Pac-10 Reaches Deal to Play in Las Vegas

The fifth-place team from the Pacific 10 Conference will play the second-place team from the Mountain West in the Las Vegas Bowl, bowl officials said Monday.

The game, which had been scheduled the evening of Dec. 20 between the second-choice Mountain West team and an at-large pick, is moving to Christmas Day and from ESPN2 to ABC.

“We really feel having a regional matchup means a lot in attracting people to town and a bigger television audience,” bowl director Tina Kunzer-Murphy said.

Kunzer-Murphy said the broadcast deal with ABC is for three years.

Jim Muldoon, assistant Pac-10 commissioner, said his conference made a one-year commitment to the bowl but will probably look to extend it.

Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson said his conference also has one year remaining with the bowl, but said the relationship has been good and he expected an extension will be negotiated.

“This is a nice step forward for the Las Vegas Bowl,” Thompson said of the change to Christmas Day. “That’s a great window for us.”

Muldoon said the Pac-10 had been talking about sending a sixth-place team to the Las Vegas Bowl, but opted to send the fifth-place team after Aloha Bowl administrators announced in April that they would move their game from Hawaii.

*

Florida State wide receiver Anquan Boldin will sit out the season because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

Boldin suffered the injury during a full-contact scrimmage Saturday. An MRI exam Monday revealed a complete tear in the ligament. He will probably undergo surgery in two to three weeks, trainer Randy Oravetz said.

*

Chris Juergens, who was on track to become Washington’s all-time leading receiver before being sidelined because of a knee injury, has quit the team, Coach Rick Neuheisel said.

The injury, a chipped bone, forced Juergens to sit out last season, but he had practiced with the team this spring. Neuheisel said recently he was “100%,” but Juergens said he had to use long stretching routines and ice baths to minimize the pain.

*

Virginia Tech sued the promoter of the 2000 Black Coaches Assn. Football Classic, claiming the company still owes the school money from the canceled game.

School officials said Gazelle Group Inc., based in Princeton, N.J., received $593,807 from ticket stubs, parking fees and merchandise sales for the Aug. 27, 2000, game against Georgia Tech, which was washed out before kickoff by a violent thunderstorm.

*

Connecticut quarterback Ryan Tracey is leaving the school only 10 days after saying he had “no concerns whatsoever” about playing on his injured knee. Tracey said he had withdrawn from classes and would complete his education at a school closer to home in California.

*

Michigan Coach Lloyd Carr picked sophomore John Navarre to replace Drew Henson as the starting quarterback for the No. 12 Wolverines.

Navarre started the first four games last season, filling in for an injured Henson. He completed 40 of 77 passes for 583 yards, eight touchdowns and one interception.

Navarre beat out Spencer Brinton, a transfer from San Diego State who spent the last two years on a Mormon mission.