An old Trojan once pondered, "What's better in life than coming out of the tunnel against Notre Dame, with the leaves turning brown and it's big man on big man?" USC gets away from Pacific 10 play to renew its great intersectional rivalry with the Irish this Saturday at Notre Dame, but these teams will have a hard time waking up past echoes. Both have losing records and what was once considered a premiere matchup is now almost a glimmer of long-ago memories.

Meanwhile, back in Realityland, SC's crosstown pals, the No. 4 UCLA Bruins, have put themselves within striking distance of the Rose Bowl's BCS national championship game after their convincing win last Saturday over unbeaten Washington, that coupled with Florida's loss to Auburn, gives the Bruins a legitmate chance. The Westwooders are trying not to act too giddy because they must corral the gutty Golden Bears of California Saturday night, and Stanford and unbeaten Oregon are sailing just over the horizon.

And, the Ducks have a date with the unpredictable Cardinal at Eugene this weekend. Stanford will try to regroup after its shootout loss last week to upstart Washington State, who meets Montana State Thursday night.

Coastal waters are choppy in mid-October, so lets see who weathers the storm.

CALIFORNIA (0-5) at UCLA (5-0) | The winless Bears are 28-point underdogs after being trounced last week by Oregon, 48-7. Any chance of a Cal making a game of this went out the window when Bears Coach Tom Holmoe annouced that quarterback Kyle Boller, who has guided his team to back-to-back upsets of UCLA, will miss the contest with a bad back. Eric Holtfreter, who played junior college ball at L.A. Valley College, will start in Boller's place. UCLA's veteran wide-receiver Brian Poli-Dixon is sidelined from two to three weeks with a dislocated shoulder, but Cal will undoubtedly miss Boller more than UCLA will miss Poli-Dixon. This one should be a skate for UCLA, who gets Stanford next week on the road. UCLA, 52-10.

STANFORD (3-1) at OREGON (6-0) | This is a big game for Stanford because a win over the Ducks and a victory next week against UCLA puts the Cardinal in a first-place tie in the Pac-10. The Cardinal has dominated the Ducks the last three seasons, but tiny Autzen Stadium in Eugene is a noisy place and even with Oregon's leading tackler, free safety Keith Lewis out with a sprained ankle, No. 5 Oregon, off to its best start in 37 years, should extend its home winning streak to 24 straight games, now the longest in Division 1 college football. The Watcher likes the Green and Black in a wild one, 52-45.

USC (2-4) at NOTRE DAME (2-3) | Right now, it looks like the Trojans will march to South Bend without tailback Sultan McCullough, who has been fighting a pulled abdominal muscle since the start of the season. He will be replaced by redshirt junior Sunny Byrd, who played well enough last week against Arizona State. Both teams have improved lately after horrible starts but the odds favor USC because of its overall speed and quickness, especially on defense, where coach Pete Carroll says his team is healthy again. Notre Dame coach Bob Davie still must decide who will start at quarterback, but whomever it is, the Trojans should avenge last season's loss. Even green jerseys won't help the Irish. USC, 28-14.

BOISE STATE (3-3) at FRESNO STATE (6-0) | The No. 8 Bulldogs, who squeaked by in overtime against Colorado State last week, 25-22, come home to raisin country for a Friday night game that will be televised on ESPN. Fresno, looking for all the national exposure it can get, should have little trouble in this one, though the Bullodgs should be wary of Boise quarterback Ryan Dimwiddie, who leads the WAC in passing efficiency and is ranked fourth in the country. Dimwiddie threw for 405 yards last week against Tulsa, but this is Fresno State, who will stay unbeaten, 35-18.

GOING COASTAL | Arizona heads for Seattle to play the Washington Huskies who are hurting after Saturday's 35-13 drubbing by UCLA. Quarterback Taylor Barton was hit 21 times and suffered a concussion and a foot injury that put him into a hospital. He had been filling in for injured Cody Pickett, who is still sidelined with a broken collarbone. Coach Rick Neuheisel hasn't named a starter.... In a Thursday night game, Montana State plays the unbeaten No. 19 Washington State Cougars. This game was scheduled after the Cougars' game with Colorado was canceled because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks....Ouch! The San Diego State Aztecs travel to Columbus, Ohio, to play Ohio State in a game that was postponed from Sept. 15. The Aztecs, 23-point underdogs, probably wish the game had been permanently canceled. Quotebook: Washington State coach Mike Price comparing this season's team to his 1997 Pac-10 champion: "The Rose Bowl team didn't play any better than this team has played! The Rose Bowl team finished very strong."