Insight Wouldn’t Cost Bruins Much

If UCLA loses to Washington State Saturday, it shouldn’t be for the money. There isn’t much at stake.

A Bruin loss opens the door to the Holiday Bowl, even though UCLA would finish behind Arizona State in the Pacific 10 Conference standings. The bowl has its choice of any Pac-10 team and indications are that Oregon State or UCLA would be picked ahead of Arizona State, which could be headed to the Sun Bowl.

The Holiday Bowl has a $2-million payout to each participant, higher than the $750,000 payout of the Insight Bowl -- where the Bruins probably will end up if they beat Washington State.

But $1.1 million of the Holiday payout is divided among all Pac-10 Conference teams. The other $900,000 goes to the participating team as a budget for travel and game preparations, meaning that UCLA would get a total of $1.01 million.

The entire $750,000 Insight payout goes to the participating team, making the financial difference in the two games only $260,000.

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Redshirt freshmen Tyler Ebell and Wendell Mathis will return kicks in the absence of Tab Perry (ankle) and Jason Harrison (concussion).

Neither player has returned a kick this season. Ebell, the starting tailback, had 23 punt returns before being replaced by Craig Bragg two games ago.

Mathis, a strong, sturdy tailback, has 50 yards in 18 carries.

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A crowd of 55,000 is expected at the Rose Bowl on Saturday. Reserved seats are $30 and general admission seats are $12 for adults and $4 for children.