COLLEGE FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT / THE BOWL GAMES : NOTEWORTHY?

Mr. Confidence: Said Michigan center Steve Everitt, after Washington’s Travis Hanson missed a 22-yard field-goal attempt to start the fourth quarter with the score 31-31: “I knew there was no way they could keep us out of the end zone anyway.”

Notre Dame replaced the traditional “Irish” on the front of its helmets Friday with the word “Moose” in honor of former Irish Athletic Director Moose Krause, who died early last month.

As organizers had feared, the Rose Bowl ended up with its lowest attendance since 1955, when 89,191 saw Ohio State defeat USC, 20-7, in the most recent game when it rained. The 94,236 in the 103,000-seat stadium to see Michigan and Washington was the first sub-100,000 crowd since 1964, when 96,567 saw Illinois defeat Washington, 17-7.