowls, but the Bruins would miss out on all if they finish in sixth place. USC, Arizona and California tied for sixth place in the Pac-10 last season, all at 3-5.

With Oregon and Washington both ranked in the Top 10, one could be selected for a Bowl Championship Series game besides the Rose Bowl, which could free one of the Pac-10 bowl bids for a 6-5 UCLA team. In a more likely scenario, a 6-5 UCLA team would hope to secure the at-large bid available in the Las Vegas Bowl.

For bowl purposes, then, the victories over Alabama and Michigan do not help nearly as much as the consecutive losses to Cal and Oregon State hurt.

“I’d trade those two wins for two Pac-10 wins any day,” safety Marques Anderson said. “It’s kind of hard to stay focused after two losses like that.