One day after suffering the biggest lost in his coaching career, Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti tended to his weekly conference call with reporters from around the state.
But Bellotti, like everyone else, was unable to answer the big question: Where will the Ducks play next?
“We want the best bowl game possible to play the best opponent possible,” Bellotti said. “I don’t have anything more to say on it until I know more.”
Oregon’s Civil War loss Saturday ended all hopes of the Ducks playing in the Rose Bowl. Washington received the automatic bid to Pasadena when it routed Washington State, effectively beating out Oregon and Oregon State by way of tiebreakers.
Under normal circumstances, the Beavers would go to the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, Calif., usually reserved for the second-place Pacific-10 Conference team, and Oregon would play at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, as the third-place Pac-10 team.
However, this season is anything but usual.
If Oregon State gets a BCS bid to play in the Fiesta or Sugar Bowl, then Oregon would play in the Holiday Bowl instead of the Sun Bowl. But other teams, such as Virginia Tech, will probably receive at-large BCS bids before the Beavers.
Also, the Sun Bowl — like the Holiday Bowl and the two bowl games in Hawaii — has a “no repeat” clause. If implemented, the clause would prohibit Oregon from playing in the Sun Bowl because it played there last season. In that case, the Sun Bowl would replace the Ducks with a Pac-10 team from either a Hawaii bowl or the Holiday Bowl.
The Sun Bowl could also refuse Oregon if Wisconsin made it to El Paso. The Ducks and Badgers have already played once this season, and play again early next season. Bowl commissioners may fear that the matchup may be unexciting and fail to draw a profitable crowd.
So when will the Ducks know where they’ll go? Probably Dec. 3, when football action wraps up and BCS bids are determined.
“We are the co-Pac-10 champions,” Bellotti said. “As such, we deserve to play in a great game.”