Let’s See Who Benefits From This

That was more than an “extra benefits” joy ride UCLA tailback DeShaun Foster allegedly took. Like the joke about degrees of separation involving actor Kevin Bacon, Foster’s suspension for Saturday’s game against Oregon has tentacles that could affect the national title, Pac-10 race, Heisman Trophy and the bowls.

National title?

Oregon, No. 6 in this week’s bowl championship series standings, still has an outside shot at a spot in the Jan. 3 Rose Bowl. Foster’s absence, coupled with injuries to UCLA quarterbacks, gives Oregon a huge advantage in a game that two weeks ago figured to be the most difficult on the Ducks’ schedule. Thank you, DeShaun.

Or maybe not. Perhaps Oregon gets downgraded in the polls for a win over Foster-less UCLA.

Pac-10 race?

Washington needs to win out and hope Oregon loses one of its last two games to become the first team in eight years to win consecutive conference titles. Let’s just say Washington Coach Rick Neuheisel really wants to do that. Neuheisel, however, was counting on a UCLA victory over Oregon, which closes the season Dec. 1 at home against Oregon State.

Heisman Trophy?

The good news: Think of how much money UCLA can save on phone bills by canceling those Heisman teleconference calls with national reporters. Although Foster’s hopes were fading before this week, Wednesday’s suspension officially eliminates him from consideration and hands the votes he would have collected to other candidates.

This could be a break for Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington, if you figure West Coast Heisman ballots would have been split between Harrington and Foster.

Bowl implications?

With Foster in the lineup for a victory over top-10 Oregon, UCLA could have restored lost luster and still had a shot at one of the conference’s quality bowls, Holiday or Sun. Instead, a loss to Oregon sends UCLA reeling toward, what, a Christmas Day game in Las Vegas?

Too bad Foster wasn’t suspended before the California game, but bad timing is everything, huh?

Bear Market

It’s obvious Tom Holmoe wasn’t much of a coach at California--he resigned this week after an 0-8 start and with a 15-37 overall record, but you have to admire the dignity with which he handled his departure.

“I’ve been given a great chance,” Holmoe said. “I certainly had the opportunity of a lifetime and didn’t make the most of it.”

Holmoe, however, isn’t the first coach to fail at Cal, only the latest.

Seven schools have won Pac-10 titles in the last seven years, but Cal is not among them. Cal last won a share of the conference title in 1975 and hasn’t been to the Rose Bowl since 1959.

Since 1978, only one of Cal’s six coaches, Bruce Snyder, has posted a winning record. Snyder went 29-24-1 from 1987-91.

Cal is a conundrum. The program lacks vision, organization and structure, despite enormous resources and potential. Then, of course, there’s the Stanford complex. Cal’s cross-bay rivals have become a model for melding education and athletics.

“No question right now, the Cal people, they really are struggling with Stanford’s success,” Holmoe said. “And what I would say is, they need to look and see the actual architectural plan of how it happened. It did not happen overnight.

“It comes from administration, alumni, the athletic administration. The plan, the attack and the execution are critical.”

So what now?

Steve Gladstone, Cal’s athletic director says he will “look at every single viable candidate.”

Cal probably won’t take a chance on another man without head-coaching experience, which could hurt first-year offensive coordinator Al Borges’ chances.

If Cal can’t make a gold-mine, long-term hire, it should consider Snyder, a quality free agent in hiatus since his firing at Arizona State last year. Snyder led Cal to a 10-2 season in 1991 and, in 1996, guided Arizona State to within a minute of the national title. He would bring instant credibility to the program as it plots its long-term future.

Pac Bits

Stanford officials are irked by the hit that injured safety Simba Hodari in last week’s game at Washington.

Hodari suffered a severe concussion in the third quarter after being clipped in the head by Washington receiver Charles Frederick.

Play was stopped for about 12 minutes as medical personnel attended to Hodari. The player was taken off the field on a stretcher and spent two nights at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center before being released.

Asked this week whether it was a cheap shot, Stanford Coach Tyrone Willingham said, “I think that one is probably up for debate.”

No penalty was called. Willingham said he wasn’t sure if Hodari would play again this year.

It seems likely that Pac-10 athletic directors will grant Washington State a one-year exception regarding the tiebreaker rule on playing Division I-AA opponents.

The second tiebreaker in deciding the league champion is based on a points system. A team is granted four points for a win over a conference opponent, three for one over a Division I non-conference team but only two for beating a Division I-AA opponent.

That could hurt Washington State if it ends up in a three-way tie, yet it wasn’t the Cougars’ fault they played Montana State on Oct. 18. Washington State was supposed to have played Colorado on Sept. 15, but the game was scrubbed because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Neither school could find a replacement date, so Washington State scheduled Montana State.

Washington and Oregon don’t meet in the regular season, but there is a chance they could play for the de facto Pac-10 title in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1.

“There would be some people in the Pacific Northwest that would be excited about it,” Neuheisel joked this week.

Washington-Oregon is a bitter Pac-10 rivalry.

Oregon needs two wins to clinch the conference title and Fiesta Bowl berth.

The Fiesta Bowl is scheduled to match the Pac-10 and Big 12 champions this year, but Washington could be a BCS at-large opponent if the Fiesta Bowl loses a Big 12 school to the Rose Bowl. Brigham Young, at 13-0, would also be considered for that Fiesta Bowl at-large pick.