Trojans Still Need to Straighten Their Bowl-Tie

USC’s bowl picture, confused enough Saturday by Florida’s tie with Florida State, became even more muddled Saturday night by its tie with Notre Dame.

With a victory, Sugar Bowl executives had said the Trojans would be well-positioned for a Jan. 2 game in New Orleans, but that was before the 31-31 Florida-Florida State tie.

Notre Dame was a possible Sugar Bowl entrant with a victory.

But not a tie, apparently.

Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz seemed to say the Irish would stay home after the tie, saying: “I don’t believe we’re going to a bowl . . . but that decision is up to the university.”

The Florida-Florida State tie meant a possible rematch of those two on Jan. 2 at the Superdome, if Florida beats Alabama in Saturday’s SEC championship game at Atlanta.

“We didn’t want a Florida-Florida State rematch, but that might change now,” Chuck Zatarain, Sugar Bowl president, said Saturday.

“Our contract provides for a rematch of a tie.”

ABC, which broadcasts the Sugar Bowl, was already reportedly lobbying for a Florida-Florida State rematch Saturday.

A Cotton Bowl bid for USC seemed more likely than New Orleans late Saturday.

Before the Notre Dame-USC game, Cotton Bowl official John Folmer had said “we have a good chance” for the Trojans to play Texas Tech in the event of a USC loss to Notre Dame.