GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) – Wintry weather in Alabama left some Auburn fans with tickets to the BCS championship game out in the cold back home, while others scrambled for alternative routes or endured delays.
Charter flights out of Birmingham Airport were able to take off by midday. On campus, both classes and the viewing party scheduled at Auburn Arena were canceled.
Tigers fan James Harrison made it to Arizona from Charlotte, N.C., but hadn’t been able to reach friends trying to get there.
“I know people who were sleeping in the airport at Birmingham,” Harrison said. “Who knows if they made it or not?”
Chase Payne said he had friends who were scheduled to fly out of Birmingham but drove a few hours to either Memphis, Tenn., or New Orleans to catch other flights.
“They said lots of people have been doing this,” Payne said.
One Alabama resident who didn’t get to make the trip: Gov. Bob Riley, who didn’t want to leave after declaring a state of emergency in Alabama on Sunday.
He encouraged Alabama residents to stay home Monday night and “enjoy the Auburn game.”
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CECIL NEWTON: The contingent of Cam Newton’s family attending the game didn’t include the quarterback’s father, Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs said.
Cecil Newton was restricted to “limited access” to the school’s athletic program when the NCAA found that he shopped his son’s services to Mississippi State during the recruiting process. He also skipped the Heisman ceremony in New York.
Jacobs said the decision for Cecil Newton not to attend “was mutually agreed upon. Out of the highest respect that Cecil has for Cameron, he won’t be here today.”
Newton had said that his father would be among the contingent traveling from Georgia for the game, but that he didn’t know if Cecil Newton would be attending the game. He said the Newton group would be “loud and proud.”
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RATINGS GAME: Television ratings for the BCS in its first year of a new contract that puts all the games on ESPN have been down for most of the games compared to last year.
Burke Magnus, ESPN senior vice president for college sports programming, said he’s not concerned with a one-year dip.
“I take solace from the fact that the numbers that we put up this year, you don’t have to go very far back in the history of the BCS to find equivalent games that we’ve beaten,” he said.
“The Rose, while down from last year’s game, you only have to go back to ’08 to find a game we beat.”
Magnus said the Fiesta Bowl between Oklahoma and Connecticut on Jan. 1 had better ratings than the ’09 Orange Bowl, which was in the same prime-time slot. The ratings for the Orange Bowl between Virginia Tech and Stanford on Jan. 3 were better than the ratings for three of the last four Orange Bowls, just not last year’s.
“The comparisons are pretty good when we look at the totality of the last cycle for example,” he said. “Are we in the vicinity of what this property has done over time? And I’m comfortable with where we are.”
Even Magnus admitted that it would be tough for the national title game between No. 1 Auburn and No. 2 Oregon to match the 17.5 rating Alabama-Texas did last season.
The Crimson Tide and Longhorns are two of college football’s marquee programs, teams that draw casual fans’ interest.
Auburn and Oregon don’t provide the same pop and the other BCS also games suffered from pairing that lacked broad appeal.
“The BCS ends up being a lot about the matchups and the competition on the field. Those two things are out of our control,” Magnus said.
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ALUM CAPTAINS: Bo Jackson and Ahmad Rashad were the honorary captains for the BCS title game.
Jackson played tailback for Auburn from 1982-85 and won the 1985 Heisman Trophy, before going on to dual careers in the NFL and Major League Baseball.
He has often been on the sidelines at Auburn games this season, including the SEC championship game, and was at practice in Arizona earlier this week.
His No. 34 was retired by Auburn in 1992.
Rashad played receiver and running back at Oregon from 1969-71, but in those days he was known as Bobby Moore. He established some 14 school records during his career with the Ducks and finished with 2,306 career rushing yards and 131 career receptions.
The Portland native went on to play 10 years in the NFL before a becoming a sports broadcaster.
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AWARD WINNER: Both coaches in the BCS championship game can claim to be the national coach of the year.
Chip Kelly won the Associated Press coach of the year award and the Eddie Robinson Award handed out by the Football Writers Association.
Auburn coach Gene Chizik won his second coach of the year honor Monday, taking the Liberty Mutual coach of the year award to go along with his Home Depot coach of the year award.
Chizik led Auburn to a 13-0 record and its first appearance in the BCS championship game in his second season as coach.
The Liberty Mutual award is voted on by members of the media and former college football coaches and players. There is also some fan voting and the award honors coaches at the FCS, Division II and III levels.
Delaware’s K.C. Keeler won the FCS award. Minnesota-Duluth’s Bob Nielson was the Division II winner and Glenn Caruso of the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) took the Division III award.
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