Civil War will help to unravel bowl plan.

Byline: Bob Clark The Register-Guard

Oregon and Oregon State know they're playing the 107th Civil War for a bowl berth, they just don't know which one.

`I'm not spending any mental gymnastics on that,' UO coach Mike Bellotti said. `We can't worry about that, only what we control. The thing for us is focusing on this game.'

Ditto the Beavers.

`It's great to go to a bowl game, any bowl game,' OSU coach Mike Riley said. `But what is important is to get the best (Pac-10 placing) we can, and in order to do that we need to win games.'

The Beavers (4-2 in the Pac-10) have a game beyond Saturday's visit to Autzen Stadium and in fact could still tie for the Pac-10 title, if Washington State (6-1) loses to Washington and OSU beats USC (5-1) on Dec. 6, in addition to the Beavers beating Oregon. All of the tiebreakers in a deadlock among the three teams - or OSU and the Cougars - work against the Beavers, however, so there's no chance at the Rose Bowl.

Which team is in the Rose Bowl, however, could determine exactly which postseason game the Beavers and Ducks are in competition for when they kick it off at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

Under the best-case scenario, USC would reach the Sugar Bowl to play for the national title and WSU would pick up the berth in the Rose Bowl.

That would leave the Holiday Bowl, which has made it obvious it covets the Civil War winner, if it doesn't get WSU or USC.

For the third-place Pac-10 team to be in San Diego on Dec. 30, the Trojans would first have to be playing in the Sugar Bowl, a berth earned only by being ranked first or second in the final Bowl Championship Series poll of Dec. 7. USC dropped to third in the rankings released Monday.

`There's a lot of games to be played and a good chance they can bounce back up,' Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen said.

The good news for the Pac-10 on Monday was that unbeaten TCU dropped from sixth to eighth in the BCS poll, so the Horned Frogs don't have an automatic berth in one of the four BCS bowls, which could have taken away that opportunity for a second Pac-10 team to be in a BCS game, such as WSU in the Rose Bowl

`That was our greatest concern, that there wouldn't be a berth available,' Hansen said.

The four BCS bowls - Sugar, Orange, Rose and Fiesta - take the champions of six conferences, the Pac-10, Big Ten, SEC, ACC, Big 12 and ACC, along with two at-large teams. A team that is not from one of those conferences but is in the top six - TCU plays in Conference USA - is guaranteed one of the at-large berths, as is a runner-up in one of the BCS conferences that is ranked in the top four, which Texas is bidding to be at No. 5, though out of the Big 12 title race.

If USC does reach the Sugar Bowl, there are growing indications that the Rose Bowl would still like to return to its traditional matchup of the Big Ten champion, either Ohio State or Michigan, against a Pac-10 team, in this case WSU.

`I don't think there's any question, that would be their first preference,' Hansen said.

Mitch Dorger, the CEO of the Rose Bowl, affirmed that recently, pointing to changes in the BCS rules over the past year that would have prevented the Orange Bowl from doing what it did last season, when it matched up Iowa and USC and left the Rose Bowl to pit Oklahoma of the Big 12 against the Pac-10's WSU.

`We made a big deal out of it last year,' Dorger said. `What I am telling people is we have a tradition of a Big Ten (vs.) Pac-10 matchup. The relationship is very important to us. Read between the lines.'

If USC wins out but doesn't reach the Sugar Bowl, it goes to the Rose Bowl and almost certainly WSU falls to the Holiday Bowl, which is contractually guaranteed the Pac-10's No. 2 team. Or if USC loses one of its final two games and the Cougars beat Washington, then the Cougars are in the Rose Bowl and USC falls to the Holiday Bowl, set for Dec. 30 in San Diego.

So it's more likely that the Civil War is for a berth in the Sun Bowl on Dec. 31 in El Paso, Texas. The Sun Bowl has the third Pac-10 team, or fourth if two are in BCS games.

If the Ducks (7-4, 4-3) beat the Beavers, they would be assured of at least a tie for third, either with the Beavers or California (6-6, 4-3), the latter needing to beat Stanford.

Similarly, the Beavers would be third alone if they win, and they could fall no further than to a deadlock for third should they lose to USC.

UCLA (6-5, 4-3) is also in the mix for third, but if there's a tie in the standings then bowls are allowed to choose and the Bruins aren't likely to be picked by anybody over OSU or Oregon because so few UCLA fans travel to bowls.

After the Sun, the next team falls to the Insight Bowl (Dec. 26 in Phoenix), followed by the Las Vegas Bowl (Dec. 24) and finally the Silicon Valley Classic. Teams with a winning record must be placed in bowls before .500 teams, and bowls are required to select in the order of finish in the Pac-10.

Only the winner of Cal's game against Stanford (4-5) can become bowl-eligible, and the Cardinal would still need to beat Notre Dame on Nov. 29. Washington (5-6) could play in a bowl only by beating WSU, and then only if all the Pac-10 teams with winning records have postseason berths.

OREGON FOOTBALL UPDATE

Pac-10 choice: Oregon's Kenny Washington was named the special teams player of the week after returning three kickoffs for 159 yards against UCLA. Washington's 97-yard return for a touchdown was the fourth-longest in UO history, and the longest in the Pac-10 this season. The other Pac-10 players of the week were California quarterback Aaron Rodgers and USC cornerback Will Poole.

Oregon's other players of the game against UCLA were linebacker Jerry Matson and cornerback Justin Phinisee on defense and quarterback Kellen Clemens on offense. Oregon's outstanding scout team players last week were lineman Sean Cullen on offense, linebacker Jonathan Levine on defense and Andiel Brown and Tommy Smith for special teams.

Available everywhere: The Civil War game Saturday will not only be shown locally by KEZI and other ABC outlets in the state (instead of the USC-UCLA game) but is also available through the ESPN Game Plan, a pay-per-view service. Contact local cable providers for details of purchase. There will also be replays of the Oregon-Oregon State game, on KEZI at 11:30 p.m. Saturday and on Fox Sports Network (in the Northwest only) at 1 p.m. Sunday.