COLLEGE FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT : WITH FEDERAL SHUTDOWN, WAS THE CALL ON AL’S DIME?

If the Citrus Bowl has the fifth-biggest payout, doesn’t it stand to reason it should get its congratulatory call from the fifth ranking member of the Clinton Administration?

Perhaps, but after Tennessee’s 20-14 victory over Ohio State, Volunteer Coach Phillip Fulmer got a call from the No. 2 man, Vice President Al Gore, who is a Tennessee native.

“That was great,” Fulmer said. “I appreciated that very much. . . . He just congratulated us. He said, ‘You’ve made the state of Tennessee very proud.’ ”

Maybe the secretary of agriculture isn’t a football fan.