Sun Bowl officials have struck a deal guaranteeing that as of next year the game will feature a matchup between the Pac-10's third-place team and the Big Ten's fifth-place team.
"We think the Big Ten does a lot for us. You can't think of a bad team in the Big Ten. Certainly the same goes for the Pac-10," Tom Starr, the Sun Bowl Assn.'s executive director, said in El Paso.
The agreement with both conferences goes into effect next year and runs through 1997. The Sun Bowl pays $1.1 million to each team.