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UCLA or Oregon in the Las Vegas Bowl? |
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AF_Puma | Sunday, November 26, 2006, 7:44 am
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By Jim Vallen
COUGARBLUE
Will it be the Bruins or the Ducks?
That’s what Cougar fans want to know, but they must await the USC at UCLA game next Saturday on December 2nd. Here is why.
Current PAC-10 standings:
1-USC 10-1, 7-1
2-Cal 8-3, 6-2
3-Oregon State 9-4, 6-3
4-UCLA 6-5, 4-4
5-Oregon 7-5, 4-5
5-Arizona State 7-5, 4-5
5-Arizona 6-6, 4-5
5-Washington State 6-6, 4-5
At the end of the day Saturday, UCLA is in sole possession of fourth place based on their .500 league record versus all the 4 teams with 4-5 (.444) records.
But UCLA is one of four PAC-10 teams with one game remaining. To remain in fourth place, UCLA has to beat USC, which isn’t very probable, but in all rivalry games nothing is ever taken for granted and many times the better of the two teams don’t always win.
So upset USC and UCLA is locked in at fourth place. They would be 7-5, 5-4 and would command sole possession of that fourth-place PAC-10 finish.
A UCLA loss though puts Oregon in the drivers seat.
The standings above show how the 4 fifth-place teams fall out in view of a bowl game. The first tie-breaker is the NCAA rule that a seven-win team has first rights to a bowl game over a six-win. With a loss by UCLA next Saturday, UCLA would join those four teams and there would be a five-team log-jam at fourth place.
That brings the second tie-breaker into the question. The seven-win rule takes precedence first and that means that Oregon and Arizona State would get the first look as the fourth-place team by virtue of their overall 7-5 records. Then you would have to look at their head-to-head competition. Oregon beat Arizona State 48-13 and therefore would have first claim to the spot in the Pioneer Pure Vision Las Vegas Bowl that will be played Thursday, December 21st.
So at least the field is narrowed finally as BYU’s regular season comes to an end, but we still must wait one more week for the mud to settle and the PAC-10 standings to finalize and produce an opponent.
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