MAJOR BOWL WIPED OUT BRUINS' FINISH TO DETERMINE WHERE THEY GO.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

In the aftermath of UCLA's thrashing of Cal three weeks ago, one fact nearly escaped everyone's attention until coach Bob Toledo mentioned it: The Bruins, with their sixth victory in as many games, were bowl eligible.

``Right now we're in the Toilet Bowl,'' Toledo said at the time. ``We're working our way up.''

Three consecutive losses have flushed those thoughts away. The Bruins, even if they win their final two games against USC and Arizona State, will probably do no better than the Las Vegas Bowl, where they'll play the No. 2 team in the Mountain West Conference on Christmas Day.

There are still plenty of combinations and permutations to be worked out, but UCLA can at least get a head start on its travel plans by beating the Trojans on Saturday.

That would just about assure them a spot in the Las Vegas Bowl, whether they beat Arizona State on Dec. 1.

The Pacific-10 Conference is locked into spots in five bowls: No. 1 to the Fiesta Bowl, No. 2 to the Holiday Bowl, No. 3 to the Sun Bowl, No. 4 to the Seattle Bowl and No. 5 to the Las Vegas Bowl.

For the Bruins (6-3, 3-3) to do better than fifth place, they'd have to win their final two games and have either Stanford (6-2, 5-2) lose to winless Cal, or Washington State (9-1, 6-1) beat Washington (7-2, 5-2) in Seattle.

However, the Sun Bowl wouldn't be interested in hosting the Bruins two years in a row and organizers of the inaugural Seattle Bowl prefer a team from the Northwest to pit against the No. 4 team from the ACC (North Carolina, North Carolina State, Georgia Tech, Clemson or Wake Forest).

And since the Bruins can do no better than tie Washington or Stanford, bowls get their pick since the Pac-10's tiebreaker formula is used only for the conference championship.

If the Bruins end up in the Las Vegas Bowl, they could find themselves with an attractive opponent: No. 8 BYU, one of three unbeaten teams in the country. If Utah upsets BYU this week and then beats Air Force, it would knock BYU into the No. 2 spot in the Mountain West.

If BYU wins, other possible opponents include Utah, Colorado State and New Mexico, which is coached by former UCLA defensive coordinator Rocky Long.

If the Bruins lose to USC, their bowl scenario gets much more complicated. The Trojans would lock up the No. 5 berth and UCLA, along with Oregon State if it upsets Oregon, would be left to troll for bowls with at-large berths.

That could land them in San Jose on New Year's Eve in the Silicon Valley Bowl against either Louisiana Tech or Fresno State. A less-likelier scenario could have them in the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise against either Boise State or Louisiana Tech.

It's also possible that other bowls might end up with at-large spots because conferences with tie-ins don't have enough teams bowl eligible. One of those possibilities is the Galleryfurniture.com Bowl in Houston on Dec. 28. It matches the Big 12's No. 7 team against the No. 3 team from Conference USA. It's possible that neither conference will have enough bowl-eligible teams to fill those spots.

Since the Bruins long have had a pipeline to Texas for players - they have six this year, more than from any state beside California - that could be an attractive alternative. Or as attractive as it gets these days.

UP NEXT

Saturday vs. USC

3:30 p.m.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

UCLA receiver Craig Bragg gets hit in the head as Oregon's Steve Smith breaks up a pass in the end zone Saturday.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer

Box: REPORT CARD: UCLA vs. OREGON