Football Notes: Louisville gets bid to Gator Bowl

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville accepted an invitation Monday to represent the Big East Conference in the Gator Bowl.

The game will pit the 16th-ranked Cardinals (8-2) against an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent in Jacksonville, Fla., on Jan. 2.

Gator Bowl chairman Mike Hartley attended Louisville's 41-17 home win over Syracuse on Saturday and said he expects a large contingent of Cardinals fans to make the trip to Alltel Stadium.

But in that game, Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm suffered a season-ending knee injury while scrambling for a 7-yard gain late in the third quarter.

Bowl officials said they will wait until after the inaugural ACC championship game between Florida State and No. 5 Virginia Tech in Jacksonville on Saturday to announce Louisville's opponent.

If Virginia Tech wins and gain the automatic BCS bid that goes to the ACC champion, the Cardinals would likely face 10th-ranked Miami in the Gator Bowl. The game would be a rematch of Miami's 41-38 home victory on Oct. 14, 2004.

Rutgers, Arizona St. to meet in Insight

Rutgers will play in a bowl game for the first time in nearly three decades, and Boise State is staying home for its postseason game.

Rutgers (7-4) accepted an invitation to play in the Insight Bowl on Dec. 27 in Phoenix against Arizona State (6-5).

The last time the Scarlet Knights played in a bowl game was 1978, when they lost 34-18 to Arizona State in the Garden State Bowl at Giants Stadium, not far from their campus in New Jersey.

Meanwhile, Boise State accepted an invitation to play in the MPC Computers Bowl on the blue artificial turf of its home stadium. The Broncos will be making their fourth appearance in the nine-year history of the bowl.

Boise State (9-3) will play a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference on Dec. 28. North Carolina State (6-5) is considered to be a front-runner.

The Broncos beat Louisiana Tech 30-13 Saturday to earn a share of the Western Athletic Conference championship with Nevada. Fresno State (8-3) can also win a share of the title by beating Louisiana Tech on Friday

Boise State last played in its home-stadium bowl in 2002, defeating Iowa State 34-16. The bowl was known as the Humanitarian Bowl in its first seven seasons.

Nevada (8-3) has a standing invitation to play in the Hawaii Bowl but still has an outside shot at other bowls.

WAC officials decided to hold off on sealing the Hawaii deal to see how the Bowl Championship Series shakes out.

If Oregon earns an at-large berth in one of the BCS bowls, that would make it possible for the WAC to replace the Pac-10 in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 22, WAC commissioner Karl Benson said.

BCS standings look familiar

If either top-ranked USC or No. 2 Texas loses Saturday, Penn State would be the likely beneficiary.

The top 10 in the Bowl Championship Series standings remained the same from last week — the second time in the eight-year history of the BCS that has happened — and third-ranked Penn State moved a bit closer to Texas.

USC hosts UCLA. Texas plays Colorado in the Big 12 Conference title game in Houston.

Final BCS standings are released Sunday. The top two teams meet for the national title in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 4 in Pasadena, Calif.

Notes

• USC running back LenDale White's bruised left shoulder isn't expected to sideline him for the UCLA game, Trojans coach Pete Carroll said.

• First-year Ohio coach Frank Solich was convicted of drunken driving, two days after police spotted him slumped over the wheel of his vehicle.

Solich, a former Nebraska coach, pleaded no contest and was ordered to complete a three-day driver-intervention program. He also had his license suspended for 180 days and was fined $250.

Solich, 61, apologized in court.

• Coach Cal McCombs of Virginia Military Institute was fired after compiling a 19-60 record over seven seasons with the Division I-AA program.

• Texas A&M fired defensive coordinator Carl Torbush, three days after the Aggies (5-6) finished their second losing season in three years under coach Dennis Franchione.

• Tennessee (5-6) named David Cutcliffe offensive coordinator. He replaces Randy Sanders, who resigned Oct. 31. Cutcliffe was the team's offensive coordinator from 1993 to 1998.

• Mississippi (3-8) fired offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone.

• Big 12 officials will review a trash-throwing episode at Friday's Colorado home game against Nebraska, but commissioner Kevin Weiberg said sanctions against schools for those kind of incidents are normally used as last resorts.

Officials ordered two sections filled with students emptied in the fourth quarter of Colorado's 30-3 loss after water bottles and other debris were thrown onto the field.

No injuries were reported.

Bowl schedule
Bowl	Date	Location	Arrangement	Matchup
New Orleans	Dec. 20	Lafayette, La.	Sun Belt No. 1 vs. C-USA No. 5	Arkansas State vs. C-USA
GMAC	Dec. 21	Mobile, Ala.	C-USA No. 1-2 vs. MAC No. 1-2	Toledo vs. C-USA
Las Vegas	Dec. 22	Las Vegas	Pac-10 No. 5 vs. Mtn. West	Brigham Young vs. Pac-10
Poinsettia	Dec. 22	San Diego	Mtn. West vs. at-large team	Colorado State vs. Navy
Fort Worth	Dec. 23	Fort Worth, Texas	Big 12 No. 8 vs. C-USA No. 4
Hawaii	Dec. 24	Honolulu	WAC vs. C-USA No. 3
Motor City	Dec. 26	Detroit	Big Ten No. 7 vs. MAC No. 1-2	Akron or N. Illinois vs. Big Ten
Champs Sports	Dec. 27	Orlando, Fla.	ACC No. 4 vs. Big 12 No. 7
Insight	Dec. 27	Phoenix	Pac-10 No. 4 vs. Big East No. 3	Arizona State vs. Rutgers
MPC Computers	Dec. 28	Boise, Idaho	WAC vs. ACC No. 6	Boise State vs. ACC
Alamo	Dec. 28	San Antonio	Big Ten No. 4 vs. Big 12 No. 4
Emerald	Dec. 29	San Francisco	Pac-10 No. 6 vs. Mtn. West	Utah vs. ACC
Holiday	Dec. 29	San Diego	Pac-10 No. 2 vs. Big 12 No. 3
Music City	Dec. 30	Nashville, Tenn.	Big Ten No. 6 vs. SEC No. 7	ACC vs. Big Ten
Sun	Dec. 30	El Paso, Texas	Pac-10 No. 3 vs. Big Ten No. 5
Independence	Dec. 30	Shreveport, La.	SEC No. 6 vs. Big 12 No. 5
Peach	Dec. 30	Atlanta	ACC No. 3 vs. SEC No. 5
Meineke Car Care	Dec. 31	Charlotte, N.C.	Big East No. 4 vs. ACC No. 5
Liberty	Dec. 31	Memphis, Tenn.	C-USA No. 1-2 vs. at-large	Fresno State vs. C-USA
Houston	Dec. 31	Houston	SEC No. 8 vs. Big 12 No. 6	Texas Christian vs. Big 12
Cotton	Jan. 2	Dallas	Big 12 No. 2 vs. SEC No. 4
Outback	Jan. 2	Tampa, Fla.	Big Ten No. 3 vs. SEC No. 3
Gator	Jan. 2	Jacksonville, Fla.	Big East No. 2 vs. ACC No. 2	Louisville vs. ACC
Capital One	Jan. 2	Orlando, Fla.	Big Ten No. 2 vs. SEC No. 2
Fiesta	Jan. 2	Tempe, Ariz.	BCS
Sugar	Jan. 2	Atlanta	BCS
Orange	Jan. 3	Miami	BCS
Rose	Jan. 4	Pasadena, Calif.	BCS No. 1 vs. BCS No. 2
Note: Some conferences, such as the Pac-10, don't have enough bowl-eligible teams to fill the arranged slots.