New Orleans — Like his jut-jawed uncle, Luke Butkus takes a no-nonsense approach to football.
So while the red beans and rice were nice in New Orleans, the Illinois center would prefer pancakes as in, the kind served up by flattening LSU defenders in the Sugar Bowl.
"I'm glad to carry on uncle Dick's legacy," Butkus said. "But I'm not my uncle Dick. I'm my own player and I had to prove to everyone that I could play."
Same goes for the teams playing tonight at the Superdome.
Neither was ranked in mid-October, and neither was mentioned in the national championship talk. Now, No. 7 Illinois and No. 12 LSU match up in a bowl that's more about name recognition and poll position.
"This game is an opportunity, from a national standpoint, to actually show the world we belong in a game like this," LSU coach Nick Saban said Monday.
Added All-America receiver Josh Reed: "Playing a team that's from a different conference, it should help us as far as being nationally known."
While Reed and the Tigers (9-3) won the Southeastern Conference title by beating out the likes of Florida and Tennessee, the Illini (10-1) earned the Big Ten crown.
"It always seems that if Illinois win it, it's a down year in the Big Ten. If Michigan or Ohio State wins it, it's a regular year," Butkus said. "I do wish we had a bigger name."
Said Illinois coach Ron Turner: "I'm surprised not more people are talking about us."
Of course, the Illini already have plenty to be proud about. After going 0-11 in 1997 in Turner's first season, they've become Big Ten champions.
"We started pretty much at the bottom when we all got here as freshman," said quarterback Kurt Kittner, who has thrown a school-record 66 career touchdown passes.
Butkus, a third-team All-American, was a redshirt during that disastrous first season.
"I wanted to come to Illinois to help build back the tradition to where it once was, and where it will be," the senior said. "This is the first time Illinois could win 11 games, so it's a big game for us."
Citrus Bowl
Orlando, Fla. Michigan tight end Shawn Thompson jokes that he has learned his way around this Florida vacation city. No wonder.
The No. 17 Wolverines (8-3) play No. 8 Tennessee (10-2) today in their third visit to the Citrus Bowl in four years.
"I'm starting to know Orlando better than Ann Arbor," said Thompson, a fifth-year senior.
The Volunteers haven't been to Orlando since the 1996 season, but this is their fifth trip since 1983.
Both Tennessee and Michigan lost their last games and failed to win their conferences.
"It's an excellent opportunity after you haven't played as well as you would have liked in the last game to go play again," Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer said.
Outback Bowl
Tampa, Fla. A bowl rematch was a scary sounding concept for South Carolina coach Lou Holtz.
"Coming to the same bowl, I'm oh-for-two in rematches," he quipped Monday.
"So don't read my book on rematches."
Holtz will try and avoid going 0-3 on New Year's Day when the 14th-ranked Gamecocks (8-3) meet No. 22 Ohio State (7-4), whom they defeated 24-7 here at Raymond James Stadium a year ago.
Running back-wide receiver Ryan Brewer, last year's Outback MVP with three touchdowns, said South Carolina was slightly disappointed with dropping to the Outback Bowl.
"There were mixed emotions coming in," Brewer said. "We wanted Tennessee to beat LSU so we could go to the Citrus Bowl. Once we started thinking about it, we realized that we can prove to a lot of people who don't believe in us that we're a good team."
Cotton Bowl
Dallas The Oklahoma Sooners love coming to the Cotton Bowl every October. It's being here this New Year's Day that's disappointing.
The Sooners were hoping to be defending their national championship. They had a chance, too, until losing at home to Oklahoma State in the regular-season finale.
So No. 10 OU (10-2) was sent to the Cotton Bowl against unranked Arkansas (7-4), forcing the Sooners to rally around goals such as winning 11 games for the 11th time in school history and finishing higher in the rankings.
"At Oklahoma, you're only satisfied with championships," OU coach Bob Stoops said. "Two years ago, we would have been doing backflips to be down here in the Cotton Bowl. For five years prior to that they would have done backflips to be in any bowl."
Gator Bowl
Jacksonville, Fla. A lot has changed in the two years since the underdog Hokies played Florida State for the 1999 national championship in the Sugar Bowl.
When they meet today in the Gator Bowl, the No. 15 Hokies will be favored to give their 22 seniors a victorious sendoff, while the No. 24 Seminoles hope to show more progress in their youth movement.
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