Sugar Bowl

No. 5 FLORIDA (10-1-1)vs. No. 7 FLORIDA STATE (9-1-1)Site: New OrleansTime: 8:30 p.m. tonightTV: Chs. 2, 7Outlook: Like a professional wrestling match that ends in a controversial draw, Florida and Florida State collide again. Florida State, on the verge of its worst home loss in 12 years, erased a 31-3 deficit in the final period to tie Florida, 31-31, on Nov. 26. The Seminoles scored on four consecutive possessions, capped by Rock Preston's 4-yard touchdown run with 1:45 to play. Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden elected to kick the extra point instead of going for the two-point conversion, giving Florida State the tie. Had Bowden gone for two points, the Sugar Bowl would not have granted a rematch between the schools.

It's fitting only 0.0086 ended up separating No. 3 Oklahoma State from No. 2 Alabama in the final Bowl Championship Series standings. This is the year everything got 0.0086'd. It was never accurate to say before Sunday that LSU and Alabama were "clearly" the two best teams in the country. You had to wait until the final BCS standings to determine that Alabama against Oklahoma State ended up a statistical draw. Had one BCS computer flipped and a few more voters considered Oklahoma State's case, we'd be getting an entirely more festive bowl season.

NEW ORLEANS - Auburn is holding out hope against hope. Deep down, the Tigers faithful - having been denied a berth in the Bowl Championship Series title game - still believe that a spectacular showing against Virginia Tech at 8 tonight in the Sugar Bowl would somehow lead to a share of the national championship. "There are two national championship games," Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said yesterday. "There's one here at the Sugar Bowl, and there's another one at the Orange Bowl." The Orange Bowl will pit two unbeatens - Oklahoma against Southern California - for the BCS national championship.

The Unity Thunder recreational league cheerleading squad will be traveling south for the bowl season for the second year in a row, this time to New Orleans for the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Beth Perrine, Unity's director of cheerleading and poms, said the team has been invited to perform at halftime of the Sugar Bowl in the Superdome on Jan. 3. She said the team was invited by the Bowl Games of America group, which organizes the halftime entertainment for bowl games. "They invited us down last year for the Gator Bowl and were impressed with our performance, so they invited us again," she said.

NEW ORLEANS -- Alabama defensive end John Copeland walked back to his dormitory room one day after spring practice in 1991 and thought about quitting.He hated Alabama. He hated his coach. He hated practice. He wanted to go home.Fortunately, his roommate was Eric Curry, who had experienced similar feelings when he was a freshman."I was a Prop 48 student, and there's a certain stigma attached to that title," said Curry. "I didn't play football my freshman year, and I felt real bad. John had a similar problem in his senior year in high school, so I told him it was just another barrier to break down."

NEW ORLEANS - Perhaps the newest debate to emerge from the Bowl Championship Series format since the final rankings were announced last month is the fact that the coaches must vote for the winner of the designated national championship game as the No. 1 team in the country. That means the 37 coaches who vote in the ESPN/USA Today poll were obligated to pick either No. 2 LSU or No. 3 Oklahoma after last night's Nokia Sugar Bowl, even if they believed that No. 1 Southern California was the best team.

The last time a college football national championship game was played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, the winning quarterback was both overage and overlooked compared with his counterpart on the opposing team. Four seasons ago, it was Chris Weinke, then 27, doing more than enough to lead Florida State past Virginia Tech and Michael Vick to win the Sugar Bowl. Will history repeat itself for Louisiana State's Matt Mauck this year? At 24, Mauck is only one year older than Oklahoma's Jason White.

Utah is the best of the BCS busters. Brian Johnson threw for 336 yards and three touchdowns, and the No. 7 Utes upset fourth-ranked Alabama, 31-17, in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans last night to finish 13-0. With the victory, Utah became the first team from a non-Bowl Championship Series conference to win two BCS bowls. The Utes beat Pittsburgh in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl. Johnson's pinpoint passing led Utah to a 21-0 first-quarter lead, and the Utes refused to wilt when Alabama pulled to 21-17 early in the second half.

NEW ORLEANS - They were supposed to be the newest addition to the list of college football's all-time greatest teams, joining a couple from previous generations that also wore the crimson and cream of the Oklahoma Sooners. Not yet a dynasty, simply dominant. Ranked No. 1 from the pre-season through their last regular-season game, this season's Sooners were simply waiting to be anointed. Instead, what Oklahoma did over the first three months was annulled by what happened in the Big 12 championship game.

He is the undisputed leader of the nation's top rushing defense, a player who is so difficult to contain that Arkansas coach Houston Nutt said this week, "He plays with such passion. He never stays blocked. You can't cut him off." Meet Louisiana State's Chad Lavalais, who just might be the best defensive lineman in college football this season. Of the 48 tackles Lavalais has made for the third-ranked Tigers, 14 have been for losses and six have resulted in sacks. He also has 20 quarterback hurries and forced at least one key fumble.

