ABC Called for Delay of Game

Fearing that the New Year’s Day Rose Bowl, with its 1:30 PST start, would run over into the beginning of the Fiesta Bowl the same day, ABC has moved game time to 5:30 PST. The network made the decision this week, further proof that 3-hour 15-minute college games are no longer even a remote possibility.

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Notre Dame wrapped up the South Bend leg of its Fiesta Bowl workouts Friday, walking through about two hours of basics in an indoor facility before its players headed home for Christmas. The Irish, who did not go back to the practice field after their Thanksgiving weekend victory over USC until last Saturday, couldn’t have been happier to get out of Indiana. The temperature there, at 9 a.m. Friday, was minus-7.

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The point spread on the Fiesta Bowl shifted slightly this week. Oregon State went from plus-2 1/2 to plus-3. . . . Oregon State’s recruiting coordinator/secondary coach is Matt Lubick, son of Sonny Lubick, the veteran Colorado State coach who was reportedly one of the finalists for the USC job eventually given to Pete Carroll.