Here’s a New Year’s Menu That Seems Warmed Over

Ah, New Year’s football weekend. A time to sit back and watch all the college teams that disappointed their fans and alumni by getting close, but not close enough, to the big game. A time to watch six of the best seven teams in the NFL start their final regular-season games as underdogs, because most everyone, Las Vegas included, figures they will be sitting out key starters to avoid pre-playoff injury.

The Cotton Bowl features teams, Tennessee and Texas A&M;, with a combined seven losses.

The Fiesta Bowl features teams, Utah and Pittsburgh, with lame-duck coaches.

At Buffalo, the 14-1 Pittsburgh Steelers are nine-point underdogs to the Bills.

At Denver, Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts are 8 1/2 -point underdogs to the Broncos.

At home, the 11-4 San Diego Chargers are three-point underdogs to the Kansas City Chiefs.

New fight songs this weekend:

For college fans: “We’re just killing time until USC-Oklahoma!”

For NFL fans: “Stand up! Sit down! Sit! Sit! Sit!”

Available for viewing in the days ahead:

TODAY

* Cotton Bowl

(Channel 11, 8 a.m.)

Remember when the Cotton Bowl was huge? Remember when it didn’t have to be crammed into an 8 a.m. West Coast time slot just to get it out of the way because there were five other bowl games on the schedule? Remember when it wasn’t called the “SBC Cotton Bowl”?

Evidently, that extra bit is there to remind us that this isn’t the CBS Cotton Bowl -- right, we know, Fox is televising -- and it surely isn’t the BCS Cotton Bowl, not with No. 17 Tennessee (a two-time loser to Auburn) facing Texas 8 A.M., I mean, Texas A&M; (a four-time loser during the regular season).

Just one more thing that was better before the BCS. And you don’t have to get up too early on New Year’s morning to learn that.

* Outback Bowl

(ESPN, 8 a.m.)

What’s better than an 8 a.m. bowl game on New Year’s Day? Two 8 a.m. bowl games on New Year’s Day, why, of course!

This one pairs Georgia and Wisconsin, teams that once were highly ranked, then hit some rough patches. Both lost twice in conference play and finished 9-2 overall, tumbling out of the top five and dropping all the way down to 8 in the morning.

* Gator Bowl

(Channel 4, 9:30 a.m.)

How do you get to Jacksonville, Fla., site of today’s game between West Virginia and Florida State? Follow the trail of mistakes.

In the early 1970s, West Virginia had a coach named Bobby Bowden, but really wasn’t that hospitable to him. As NBC’s Pat Haden noted earlier this week, “Four of [Bowden’s] kids graduated from West Virginia. Bowden averaged seven wins a season as head coach there, yet was hung in effigy, which led him to take the FSU job in 1976. Seminole fans should be mighty thankful.”

Then there was Lee Corso’s preseason Orange Bowl prediction on ESPN: West Virginia to face USC. You know what happens when Corso makes you his preseason pick to play in the Orange Bowl? That’s right. You wind up in the Gator Bowl.

* Capital One Bowl

(Channel 7, 10 a.m.)

Nick Saban coaches his last game for Louisiana State, taking on Iowa, before heading to Miami to coach the Dolphins, where he will spend his off-season watching tape and muttering, “You call these quarterbacks? And you still don’t know why Ricky Williams quit?”

Funny thing: If Saban hadn’t gone 13-1 last season, he most likely wouldn’t be headed to the Dolphins. And if he hadn’t lost twice this season, he most likely wouldn’t be bailing out of Baton Rouge. So, it turns out, LSU, if it wanted to keep its coach, really needed to have its big season in 2004, not 2003.

Any takers, LSU fans? How about USC fans?

* Rose Bowl

(Channel 7, 2 p.m.)

After weeks of, “It should be Cal against Michigan in the Rose Bowl,” and, “Did Mack Brown also have to beg a ride from Austin to Pasadena?” this score just in from the Holiday Bowl: Texas Tech 45, Cal 31.*

(*Texas Tech quarterback Sonny Cumbie passes for 520 yards. On Oct. 23 this season, Texas defeated Texas Tech, 51-21.)

Never mind. Enjoy your stay, Longhorns.

* Fiesta Bowl

(Channel 7, 5:30 p.m.)

Missed opportunity No. 1: Pitting 11-0 Utah against 12-0 Auburn would have drawn some ratings. Instead, the Fiesta pits Pittsburgh, 8-3 and co-champion of the Not-So-Big East, against Utah.

Missed opportunity No. 2: If this bowl had to go with Pittsburgh against Utah, it would have helped to have played the game before Utah Coach Urban Meyer agreed to jump to Florida and Pitt Coach Walt Harris agreed to move to Stanford.

Missed opportunity No. 3: If they had to go ahead and play this game with lame-duck coaches, it would have helped to have played it before both vacancies were filled. “Winning team gets Dave Wannstedt. No? Well, how about the loser?”

SUNDAY

* New York Jets at St. Louis Rams

(Channel 2, 10 a.m.)

A must-win game for both teams, which is not good news for either. The Rams haven’t won a must-win game since the 2001 NFC championship game. The Jets haven’t beaten a good team when it really mattered since, oh, when? The third Super Bowl?

Jet quarterback Chad Pennington, self-anointed media critic, has been sparring with the New York media, which isn’t a must-win situation, it’s a no-win. Pennington told the Jet beat writers they were “privileged” to be allowed to cover the team. Correction, Chad: The Jets are privileged to have anyone not living in New York or St. Louis interested enough to watch this game.

* Minnesota Vikings at Washington Redskins

(Channel 11, 10 a.m.)

So, what’s bowl eligible in the NFC? Eight and eight? Seven and nine? The Vikings are 8-7. The Redskins are 5-10. The Vikings are 1-3 in their last four road games, and hoping very much 8-8 will be enough to get them in.