Ducks victory over Beavers will likely keep Cal home for holidays

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December 1, 8:32 AM

by Rob Calonge, Cal Bears Examiner

 

Oregon's Walter Thurmond lll scores on his interception
as Oregon State's Adam Speer (51) pursues in the
second quarter of an NCAA college football game
Saturday, Nov. 29, 2008, in Corvallis, Ore.
(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

The Bears reside in fourth place with no shot at third and a possible slide to fifth.  In other words, they'll more than likely get the Emerald Bowl bid.  Although the Las Vegas Bowl gets the first pick this year, they'll be picking between either Arizona, Arizona State, or Cal.  Arizona and Arizona State play this coming weekend with State needing a victory to become bowl-eligible.

Should Arizona win and Cal lose to the Huskies, the Bears will be ranked fifth in the Pac-10 and surely get the Emerald Bowl.  Should Arizona State become victorious, and the Bears lose, then the Bears would probably still get the Emerald Bowl.  The Las Vegas Bowl would surely rather have Arizona show up for their first bowl game in 10 years, with a fanbase close enough to fill the stadium, but if Cal were to become a ranked team again, they might opt to bring the Bears in for the notieriety.

I would like nothing better. we'd be absolutely thrilled.  I think we'll be able to go into Saturday with a decision everyone is comfortable with, but it's premature to say 'It's a sure thing.
- Emerald Bowl executive director Gary Cavalli on Cal going to the Emerald Bowl

The only other scenario for the Bears is if USC somehow moves from #5 into a National Championship game.  If that were to happen, Cal could possibly move up to the Sun Bowl.  With a week to go in the season, it's rather unlikely that a scenario pitting the Trojans against anyone for the National title would happen.

So the Bears will have to be content with a travel over the bridge for their bowl appearance this season.  Who they'd play would also be another oddity.  The Emerald Bowl normally pits the fourth or fifth best Pac-10 team against the fifth, sixth, or seventh best ACC team.  North Carolina is probably considered fifth by their overall record of 8-4.  Six teams in the ACC are tied with conference records of 4-4, including Maryland, so as you can see, deciding who would play Cal could become rather murky.  Some reports have Wake Forest or Miami (Fla.) with 7-5 records making the trip.

According to ESPN's Mark Schlabach and Bruce Feldman, Miami is the sure bet for the Emerald Bowl, but neither could agree if Cal or Arizona would be the Pac-10 representative.  Schlabach has Arizona, while Feldman has Cal.  They both agree that whoever goes to the Las Vegas Bowl, will meet TCU, the Mountain West Conference number two.  The MWC normally sends their best team to the Las Vegas Bowl, but Utah is a near certainty to be included in one of the BCS games, most likely the Sugar Bowl.

Here are the standings in the Pac-10 going into the final week:

Pacific-10 Standings
TEAM	CONF. W-L	OVERALL W-L
*-USC	7-1	10-1
*-Oregon	7-2	9-3
*-Oregon State	7-2	8-4
*-California	5-3	7-4
*-Arizona	4-4	6-5
Arizona State	4-4	5-6
x-Stanford	4-5	5-7
x-UCLA	3-5	4-7
x-Washington State	1-8	2-11
x-Washington	0-8	0-11

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