By Jeff D'Alessio
Florida Today

A is for Jacksonville's Alltel Stadium, which is expected to draw 76,000-plus for the Gator Bowl matchup between West Virginia and Maryland. That's 20,000 more fans than the Jaguars attract on the average Sunday.

B is for bragging rights, which will be the only thing on the line when Miami and Florida State meet in the Orange Bowl. Says FSU coach Bobby Bowden: "We're not playing for a national championship, we're not playing for a conference championship, but it's still Miami-Florida State, and there's enough pressure there that you don't need those other two things."

C is for Clemson's Tommy Bowden, the first coach to take the Tigers to bowls in his first five seasons. The bad news: He's 1-3 in the first four.

D is for downtown Detroit, the worst venue for a bowl game. The Motor City Bowl isn't much of a matchup either, pitting Bowling Green against Northwestern, which hasn't won a bowl game since the 1949 Rose and has dropped its past three by a combined 78 points.

E is for East Carolina, which went 1-11 this season under former Florida defensive coordinator John Thompson but is bowl-bound nonetheless ... Well, kind of. Pirate fan Doug Groome came up with the idea to sell tickets to a "Virtual Bowl" to help the school raise funds for a new athletic facility. The Pirate club did $1,600 in sales Friday.

F is for the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, who haven't won a bowl game since 1994.

G is for the Golden Bears of Cal, headed to their first bowl since 1996 (vs. Virginia Tech in the Insight.com Bowl on Dec. 26). Cal won four of its final five games.

H is for hangover, for which there is no known cure. But on New Year's Day, we recommend plopping down on the couch and watching bowl games all day.

I is for Iowa's Robert Gallery, the 6-foot-7, 320-pound giant whom the Florida Gators will have to contend with in the Jan. 1 Outback Bowl. The left tackle, who's expected to be the first offensive lineman drafted, last week won the Outland Trophy.

J is for Auburn's Bo Jackson, one of 22 Heisman Trophy winners whose team came up short in its bowl game. Heisman winners are 21-22 all time in bowl action.

K is for Kansas State's Darren Sproles, our early pick for the 2004 Heisman (assuming Pitt's Larry Fitzgerald heads to the NFL). The junior RB shredded Oklahoma's defense for 235 yards in the Big 12 title game and will be a handful for Ohio State's defense, which ranks No. 1 nationally against the run, in the Fiesta Bowl.

L is for Matt Leinart, the Southern Cal QB who put up better numbers than his predecessor, 2002 Heisman winner Carson Palmer, but finished sixth in the Heisman race. During one stretch, Leinart threw 212 passes without a pick.

M is for Matt Mauck, LSU's 24-year-old quarterback, who's thinking about giving up his final season of eligibility to enroll in dental school.

N is for Nebraska, which will appear in its NCAA-record 35th consecutive bowl game - the Alamo - on Dec. 29 vs. Michigan State. The game will be a job audition for former defensive coordinator Bo Pellini, who was promoted to interim coach after Frank Solich was fired.

O is for Oklahoma, No. 1 in the BCS and also the favorite to land the nation's top prep prospect - Palestine, Texas, running back Adrian Peterson.

P is for Pittsburgh fans, who aren't exactly turning out in droves for the Dec. 27 Continental Tire Bowl in Charlotte, N.C. Heading into the weekend, the Panthers had sold only 3,000 tickets from their 12,500 allotment. To boost sales, Pitt's athletic department has called every alum within 300 miles of Charlotte with a taped message from receiver Fitzgerald pleading for them to attend.

Q is for quite a start, which Joe Tiller is off to at Purdue. After the Boilermakers failed to make a bowl for 13 consecutive years before his arrival, they've been to seven straight since.

R is for running back Patrick Cobbs of North Texas, the best back you've never heard of who led the nation in rushing (157 ypg).

S is for the Sunshine State, which along with Texas is home to the most bowl games (five).

T is for two, the number of bowl games that pit two teams with 50 percent graduation rates or better (the Houston Bowl between Navy and Texas Tech, and the Capital One Bowl between Purdue and Georgia), according to the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.

U is for UCLA, one of four 6-6 teams that will play in a bowl game (Georgia Tech, Kansas and Northwestern are the others).

V is for victories, which have been hard to come by lately for Florida, Florida State and Miami in bowl games. They're a combined 4-6 the past three years.

W is for the wishbone of Navy, which Texas Tech will try to slow in the Houston Bowl. It's one of the marquee matchups this bowl season, pitting college football's top rushing attack (Navy) vs. the game's top passing offense (B.J. Symons and Tech).

X is for X-rated, which describes some of the comments by USC fans directed toward Peter Wolfe, a Harvard-educated infectious disease specialist in Los Angeles whose computer rankings are used in the BCS formula. "The ratings are right," Wolfe told the Associated Press. "USC played a weaker schedule and lost to a worse team (Cal) than LSU (Florida) and Oklahoma (Kansas State)."

Y is for yikes, which LSU fans are saying about reports that Nick Saban could be in line for the Atlanta Falcons job.

Z is for zip, which is how many times the SEC has won the Music City Bowl in five tries. Auburn, which has won more bowl games (15) than Dec. 31 opponent Wisconsin (14) has played in, will try to be the first.