By Greg Lewis
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The UCLA-Missouri football series is a thing of the past, and
the Bruins do not seem pleased.
Missouri athletic officials recently backed out of a two-year
contract for a football home-and-home series scheduled for 2001 and
2002. The games had been scheduled more than 13 years ago in
1987.
“With the competition in the Big 12, it’s very
difficult to play too severe of a non-conference schedule,”
MU senior associate athletic director Gene McArtor said in a
statement. “In 2001, we already have the second game of our
series with Michigan State. With (UCLA) … that’s biting off
a little much.”
UCLA saw the issue a little differently. “There’s a
signed contract for the two schools to play. Contracts ought to
mean something,” said Marc Dellins, Director of Sports
Information. “I guess I’m naive to have thought the
obligation would be met.”
With football schedules routinely designed a decade or more in
advance, the cancellation puts a burden on the Bruins to find a
comparable opponent in terms of strength of schedule and television
exposure.
UCLA figures it could lose more than $500,000 in potential
television revenue from the cancellation of the games. School
administrators are contemplating taking legal action against
Missouri for the last-minute cancellation.
The lost trip also puts a damper on UCLA’s national
recruiting efforts. Part of the reason for cross-country football
trips is to gain exposure for recruits from other parts of the
country.
One proposal offered by UCLA was for the Bruins to play at
Kansas instead of Missouri for the 2001 game, with the Tigers
coming to the Rose Bowl as scheduled in 2002. Missouri declined the
offer, according to Dellins.
“I’m pretty sure Kansas would have done it. They
(KU) would have played a quality (home) game against an opponent
that they would not have had to return,” Dellins said.
“For us, that’s a great deal,” Kansas athletic
director Richard Konzem told reporters. “But that’s not
a good deal for MU, where they go on the road and Kansas gets the
home game.”
UCLA indicated MU’s actions could put future athletic
matches between the two schools in jeopardy. The Bruins and Tigers
were scheduled to meet in the 2001 men’s basketball Wooden
Classic, but “if this is going to happen, I don’t see
any reason to play MU in any sport in the future,” Dellins
said.
UCLA allowed Missouri to attempt to find an acceptable
substitute for the series. “We found other schools to play in
our place, but none of those were acceptable to UCLA, which is
their prerogative,” McArtor said.
Dellins confirmed that the Tigers offered to help find a
replacement, but said that they would probably offer a top-10
caliber program, possibly Kansas State. Dellins declined.
“Ohio State and Alabama are our other two non-conference
games (in 2001),” he said. “I’m not going to do
that (schedule a third top-10 team) to my coach.”
Missouri also proposed moving the years or changing the dates,
according to McArtor.
McArtor added that the Tigers are still looking for opponents to
fill the UCLA void. He said that although MU hasn’t yet sent
UCLA an official letter declaring it planned to kill the series,
the decision was basically final. “We do not intend to play
those games,” he said.
KU and UCLA are still working on a plan. Konzem and Dellins are
tinkering with the idea that UCLA may still play next year at
Kansas. The Jayhawks, however will not be able to travel to the
Rose Bowl until 2009.
Other teams UCLA is looking at includes Oklahoma and
Arkansas.
UCLA said it expected Missouri to play the games if no
acceptable substitute was found.
“We did try to work together,” Dellins said.
“It was our feeling that if we couldn’t come to an
agreement on the opponent, that the games would still be
played.”
. . .
On July 22, 6 p.m. at the Rose Bowl a group of California High
School All-Stars will face off against Florida’s All-Stars in
the the first California-Florida Shrine game. The game plans to be
an annual event.
UCLA recruits participating on the California squad include
linebackers Brandon Chillar and Tim Warfield, kicker Chris Kluwe,
fullback Pat Norton, wide receiver Tab Perry, offensive linemen
Steve Viera and Eyoseph Efseaff and running back Manuel White.
On June 24 the California All-Star Squad squeaked out a
last-second 29-27 victory over the Texas All-Stars on a 53-yard
Kluwe field goal. Perry was the MVP of that game with five catches
for 166 yards.
. . .
Football linebacker Asi Faoa, who was charged with one count
each of mayhem and assault after an altercation that left
third-year psychology student Rodrigo DeZubiria with brain damage,
had his case continued. The preliminary date is set for Aug. 7 at
8:30 a.m. at the Los Angeles Municipal Court.