UCLA ANALYSIS: BRUINS GO BOWLING.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

As UCLA tries to put the disappointment of Saturday's 38-35 loss to USC behind it, the Bruins at least have a little something to soothe themselves: the prospect of a bowl game.

Where it will be - at the Aloha Bowl in Honolulu to play Boston College or the Sun Bowl in El Paso for another shot at Wisconsin - isn't clear and might not be for another two weeks, proof that sorting out the Bowl Championship Series system isn't any less complicated than electing a president.

The Bruins' plans, for now, lay in the outcome of Friday's Arizona State at Arizona game, the winner of which will be bowl eligible with six wins. An Arizona victory sends the Bruins to Hawaii. An Arizona State victory just sets up a series of more complicated matters that could involve whether Notre Dame beats USC or Boston College beats Miami or whether Oklahoma beats Kansas State in the Big 12 title game.

Under the Pacific-10's bowl agreement, the winner goes to the Rose Bowl, the No. 2 team goes to the Holiday Bowl, the No. 3 team goes to the Sun Bowl and the No. 4 and 5 teams go to the two bowls in Hawaii, the Oahu on Christmas Eve and the Aloha on Christmas morning.

As it stands now, Washington will go to the Rose Bowl. The Holiday Bowl, which has its choice between Oregon and Oregon State, which tied for the title with Washington, will take fifth-ranked Oregon State. That leaves Oregon ticketed for the Sun Bowl, except that the Ducks were in El Paso last year and the Sun Bowl has the option of declining a team that would be returning for the second year in a row.

The Ducks' chances of returning to El Paso are even more remote since the Big Ten berth in the bowl is expected to go to Wisconsin, which has played Oregon this season. The Sun Bowl has the fifth choice of the Big Ten's six bowl-eligible teams, behind the Rose (Purdue), Citrus (Michigan), Outback (likely Northwestern) and Alamo (likely Ohio State).

``You don't want a rematch,'' said Sun Bowl executive director Joyce Feinberg, who has an outside chance of landing Northwestern or Ohio State. ``I'm sure neither school wants that.''

If the Sun Bowl declines Oregon, it would take the next Pac-10 team in line. If Arizona wins, that would be the Wildcats. If Arizona State wins, it would be tied with UCLA in the conference standings and the Sun Bowl would have its choice.

Feinberg, who declined to state the Sun Bowl's preference, said the decision would be made in consultation with the conferences and CBS, which is televising the game. In the Bruins' favor is that they're located in the nation's second-largest TV market. But how many fans would travel to El Paso to see a matchup (Wisconsin vs. UCLA) that's gotten a lukewarm reception at the Rose Bowl twice in the past seven years?

Another factor could be if the Pac-10 gets two teams in BCS bowls (Orange, Rose, Fiesta, Sugar). That could happen one of two ways: if Miami loses to Boston College and Oklahoma to Kansas State, Washington would leapfrog into the Orange Bowl and Oregon State into the Rose. A more likely scenario is if Oregon State is given an at-large berth in the Fiesta Bowl, a circumstance that would improve dramatically if USC beats Notre Dame on Saturday.

If the Pac-10 gets two teams in BCS bowls, everyone else would move up: Oregon into the Holiday Bowl and the No. 4 team (UCLA, Arizona or Arizona State) into the Sun Bowl.

If UCLA ends up in Hawaii, it would play in the higher-profile Aloha Bowl, which will be broadcast on ABC, according to Aloha Bowl executive director Fritz Rohlfing. The Bruins would be matched against another large-market school, Boston College, Rohlfing said.

UCLA STATUS REPORT

GAME: 11

RESULT: USC 38, UCLA 35

RECORD: 6-5, 3-5

THIS WEEK'S GPA: 1.46

CUMULATIVE GPA: 2.52

NEXT: Bowl game, TBA

QUARTERBACKS

Cory Paus played his most mature game of the season - no turnovers and drove the Bruins to the tying score with 1:05 to play. He converted an ordinary 3 of 9 third downs with passes, but two of them were for touchdowns.

B+

RUNNING BACKS

DeShaun Foster started the season as the cornerstone of the offense and ended it (20 carries for 43 yards) as a nonfactor. Fullback Ed Ieremia- Stansbury (two carries for 19 yards and a 4-yard touchdown catch) has been the team's most (only?) pleasant surprise.

D

RECEIVERS

Freddie Mitchell, with apologies to Carson Palmer, was the best player on the field. He threw a touchdown pass, caught another and set up the Bruins' two other offensive scores with a 76-yard catch and run, and a 51-yard pass.

A-

OFFENSIVE LINE

The unit that manhandled Alabama and Michigan is now the offensive ma-lign. Only Penn State rushed for fewer yards against USC this season. Either these guys aren't blocking or Foster isn't running.

D

DEFENSIVE LINE

Forget about containing Sultan McCullough and Malefou MacKenzie, it couldn't even contain Carson Palmer running the ball. On the bright side, it wasn't as bad as the linebackers and secondary.

F

LINEBACKERS

So that's why USC didn't recruit Ryan Nece. Not only couldn't Ronnie Lott's son cover any of the Trojans backs, he was called for a personal foul for the third straight game. Of the Bruins' top three tacklers, none were linebackers.

F

DEFENSIVE BACKS

It was an equal opportunity disaster: Joe Hunter and Ricky Manning were toasted for touchdowns. Keith Short took a critical pass interference and Audie Attar was out of position.

F

SPECIAL TEAMS

Drew Bennett's run was a key play and the special teams are finally becoming solid. The only blunder was Nate Fikse's kickoff that went out of bounds, setting up USC's game-winning drive.

B

COACHING

The trick plays kept UCLA in the game, the option call with Paus was perfect and again there was no quit in the Bruins. But whether it's coaching or players, the defense managed to do the impossible: make USC's offense look like it knew what it was doing.

D+

- Billy Witz

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo: UCLA receiver Freddie Mitchell had a big game against USC.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer

Box: UCLA STATUS REPORT (see text)