Sugar Bowl CEO Paul Hoolahan admitted to lobbying Ohio State officials to keep their players eligible for Tuesday's bowl game against Arkansas. The NCAA suspended five Buckeyes, including quarterback Terrelle Pryor , last week for receiving improper benefits in 2009. The players were penalized for selling awards, gifts and university apparel. But the group remained eligible for the Sugar Bowl and will miss the Buckeyes' first five games in 2011. Meanwhile, the NCAA defended its recent rulings in violations cases involving Ohio State and Auburn, saying it does not play favorites or make decisions based on financial considerations.

Quarterback Terrelle Pryor and four Ohio State teammates suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season apologized Tuesday for selling championship rings and memorabilia and taking discounts from a local tattoo parlor. The NCAA will permit all five to play in the Sugar Bowl against Arkansas on Jan. 4. Pryor, backup defensive lineman Solomon Thomas and starting tailback Dan Herron , wide receiver DeVier Posey and offensive tackle Mike Adams said they regretted their actions, which go back as far as two years.

This is it — the final regular-season poll. Half the preseason top 10 survived: Oregon (9), TCU (5), Boise State (1), Ohio State (2) and Virginia Tech (7). Auburn opened the season 18th, Stanford 19th, Wisconsin 13th and Arkansas 17th. Nevada, like a pistol shot, rose all the way from unranked. Alabama (4) disappointed slightly and Texas (8) disappointed greatly, while Florida (6) flopped by its standards. Every team in the poll has a bowl game left to impress a one-man judge and jury.

Florida and the NCAA are investigating an allegation that former Gators offensive lineman Maurkice Pouncey received $100,000 from a representative of a sports agent before last season ended, ESPN.com reported Monday. The allegation stated Pouncey received the money between Florida's loss to Alabama in the Southeastern Conference title game and its Sugar Bowl win over Cincinnati, according to the report. The alleged representative was not named. "We were made aware of some information in early June that we reported to law enforcement and we then shared with the NCAA and the SEC," Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley said in a statement.

SUGAR BOWL: No. 5 Florida 51, No. 4 Cincinnati 24 CAPITAL ONE BOWL: No. 11 Penn St. 19, No. 13 LSU 17 PG 4 GATOR BOWL: Florida State 33, No. 18 West Virginia 21 PG 4 OUTBACK BOWL: Auburn 38, Northwestern 35, OT PG 4

TODAY'S TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS M. bask West Virginia@Purdue ESPN 2:30 Dayton@New Mexico CBSCS 9 NBA New York@Atlanta NBA 7:30 New York@Atlanta (T) NBA 10:30 C. foot Texas Bowl: Missouri vs. Navy (T) ESPNU 10 a.m. Outback Bowl: Auburn vs. Northwestern ESPN 11 a.m. Capital One Bowl: LSU vs. Penn State 2, 7 1 Gator Bowl: Fla. State vs. West Virginia 13, 9 1 Rose Bowl: Ohio State vs. Oregon 2, 7 5 Sugar Bowl: Cincinnati vs. Florida 45, 5 8:30 Outback Bowl: Auburn vs. Northwestern ESPN 3 a.m. Texas Bowl: Missouri vs. Navy (T)

John Mark Stallings, the only son of University of Alabama football coach Gene Stallings, has Down's syndrome, a congenital disorder characterized by moderate to severe mental retardation and slow physical development. Doctors said John Mark wouldn't live to be 4.Then they said he wouldn't make it to 11.John Mark will be 31 on June 11.So don't worry if you didn't send Gene Stallings a Christmas present last week -- he's already received the perfect gift."Children with Down's syndrome are living longer than they used to," said Stallings.

Orange Bowl officials will announce this afternoon that seventh-ranked Maryland will play in the Jan. 2 game in Miami, sources said. Maryland, which moved up to No. 10 in the Bowl Championship Series standings yesterday, is one of two teams that will be assigned to BCS bowls today. Big Ten champion Illinois is expected to receive a bid to the Sugar Bowl, to be played Jan. 1 in New Orleans. The bowls notified both schools yesterday, though neither Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow nor football coach Ralph Friedgen was available to comment last night.

Moments after finishing their last full college practice, Pittsburgh quarterback Bill Stull and defensive tackle Mick Williams emphasized the importance of their senior class' legacy. Because of a blown 21-point lead and a botched extra point three weeks earlier, the 17th-ranked Panthers went from a seemingly certain Sugar Bowl berth into a less prestigious trip to the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, where they'll face North Carolina today in a virtual road game. It has all the traps that lead to a flat performance: a team that wants to be elsewhere dealing with a hostile crowd.

There's a reason compiling a coaching staff is a fluid business - because someone always can swoop in and make a better offer. That's what Buffalo did, anyway, announcing Sunday that it has hired Cincinnati offensive coordinator Jeff Quinn as its head coach. He will be introduced Tuesday. Quinn had coached alongside new Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly for 22 seasons and was almost certain to join Kelly's Irish staff after the Sugar Bowl. Quinn will replace Turner Gill , who took over at Kansas, after he serves as Cincinnati's interim coach for the Jan. 1 bowl against Florida.