Sugar Bowl

Let the debate continue. No. 7 Utah strengthened its case that it is the best team in the country, improving to 13-0 with a 31-17 victory over No. 4 Alabama last night in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. While No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 2 Florida will square off in the BCS Championship Game next Thursday night, both of them are 12-1. Brian Johnson threw for 336 yards and three touchdowns, as the Utes became the first team from a non-BCS conference (Mountain West) to win two BCS bowls.

Steve Slaton never dreamed he would come this far this fast. The former Conwell-Egan High star did not carry the ball in the first four games of his freshman season at West Virginia. He carried it plenty Monday night in the Sugar Bowl. Slaton set a Sugar Bowl record with 204 rushing yards on 26 carries and scored three touchdowns in the Mountaineers' 38-35 victory over Georgia. "I think it was a pretty big accomplishment for me and my team," Slaton said by telephone last night.

The Sugar Bowl will be played in either Baton Rouge, La., or Atlanta after being forced out of the Superdome in New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. Sugar Bowl officials said yesterday they will know in about 3 weeks whether Louisiana has recovered sufficiently to keep the game in the state where it has been played every year since it was established in 1935. Tiger Stadium on the LSU campus holds almost 92,000 and would make an adequate game site, but the city of Baton Rouge has insufficient hotel rooms and infrastructure to host an event that would attract thousands on Jan. 2. That means New Orleans would need to be ready to house most of the fans, participants and media going to the game.

The Sugar Bowl likely is heading to the Georgia Dome on Jan. 2, forced out of New Orleans for the first time because of Hurricane Katrina. Bowl officials declined to confirm the game was headed to Atlanta before a news conference tomorrow, when the announcement is expected. But USA Today, citing a person involved in the decision, said the bowl's executive committee gave its approval Tuesday night. Sugar Bowl officials said last month the game would be played in either the Georgia Dome or Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La. Baton Rouge doesn't have enough hotel rooms to accommodate the tens of thousands of people the game attracts.

The two college bands in Tulane Stadium's grandstands that New Year's Day in New Orleans were battling as hard as the combatants in history's first Sugar Bowl. Temple's musicians spent much of the sunny afternoon of Jan. 1, 1935, playing "Yankee Doodle Dandy," an act of sectional bravado that Tulane's band countered with constant renditions of "Dixie. " The unusual North-South pairing of Temple-Tulane had lent considerable appeal to the inaugural Sugar Bowl, the brainchild of a New Orleans sportswriter and local businessmen.

Mystery announcers department: ABC is carrying the bowl game - No. 1 Miami vs. No. 2 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl for the national championship. But the network still hasn't chosen the announcers for the game. The Sugar Bowl will be played Jan. 1 at 8:30 p.m. in New Orleans. If the Saints are playing a home playoff game Jan. 2 that will be on ABC, the network probably will save travel costs and use its "Monday Night Football" cast, Al Michaels, Dan Dierdorf and Frank Gifford, on both games.

The Bensalem High School Marching Band will perform at halftime ceremonies at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on New Year's Day. The band is one of five throughout the country that has been invited to play during halftime and before the game. The band leaves for the Super Dome on Dec. 28 and returns Jan. 3. Students will play three times at different locations in New Orleans, with the final performance at the Sugar Bowl. Last month, the band placed third overall in the Atlantic Coast Championship of the Tournament of Bands competition held in Scranton.

Danny Wuerffel doesn't look the part. He never really has. The first time he practiced at Florida, some of his new teammates in the defensive secondary made fun of his passing motion and his lack of arm strength. Four record-shattering years later, nobody is snickering. Sure, Wuerffel still has his detractors. People who say he is nothing more than another product of coach Steve Spurrier's system. Folks who feel he really didn't deserve to win the Heisman Trophy this season. A lot of critics will tell you that Wuerffel has no shot at the next level.

Tomorrow afternoon's Sugar Bowl game just might produce a national championship team. Next season. No. 5 Louisiana State (9-2), which will meet No. 6 Nebraska (9-2) tomorrow, will return 16 starters and both kickers next season. The Tigers are hoping that a victory will elevate them to a No. 3 ranking in this season's final poll and serve as a springboard to a possible national title next season. "This team has the possibility of being national champions next season," LSU nose guard Henry Thomas said.

The powers that be at Conwell-Egan High School decided to move last night's basketball game against visiting North Catholic up an hour - from 7:30 to 6:30 - so that fans would be able to get home in time to watch the Sugar Bowl in its entirety. The reason: Freshman running back Steve Slaton stars for West Virginia. If the unprecedented time change had not been made, the fans at the basketball game would have missed Slaton's 52-yard touchdown run on West Virginia's fourth play of the game.

