It’s More Than a Consolation Game : Freedom Bowl: Oregon and Colorado State, unlike participants in past years, are glad to be in Anaheim.

After several years of serving a bowl of holiday leftovers, this year the Freedom Bowl offers something different. So what if Oregon and Colorado State aren’t haute cuisine? At least these teams aren’t the warmed-over remnants of seasons gone bad.

No more teams such as Florida, which sold only 1,200 tickets before slogging through the final comedown of a disappointing season in last year’s game.

Yes, Oregon and Colorado State are happy to be here, as both coaches and any third-string free safety seemed pleased to say this week, prompted or not.

Oregon is making its bid for respectability by playing in consecutive bowl games for the first time.

“Coming from the University of Oregon, it feels like back-to-back Super Bowls,” said Michael McClellan, a senior flanker.

The Ducks have built their 8-3 record on the arm of Bill Musgrave, who was the All-Pacific 10 quarterback, despite the attention devoted to others.

Colorado State is positively giddy over its first bowl game in 42 years, getting a sequel, at long last, to its 1949 Raisin Bowl appearance. It has taken only two years for Earle Bruce, the former Ohio State coach, to bring the Rams from 1-10 to 8-4.

Is this game a comedown for a man who took the Buckeyes to two Rose Bowl games? Bruce, his ability proved once again, just smiles.

“I’ve also been in the Peach, the Liberty, the Hall of Fame, the Fiesta,” Bruce said. “I’ve been to the Citrus Bowl and the Tangerine. I can’t say I haven’t had all the experiences.

“It doesn’t feel any different. I think it’s different for the kids. I’ve never coached a more appreciative football team than this. Sometimes in other programs, they don’t appreciate it. They have been so receptive and worked so hard. We’re not the most talented football team, but we have some talent.”

All this good feeling came by design, not happenstance, said Don Andersen, the game’s executive director.

“We felt it was important to have teams here that were anxious to be here,” Andersen said, calling it “the game plan” to get teams from the Pac-10 and the Western Athletic Conference. “We didn’t even go to the Big Ten, the SEC, Notre Dame. We took a very practical approach.”

Oregon is favored in this match, billed as a battle between the Ducks’ passing offense, in which Musgrave has averaged 222 yards a game, and Colorado State’s multiple-formation ground game.

Oregon Coach Rich Brooks is encouraged that his offense will be stronger than it was in the final two games, when an injury-depleted unit failed to score a touchdown while losing to California, 28-3, and defeating Oregon State, 6-3.

Musgrave has had time to recover from several injuries, the most recent of which kept him out of the last six quarters of the regular season with a bruise in his throwing shoulder. Two receivers are back after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery, McClellan and Joe Reitzug.

Finally, tailback Sean Burwell, a redshirt freshman who led the team with 949 yards rushing after being forced into action because of an early-season injury to the starter, is back after missing most of the Oregon State game because of a back injury.

“They’re all healthy,” Brooks said. “It makes me feel a little better about our chances on the offensive side since we struggled so much in the last two games of the year.”

The Ducks are not as sound on defense, where they lost senior Peter Brantley, an all-conference outside linebacker, because of a strained left knee suffered in practice last week in Irvine.

Colorado State also has had time for an important player to heal.

Tony Alford, a tailback who ran for 1,035 yards last season, has been bothered by a right hamstring pull and later by a strained tendon in his right foot. He rushed for 647 yards, but started only one game. The bulk of the ground work went to Brian Copeland and Todd Yert, a short-yardage fullback who has put his head down and bulled to 16 touchdowns.

“Alford, there’s a guy who hasn’t been well all year,” Bruce said. “He’s going to see the football quite a bit--if we get the football quite a bit.”

Bruce keeps his own counsel as to which of two rotating quarterbacks he will start--Mike Gimenez, the better option quarterback and the starter in the past five games, or Kevin Verdugo, the better passer, who was slowed by a shoulder injury late in the season.

Known to surprise even his assistants with his choice of a starter, Bruce strayed from an earlier expectation that Gimenez would start and said Friday, “I think probably (it would be) Verdugo, if we had to start right now.”

Defensively, Colorado State lost a starter in the secondary this week when Harlan Carroll came down with what was diagnosed as mononucleosis. That will put added pressure on a defensive backfield secondary already facing a great deal of it.

“Musgrave throws the ball, and if you overdo (setting the defense for) that, they’ll run the ball and put it in the end zone,” Bruce said.

Oregon must be watchful of the curse of the favorite: overconfidence.

“I’m obviously concerned that could be the case with our team,” Brooks said. “There’s no question Colorado State is challenged. Earle Bruce is challenged when he gets up in the morning. There’s no question they’ll be ready to play and come out and bloody our noses.”

Freedom Bowl Notes

The kickoff is at 5 p.m. for the game, which will be on Channel 9 and the Raycom Sports Network. The game was televised by NBC last year.

Oregon had sold 18,000 tickets as of Friday, and Colorado State had made 8,000 of a total of 11,800 guaranteed sales by the Western Athletic Conference. An additional 10,000 tickets were sold by the Orange County Sports Assn., and another 10,000 have been given away for distribution to military families. About 3,000 in walkup sales are expected. The record for ticket sales is 56,910, set in 1986 for the UCLA-Brigham Young game.

Colorado State Coach Earle Bruce was asked for his reaction to Air Force’s upset of Ohio State, his former employer. Bruce beamed good-naturedly. “That’s a good question. I’ve been waiting for that one. . . . Great coaching job by (Air Force Coach) Fisher DeBerry. That was a great win for us as a conference, a prestige win that shows the WAC is coming of age.”