5-Day Weekend: College Football Bowls Aplenty

College football’s longest weekend begins Thursday with the All-American and Liberty bowls, but some of the New Year’s Day players won’t get too serious for a few days yet.

“The first couple of nights, we’re going to look around,” Alabama guard Johnny Howard said. “We’re going to have some fun.”

The seventh-ranked Crimson Tide (10-1) takes on No. 2 Miami (10-1) in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day in New Orleans, one of America’s greatest party towns. The Sugar Bowl is one of seven bowl games on Jan. 1, a day of college football that will begin at about 10 a.m. PST and end about 9 that night.

First, though, 20th-ranked Duke (8-3) plays No. 25 Texas Tech (8-3) in the All-American Bowl at Birmingham, Ala., and Air Force (8-3-1) meets Mississippi (7-4) in the Liberty Bowl at Memphis.

Friday’s lone game has No. 18 Penn State (7-3-1) against No. 19 Brigham Young (10-2) in the Holiday Bowl at San Diego.

There are four bowl games on Saturday--No. 24 Pitt (7-3-1) vs. No. 16 Texas A&M; (8-3) in the John Hancock Bowl at El Paso; Washington (7-4) vs. Florida (7-4) in the Freedom Bowl at Anaheim; Georgia (6-5) vs. Syracuse (7-4) in the Peach Bowl at Atlanta, and No. 17 West Virginia (8-2-1) vs. No. 14 Clemson (9-2) in the Gator Bowl at Jacksonville, Fla.

In the final precursor to Monday’s madness, North Carolina State (7-4) plays Arizona (7-4) in the inaugural Copper Bowl Sunday night at Tucson.

The Sugar, Orange and Rose are the three Jan. 1 bowls with national championship significance. Top-ranked Colorado (11-0) plays No. 4 Notre Dame (11-1) in the Orange Bowl at Miami, and No. 3 Michigan (10-1) meets No. 12 USC (8-2-1) in the Rose Bowl at Pasadena.

Michigan has an outside chance at the national championship, but only, it would seem, if Notre Dame beats Colorado and Alabama beats or ties Miami.

“I don’t really care who’s No. 1,” Irish Coach Lou Holtz said. “I just want to be the best team in the Orange Bowl on New Year’s Day.”

The rest of the New Year’s Day schedule has No. 9 Auburn (9-2) vs. No. 21 Ohio State (8-3) in the Hall of Fame Bowl at Tampa, Fla.; No. 15 Virginia (10-2) vs. No. 11 Illinois (9-2) in the Citrus Bowl at Orlando, Fla.; No. 10 Arkansas (10-1) vs. No. 8 Tennessee (10-1) in the Cotton Bowl at Dallas, and No. 6 Nebraska (10-1) vs. No. 5 Florida State (9-2) in the Fiesta Bowl at Tempe, Ariz.

In Dallas, Tennessee Coach Johnny Majors says he expects tailback Chuck Webb, an All-Southeastern Conference selection, to be at full strength for the Cotton Bowl. Webb is recovering from a sprained ankle but practiced well during the week.

“Chuck is an outstanding talent, and when he is not in there, he creates a vacuum,” Majors said.

Florida State began its season with two straight losses--to Southern Mississippi and Clemson--but made it to the Fiesta Bowl against Nebraska by winning its final nine.

“It’s a pleasure to be back,” said Coach Bobby Bowden, who took the Seminoles to the Fiesta Bowl in 1988. “The kids were anxious to get here.”