THERE IS SOME real starch to the Cotton Bowl, some drama along the sidelines in the Compass and the Northern Illinois coach is one smilin' Huskie these days. They're almost over. Here's a look at the three remaining bowls leading up to Monday's BCS title game.   COTTON Arkansas (10-2) vs. Kansas State (10-2) When: Tomorrow, 8 p.m. (Fox) Where: Arlington, Texas Bowl bits: Arkansas is sixth in the BCS standings and K-State is No. 8 . . . Arkansas' two losses were to Alabama (by 24)

THE BIGGEST crime of the bowl season is at hand as Boise State, one of the top teams all year with a sterling 11-1 record, gets a yawner tonight against 6-6 Arizona State in the MAACO. Only the BCS could take the fun out of a Vegas trip. Elsewhere in Round 2 of our bowl previews, Purdue has an intriguing offensive lineman, N.C. State has an interception machine and Cal finally gets a chance to scratch a 7-year itch of revenge. Here's a look at the next group of bowl games: MAACO LAS VEGAS Boise St. (11-1)

The two college bands in Tulane Stadium's grandstands that New Year's Day in New Orleans were battling as hard as the combatants in history's first Sugar Bowl. Temple's musicians spent much of the sunny afternoon of Jan. 1, 1935, playing "Yankee Doodle Dandy," an act of sectional bravado that Tulane's band countered with constant renditions of "Dixie. " The unusual North-South pairing of Temple-Tulane had lent considerable appeal to the inaugural Sugar Bowl, the brainchild of a New Orleans sportswriter and local businessmen.

THERE ARE two ways to look at the second annual TicketCity Bowl pairing of Penn State (9-3) and Houston (12-1) on Jan. 2. The glass-is-half-empty view is that this is a disappointing, second-tier game for both the Nittany Lions and the Cougars, to be played in an historic but ancient stadium, the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. The glass-is-half-full outlook, though, is that two teams that had hoped for more prestigious, better-paying postseason destinations nonetheless lucked into a contest that could turn out to be very intriguing.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEKEND Local: Bernard Pierce, again. The junior ran for a season-best 189 yards, most of it after halftime, and three touchdowns (18, 25 and 69) on Friday in Temple's 34-16 win over visiting Kent State. National: Denard Robinson accounted for five touchdowns as Michigan finally beat Ohio State. AROUND TOWN St. John Fisher 27, Delaware Valley 14 The host Aggies (11-1) had five turnovers and lost in the second round of the Division III playoffs for the third straight year.

Mike Kern's Potential Fraud Five Last year we had Texas and Florida. Remember, the key word is potential. And I have to admit the choices seem a lot more of a stretch this time. Oklahoma - When you're No. 1, only way to go is south. And it's not like Bob Stoops hasn't let it get away from him before. Stanford - New coach, Heisman favorite. How do you improve on 12-1? The Cardinal should get to 6-0, but closing stretch is treacherous. Utah - OK, you're in a BCS conference now. Let's see what you've got. South Carolina - As much as I like the old ball coach, let's see how his guys handle some expectations.

WHEN I'M King of the World . . . If you win an NFL division title with a record less than 8-8, you're out . . . And the team with the best record not in the playoffs becomes an extra wild card. Seattle Seahawks, 7-9? Gag me with a Rich Kotite two-point conversion chart. What's next, college teams with .500 records eligible to accept a bowl bid? Oh, you say that's already happening, that Temple got screwed out of a bowl invite because their fans don't make road trips? How would anybody know that anyway?

1. Auburn (13-0). Beat South Carolina in SEC final, 56-17. Next: Jan. 10, vs. Oregon in BCS title game (Glendale, Ariz.). Cam Newtown should be unanimous Heisman winner, issues or not. 2. Oregon (12-0). Beat Oregon State, 37-20. Next: Jan. 10, vs. Auburn in BCS final. Over-under is in low 70s. 3. Texas Christian (12-0). Idle. Next: Jan. 1, vs. Wisconsin in Rose Bowl. Not too bad a consolation prize. 4. Stanford (11-1). Idle. Next: Jan. 3, vs. Virginia Tech in Orange Bowl. Would rather have seen Cardinal in Rose.

For many of those who enjoyed their Thanksgiving feast, the idea of holiday leftovers isn't really unappetizing. It depends on how comparatively fresh the turkey remnants and refrigerated stuffing are after the choicest morsels go first. It's like that for college football's bowl selection process, which takes place Sunday evening as 70 teams are assigned their postseason destinations. The five BCS bowls - the Rose, Sugar, Orange, Fiesta and, of course, the National Championship Game - hoard the 10 most prestigious selections, after which the non-BCS bowls begin grabbing the best of the rest, on a weighted scale.

Stanford, in its fourth season under Jim Harbaugh, is 8-1. That's the best start for the program since 1970. That season, John Ralston's team lost its last two (at Air Force and Cal) before upsetting No. 2 Ohio State in the Rose Bowl (27-17) behind Heisman Trophy winner Jim Plunkett. That squad was honored at halftime of last Saturday's impressive 42-17 home win over Arizona. If the Cardinal wins this week at Arizona State (4-5), it would match the school's best 10-game start since 1951.