UCLA

While the Rose Bowl commands local attention and the Orange Bowl commands national attention, Freddie Mitchell advises you not to ignore the Sun Bowl. The Dec. 29 game between UCLA and Wisconsin features a game within the game as good as any other.

“It’s going to be a great college matchup,” he said. “You’ve got the best receiver in the nation and the best defensive back in the nation, going head-on in one game.”

Wisconsin cornerback Jamar Fletcher won the Thorpe Award, presented to the top defensive back in college football. Mitchell believes he should have won the Biletnikoff Award, presented to the top receiver. He was one of three finalists for the award, won by Antonio Bryant of Pittsburgh.

Fletcher has 20 interceptions in three seasons, six in nine games this season. Big Ten coaches selected him as the conference’s defensive player of the year.

“I just keep hearing about that dude, and it’s all good,” Mitchell said. “It’s kind of an honor to play against a player like that.”

Is he worried?

“It’s physically impossible for any cornerback in college football to stop me. That’s my mentality,” Mitchell said. “I’m not giving up anything because he’s an award winner.”

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ESPN is lobbying UCLA and Alabama to move the 2001 season opener, scheduled Sept. 1 at Tuscaloosa, to Aug. 30 for a Thursday night national cable broadcast. CBS has first rights to the game, because of its contract with the Southeastern Conference, and a CBS spokeswoman said Monday the network has not yet decided whether to air the UCLA-Alabama game. Both schools would prefer a national broadcast on CBS, and Alabama associate athletic director Larry White said the Crimson Tide is “lukewarm” about the ESPN proposal because of the logistics involved in staging a weekday game on campus with school in session.