Unique bowl look: No games on New Year's Day

0 Comments | USA TODAY, December, 2005 | by Michael Hiestand

Putting together the college bowl TV lineup is always a jigsaw puzzle. But the upcoming bowl lineup -- 28 games starting Dec.20 with the New Orleans Bowl -- has a few extra pieces. Like the number of bowl games that will be played on New Year's Day: Zero.

"We work around what the NFL gives us," says Dave Brown, vice president of programming and acquisitions for ESPN/ESPN2, which will carry 25 bowl games. (ABC carries the four Bowl Championship Series games, including the title game in the Rose Bowl on Jan.4, as well as the Capital One Bowl on Jan.2. CBS carries the Sun Bowl on Dec.30. NBC has the Gator Bowl, and Fox has the Cotton Bowl, both Jan.2.)

On New Year's Day, the NFL will play a full schedule on its final regular-season Sunday. And on New Year's Eve, it...