COLLEGE FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT : AT LEAST THERE WASN’T A FREEDOM BOWL TO LOSE

The Pacific 10 was the big bowl loser among conferences, and only USC’s victory over Northwestern staved off a complete humiliation.

Pac-10 teams were drubbed early and often as four lost--UCLA to Kansas, 51-30, in the Aloha; Washington to Iowa, 38-18, in the Sun; Oregon to Colorado, 38-6, in the Cotton; and Stanford to East Carolina, 19-13, in the Liberty.

The Western Athletic Conference was winless as Air Force (to Texas Tech, 55-41, in the Copper) and Colorado State (to Kansas State, 54-21, in the Holiday) were defeated, but they were the only WAC teams to get bowl invitations.

The big winner was the Big Eight (3-0), especially if you consider that Texas A&M;, which defeated Michigan, 22-20, in the Alamo, and Texas Tech are joining the league next year. A victory tonight by Nebraska would make the dominance complete.

The Big East was 2-0 and the Mid-American was also perfect as its only entry, Toledo, defeated Nevada, 40-37, in overtime in the Las Vegas Bowl.