By Arlie Rahn
Arizona Daily Wildcat
After what has been somewhat of a down year for the Pacific 10 Conference, it received a moment of brilliance when one of its most prestigous records was tied last weekend.
In UCLA's 33-17 win against California, Bruin coach Terry Donahue earned his 97th conference victory, tying him with former Washington coach Don James (1975-92) as the winningest coach in conference history. But the record was not the only milestone Donahue achieved this weekend Ÿ the win against Cal also marked his 150th career victory.
"I am really thrilled about it and will be more thrilled when we break it," Donahue said. "My real emphasis is to try and get our seventh win, to keep our team going. I am proud of the record."
Donahue will attempt to replace James' name in the record book with his 98th conference win when the Bruins face Arizona State this weekend.
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For the second straight year, Southern Cal tied its opponent in a make-or-break game for bowl contention. The Trojans' 21-21 draw against Washington last Saturday might remind some of their 17-17 tie last year against Notre Dame in the final game of the season. And like last year, the tie might just be enough to vault them into a major bowl. But this year's bowl of choice for the Trojans is in Pasadena, Calif., instead of Dallas.
"We have a chance, if we win these last three games, to go to the Rose Bowl," USC coach John Robinson said. "We went for one (point, instead of a two-point conversion) at the end of the game because we feel that we have an advantage because Washington has the tougher schedule ahead of them."
The Huskies have Oregon at home, UCLA on the road and finish with Washington State, whereas USC has a much easier path with Stanford at home, Oregon State on the road and UCLA at home. But even if both teams win out, the Trojans still will go to Pasadena because they have the better nonconference record. Washington could finish undefeated in the conference and not go to the Rose Bowl.
Robinson said he was not pleased with the effort his team put out in the first three quarters in Seattle, as the Trojans fell behind 21-0. In fact, it took a two-touchdown fourth quarter from USC quarterback Brad Otten just to get back in the game.
"We can talk a lot about what went wrong, but it indeed was a game and a half in hell. But I feel like we did come out of it in the third quarter," Robinson said. "We've played in maybe two of the top five tough places to play in the country (at Notre Dame and at Washington) two weeks in a row. We can make all the excuses in the world, but we just have to regroup and play better."
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Arizona State got back into bowl contention this weekend when it stunned No. 10 Oregon in Eugene, Ore., 35-24. Quarterback Jake Plummer threw two touchdowns to help ASU pull out the late win.
"You have to give them credit," Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said. "We had talked about being prepared for these games against underdogs, but we couldn't do what we had to do to win. They made big plays and soundly defeated us."