COLLEGE FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT / THE BOWL GAMES : FIELD OF SCREAMS

Fiesta Bowl officials feverishly tried to make the field in Sun Devil Stadium playable for Friday’s game between Colorado and Syracuse by tamping down the sand in the middle of the field.

By game time, the field appeared settled, in the same way that a raked sand trap can be said to be playable. At halftime, a small tractor pulled a heavy roller to tamp the field down again.

No one has had anything nice to say about the field this week. Said Tampa Bay Buccaneer Coach Sam Wyche after last Sunday’s game against the Phoenix Cardinals: “It was like playing on the back stretch of the Kentucky Derby.”

Aside from the wear of the game, the field took some abuse from Colorado’s mascot, Ralphie, a 1,200-pound female buffalo. When she was released from her trailer to lead the Colorado team onto the field, Ralphie nearly got away from her handlers. She made a mad dash toward the Syracuse sideline before she was brought under control.

Ralphie braked abruptly and swerved away from the Orangemen, but her pivot kicked up buckets of sand and left a sizable divot that went unrepaired before the game started.

The buffalo’s wild gallop toward the Syracuse players was interpreted as an act of aggression by the Orangemen, some of whom made loud and disparaging comments about the beast’s weight. Colorado’s players took offense to the taunts and both teams met at midfield to settle it.

Coaches and officials intervened and an incident was averted.