Bowl picture coming into focus for Ducks and Beavers.

Byline: Bob Clark The Register-Guard

C o l l e g e f o o t b a l l

California is expected to be released from consideration for the Rose Bowl this morning, which should put Oregon State in the Sun Bowl and Oregon in the Las Vegas Bowl by early afternoon.

The Bears, currently 18th in the Bowl Championship Series rankings, would need to climb to 14th to even be eligible for the Rose Bowl.

`I don't see how Cal can climb enough in the standings,' Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen said Monday. `I don't see any way Cal can catch up.'

If released by all the BCS bowls, Cal will immediately be invited to the Holiday Bowl. That will allow the Sun Bowl to invite Oregon State, and then the Las Vegas Bowl is strongly expected to choose the Ducks to play Dec. 21 against Mountain West champion BYU.

The Las Vegas Bowl selection committee met Monday, and considered Oregon, Arizona State and UCLA, according to Tina Kunzer-Murphy, executive director of the Las Vegas Bowl.

`We were able to come to a decision,' she said, without revealing it. `We're stuck until we get (that team) released.'

If the Holiday and Sun do make their decisions, Kunzer-Murphy said `we're ready to go.'

That's obviously Oregon. She again affirmed her bowl wouldn't take a team that is 6-6 overall, a record that UCLA would have if the Bruins fall to USC. Meanwhile, Sun Bowl selection committee chairman John Folmer said he'd have no problem releasing ASU to the Las Vegas Bowl, but wasn't releasing the Ducks yet, because Oregon is the Sun Bowl's backup in case the El Paso game doesn't get the Beavers.

Thus, who could the Las Vegas Bowl have settled on except Oregon?

Though UCLA, at 4-4 in the Pac-10 entering its game against USC, could claim fourth place to itself, Hansen confirmed that the Pac-10 agreement allows the Las Vegas Bowl to take one of the teams that is 4-5, such as Oregon, before seeing how the Bruins do Saturday.

The Las Vegas Bowl, little more than three weeks away, is anxious to finalize its pairing.

`It's really important if we can do that,' Kunzer-Murphy said, `especially if the team is from your area, so the fans can start making (travel) arrangements.'

In other bowl news from Monday:

TCU will play in the first bowl of the season, accepting a bid to represent the Mountain West Conference in the Poinsettia Bowl.

The Horned Frogs will play an undetermined at-large team in the Dec. 19 game at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, where former TCU standout LaDainian Tomlinson plays for the Chargers.

``We are excited to receive the invitation to play in the Poinsettia Bowl,'' coach Gary Patterson said. ``We look forward to going to San Diego. This is a great destination trip for our fans and alumni.''

TCU (9-2) has won six straight games and will play its regular-season finale at home Saturday against Air Force. The Frogs are going to a bowl for the eighth time in nine seasons and 23rd overall.

Utah accepted a bid Monday to play in the Armed Forces Bowl.

The Utes (7-5) will represent the Mountain West Conference in the Dec. 23 game on the TCU campus. They will play an undetermined foe from Conference USA.

This will be the fourth straight bowl game for Utah, which is coming off a 33-31 loss Saturday to Mountain West champion BYU.

The Armed Forces Bowl, formerly known as the Fort Worth Bowl, is sponsored by Bell Helicopter.

The Associated Press contributed to this report